So "Crime and Punishment," the book about a crazy man who is handsome and decides to commit murder for an "experiment." (Being handsome is an important fact as being pretty lets you have leverage with the "less pretty" people). Really he calls it a "theory" but it truly is an experiment. His name is Raskolnikov, and let me tell you why his history is important: because it makes you have mixed emotions about him. In his past he lived with his sister and his mother (see you're feeling sorry for him because he has daddy issues); now he went to a university to learn and would teach to earn money... until he decided to leave. He became a bum and really just did a bunch of nothing besides think about killing... and then killing (feeling less sorry for him now, eh?). See how much back ground knowledge can change how you view/react to things? Yes, yes, this is a point I have made several times now what can I say? A lot of books demonstrate this point and I feel the need to point out their point. (And yes, I did find it necessary to say "point" that many times. XD )
Another character that shows how history changes things is Dunia. Dunia was a governess (nanny) for a family. The parents were Marfa and Svidrigailov. Now Svidrigailov began making advances on Dunia and even got to the point where he offered to give her a house and money and so on if she would become his mistress. Creepy I know. Now, Dunia wrote this letter saying "no" (though in a more emotional and touching way) and sent it to Svidrigailov. However, when his wife Marfa found out Svidrigailov didn't bring it up therefore slandering Dunia's name (because Marfa had no idea how Dunia reacted). Little facts like that can change everything. Had society known from the beginning about Dunia's letter Dunia and her mother wouldn't have to go through all that torturous time of being criticized everywhere they went. Not to mention, Svidrigailov would have been punished quicker and so on. Not to mention Dunia's fiancé (for a part of the book) Petrovitch Luzhin would not have used her past to try and guilt trip her into marriage... he would have just stuck with the "I have money, you know you want it" scheme. However, the one plus of Marfa not knowing about the truth right away is that Marfa felt so guilty about it afterword that she gave Dunia money.
The last character that I'm going to talk about for now is Porfiry, the guy investigating the murder case. When he was talking, well interrogating, Raskolnikov he talked about his past experience with criminals and how many he was able to "crack" so to speak. By stating his past and giving proof to his capabilities he plants a seed in Raskolnikovs mind to make Raskolnikov nervous and feel like no matter how hard he tried he would not be able to escape Porfiry. History, a great asset when blackmailing and manipulating others. Something that politicians know very well. Zing! Not really though as that has been overused.
Anyway, I will come back to this at another point.
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