Bernstein points out that the yellow ticket was tantamount to civil death p. And it seems to me that if we view Sonia as someone who, having being forced into this situation, can see no alternative other than to heap shame upon herself, and put herself in a position from which she cannot return, because she feels she has done something irrevocable, she makes a lot more sense as a character with faith in God than the rather fantastical holy sinner we are accustomed to thinking about.
Time for a reinterpretation, I think. Thanks for the essay. I googled out Sonya and yellow card to understand what it was, and found your interesting interpretation. Very, very interesting read and I must admit that I found the interpretation to be rather inspiring. Also rereading my favorite novel and the significance of the yellow passport struck me. I searched and immediately found your thought provoking post.
Thank you for taking the time to share your research and reflections. You very succinctly bought clarity to the historical context. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Maikov archive. Posted in Dostoevsky. Plus, she hardly ever eats—after feeding her family and paying the rent, she can hardly afford it. She's constantly making sacrifices, and it seems like everybody wants a piece of her Like Raskolnikov, she's multifaceted, though with Sonia, one has to dig a bit deeper to uncover her secrets. But, once we start digging, we see incredible strength, powers of persuasion, and "natural" growth.
In the same way that Raskolnikov can hardly be mentioned in a sentence without the word "murderer," Sonia will be forever remembered for her career in prostitution. So, let's look at it. Did she really have to go down this road?
Could she have gone to school? Did she have other options? Her name means "wisdom"—but how wise is she? First of all, her stepmother, Katerina, forces her to go into that line of work. She either has to bring in some quick cash or disappear—Katerina has some serious rage issues. And Sonia doesn't want to disappear because she doesn't want to abandon her family. Plus, disappearing takes money. If she had enough money to disappear, then she'd probably have enough money to avoid prostitution.
As far as school goes, it was hard enough for men to get educated, let alone impoverished women. Jobs were scarce, especially for women, and she might well have been exploited in other lines of work as well. Remember, Katerina sent Sonia to the street in the first place because a corrupt client wouldn't pay her for a sewing job.
Maybe she could have stolen, but that would be dangerous and definitely—as we saw in the "hundred rouble note" scene—against her principles. By choosing prostitution, she avoided breaking the law as well.
That's what all the "yellow ticket" business is about. As long as a prostitute registered with the police and carried her "yellow ticket," she wasn't out of bounds with the law though she was definitely pooh-poohed by society. As soon as she becomes a prostitute, the community looks down on her He claims that prostitution is only disgraceful in a corrupt society and, even then, not to him.
In a society like the one he and his buddies imagine, prostitution will fill, honorably, the necessary needs of a community. It should be noted that, while Andrey Semyonovitch might be in love with Sonia, he doesn't ever take advantage of her and really wants to help her. He gives her books to read, saves her from Luzhin's accusations, and helps her care for Katerina. Sonia at first looks on Raskolnikov as her savior and kind of expects him to be nice to her when he sees her in private.
Think of all that sighing and moaning and fantasizing, and the way he defended her to Luzhin and to his mother. He was even super nice to her little sister Polenka. We expected him to bring her a teddy bear he won at a county fair, or something like that.
But, no. He kisses her feet, which, slow down, buddy. Is she even into that? It freaks her out, but when he leaves, she fantasizes about it. Guess she likes it. He also begs her to run away with him to save the children, though he doesn't really have a plan. But he does have her interest at heart. It hurts him to see her doing what she doesn't want to do being a prostitute , and he's really afraid Polenka will be next.
But, he could be a little nicer about it.
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