Sarah's post about how The female characters in Crime and Punishment are the backbones of the other characters, emphasizes the strength of Katerina and Sonia. I agree that the book definitely displays these characters as strong and independant, even more so than some of the male characters. I think that how the male characters percieve these female characters is necessary to get this point across. For example, between 386 and 394, Luzhin blames Sonia for stealing money from him when in reality he is trying to set her up. Within the novel, Luzhin doesn't seem to have much respect for women, even his fiance Dounia. Everyone starts to realize that Luzhin is only marrying Donia in order to take advantage of her desperate situation, and when she
