Volume 03 Issue 05-2023
77
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
05
P
AGES
:
77-81
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2022:
5.
445
)
(2023:
6.
555
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
ABSTRACT
Determine the influence of the image of Raskolnikov from the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment" to
create the image of Ethan Hawley - the hero of the novel by the American writer J. Steinbeck "The Winter of Our
Anxiety".
KEYWORDS
Interaction of Russian and American literature, J. Steinbeck, spiritual and moral problems, the novel "The Winter of
Our Anxiety", the novel "Crime and Punishment", F. M. Dostoevsky.
INTRODUCTION
In the XX century realistic literature the West continues
the artistic investigation of the "hidden" nature of the
world, revealing its "enchanted" visibility and cynical
inner essence. Characteristic in this respect is John
Steinbeck's novel "The Winter of Our Anxiety" (1961),
which is one of the examples of artistic assimilation the
creative credo of F. M. Dostoevsky, expressed in "the
idea of a person's moral responsibility to society, ...
loyalty to the truth of life in its expediency and beauty".
Steinbeck himself, speaking about the main topic of
every real writer
–
on the theme of the struggle of
good and evil with good in the human soul, he
admitted that for him some books written by his
Research Article
EXPRESSION OF CRIMINAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE NOVELS OF F. M.
DOSTOEVSKY "CRIME AND PUNISHMENT" AND J. STEINBECK "THE
WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT"
Submission Date:
May 21, 2023,
Accepted Date:
May 26, 2023,
Published Date:
May 31, 2023
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ajps/Volume03Issue05-14
Sabohat O. Shukurova
Acting Docent Of English Philology Faculty Doctor Of Philosophy In Philological Sciences (Phd) Karshi State
University, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ajps
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 03 Issue 05-2023
78
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
05
P
AGES
:
77-81
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2022:
5.
445
)
(2023:
6.
555
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
predecessors were much more real than life
experience.
THE MAIN RESULTS AND FINDINGS
Among these books he referred, first of all, to
Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, and then to
"Madame Bovary" by G. Flaubert, "Paradise Lost" by J.
Milton, novels by George Eliot and "Homecoming" by
Thomas Hardy. "I read them," the writer recalled,
"when I was very young, but I don't remember them as
books, but as events that happened to me". In Russian
literary studies, the problem of the influence of the
artistic heritage of F. M. Dostoevsky on the work of J.
Steinbeck's representation is practically unexplored
and has a staged character, although the moral aspect
of the novel.
Ethan Hawley is not a villain by nature. He is a kind of
philosopher. Crime is important for him not in itself,
but only as a means of solving the problems that
torment him. That is why, before deciding to “cross the
line”, Ethan Hawley, like Rodion Raskolnikov, tries to
find justifying arguments. After all, he is not just a
cretin-like bandit who stops at nothing for the sake of
money. Reflecting on the moral side of the upcoming
crime, Ethan thinks: “I temporarily gave up my usual
views and norms of behavior in order to gain wellbeing,
self-
esteem and confidence in the future”. But if Ethan
convinces himself that he committed the crime for the
good of his loved ones (“... in fact, my self
-esteem
depended on their well-being and confidence in the
future”, then Raskolnikov is guided by the idea that he
will rid the world of a nasty creature - an old
pawnbroker. If Ethan is committed to private crime:
“But I had only one very specific goal in front of me,
and I knew that, having achieved it, I would return to
the old norms of behavior again. I had no doubt that I
could do it. After all, the war did not make a murderer
out
of me, although for some time I killed people”,
then Raskolnikov went further - he did not consider his
ideological crime a crime, but he did not consider it so
only at the level of logic, while his soul trembled with
sin, he was not calm. I had no doubt that I could do it.
After all, the war did not make a murderer out of me,
although for some time I killed people”, then
Raskolnikov went further - he did not consider his
ideological crime a crime, but he did not consider it so
only at the level of logic, while his soul trembled with
sin, he was not calm. I had no doubt that I could do it.
After all, the war did not make a murderer out of me,
although for some time I killed people”, then
Raskolnikov went further - he did not consider his
ideological crime a crime, but he did not consider it so
only at the level of logic, while his soul trembled with
sin, he was not calm.
The idea that the crime committed can be later atoned
for is persistently haunting Ethan, while Raskolnikov
does not want to see the crime as a crime. If Ethan sees
around him a mass violation of moral principles and
Volume 03 Issue 05-2023
79
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
05
P
AGES
:
77-81
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2022:
5.
445
)
(2023:
6.
555
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
therefore believes that it is permissible for him too
(“And when one of our successful businessmen
achieved his goals, it would not cost him anything to
return to his former virtu
es is like changing a shirt”,
then Dostoevsky’s hero protests against the immoral
world
–
his very crime is a protest. If the image of
Raskolnikov is aimed at emdiving the meaning of the
collapse of a vicious idea and the possibility of
resurrecting a per
son, then “the image of Hawley
personifies the problem of a person associated with a
moral decline and decomposition of the personality: it
is the craving for money, the spirit of acquisitiveness
and gain imperceptibly corrupt the hero”. Steinbeck's
hero gives a moral assessment of the world of business
entrepreneurship: “And, as far as one can judge, he did
not suffer any moral damage by violating his duty
–
of
course, provided that he was not caught by the hand...
So, petty sins are excusable, but why then not let go of
the crime committed in one fell swoop, boldly, without
sentimentality?. ”He is well aware that the business
world of New Baytown is based on these violations,
cannot exist without them. The thought of the
relativity of moral standards deprives Ethan of vital
stability. The loss of moral guidance ultimately reduces
him to the level of Allen's son, who without hesitation
learns the main commandment of the world around
him: the end justifies the means. Having lost firm moral
guidelines, Ethan can no longer influence his son and,
as a result, lets his upbringing take its course. And
when Allen categorically declares: “What is there when
there is so much money! Everyone does it”, Ethan can't
say anything. He has nothing to oppose moral, or
rather, immoral statement. The idea of the relativity of
moral categories leads to the fact that Ethan not only
automatically ceases to be the head of the family, not
only loses his authority, but, in fact, commits spiritual
suicide. The final collapse of himself, like the collapse
of Allen, is the natural result of the loss of moral
criteria. Envy, mutual hatred and enmity reign in his
family. And Ethan's conclusion is not so unpredictable:
“It is not true that there is a commonwealth of lights, a
single world fire. Each of us carries his own light, his
own lonely light”. It is noteworthy that the solution of
the socalled “Napoleonic theme” in European and
Russian literature of the last century had its own
differences. It is no coincidence that A. Malraux in the
2
0th century. says: “Having met Raskolnikov, we can
no longer look at Julien Sorel or Rastignac with the
same eyes”. The Napoleonic motif in the interpretation
of Dostoevsky also underlies the creation of the image
of Ethan Hawley, although the image of Raskolnikov is
more complicated, there are more spiritual
contradictions in it and there is a challenge to the
surrounding vice, while Steinbeck's hero simply
recognizes the pattern of subordination of the spiritual
world to the physical: “If the spiritual wo
rld, he
concludes, is subject to the same laws as the world of
things, which means that everything is relative in this
relative Universe - moral tendencies, biological
conception, norms of behavior, the concept of sin ".
Volume 03 Issue 05-2023
80
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
05
P
AGES
:
77-81
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2022:
5.
445
)
(2023:
6.
555
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
And the worst thing is the conclusi
on of the hero: “It
cannot be otherwise. You can't get away from it". And
this is the deepest mistake and tragedy of the
personality of Ethan Hawley. According
to
Dostoevsky, who subtly and sharply captures all “the
complexity and long-term nature of changing human
life for the better” attention to one's individuality, the
manifestation of one's will can lead not to the
flourishing of the personality, but to its degradation
and physical death. And this important discovery
cannot be ignored when analyzing the processes
taking place in Western art of the 20th century. The
thesis that the end justifies the means expresses the
essence
of
spiritless
individualism,
and
the
consequences of implementing this principle in life
practice were at the center of attention of Western
realists. In the XX century. Following Dostoevsky,
Western writers discover that the goal cannot serve as
an excuse, because otherwise the tragedy of
Raskolnikov is repeated, who hoped to atone for his
crime with a mass of good deeds and benefit mankind.
Raskolnikov did not suspect what mental anguish he
was dooming himself to. The murder of an insignificant
pawnbroker was the very unsuitable means that
introduced him to the world of evil, which led him to a
feeling of “openness and isolation from humanity”, to
the idea that he did not kill the old woman, but himself.
Steinbeck's novel The Winter of Our Anxiety is an
example of creative assimilation of the lessons of
Dostoevsky.
CONCLUSION
The Russian genius helped Steinbeck overcome the
naturalistic life, to realize the crucial importance of
ethical values. the image of Raskolnikov can serve as a
key to understanding the image of Ethan Hawley,
although each of them has a number of properties
inherent only to him. If the image of Raskolnikov is
understood as having the prospect of spiritual rebirth,
then the image of the hero Ethan Hawley is more
limited, it shows the attitude of a person who set
personal goals above the moral idea and subordinated
the laws of the spiritual world to the laws of the
physical world in his mind. The conclusion presented in
this article can be applied in the development of
courses on the history of world literature of the 20th
century and special courses on the work of F. M.
Dostoevsky and J. Steinbeck.
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Volume 03 Issue 05-2023
81
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
03
ISSUE
05
P
AGES
:
77-81
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2022:
5.
445
)
(2023:
6.
555
)
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
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