Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was a depressive Russian author who is considered to be one of the world's greatest nihilistic writers in his time; moreover, his topics usually dive deep into the concepts of the mortal limit of internal suffering and its psychological impacts.  In his titles, such as The Idiot, Dostoevsky reflects his own pain of being captured and thrown into a work camp in Siberia and the harsh treatments that were truly more of a mental horror than a physical scar. It can be concluded by his experience that physical wounds heal more quickly than the trauma of absurd suffering. Due to his own horrific past, he used his books as a reflection of himself to add another layer of depth into the universe of his writings. This form of Realism delves considerably deep into the place of the human role and how it should act. 

Spoiler Alert: The next section gives a vague spoiler for one of his titles, Crime and Punishment

Of course, his original plan does not go as he wishes and he is then stuck in a loop of guilt and madness. When he killed the old woman, a part of himself also died. Such an action chains him, rather than sets him free. Despite his intellect, the will of temptation took over far too swiftly, meaning that the main character reached beyond the moral/ethical boundary, forcing him to eventually lose his mind. Such a book teaches the outcome of temptation if such intellectual policies are not settled to discipline free will. Unfortunately, despite writing such a lesson, it did not keep Dostoevsky from his own spirals of materialistic obsession rooted from envy, which he at first tried to achieve through his own hard work.

Money is constantly seen as the solution to our problems, but also the problem in itself, as it’s become such an important part of society. Thus, by exercising such free will, like the protagonist in Crime and Punishment, we expand our own freedom, which is often seen as irrational and impulsive since problems are more likely to be caused by it. At the same time, by keeping such free will within a box, we also limit our own freedom, which implies to ourselves that we are inferior toward the flow of time and scared of outcomes that may negatively impact us. Such a statement defines the concept that there is no such thing as freedom, for humans will always desire more purely by a form of comparison. To be free is to be unfree. The only way out of such a loophole would be to reach an unmarked path toward self-enlightenment and learn to be satisfied with the life you’re living. Such an unmarked area could potentially be summed up to one complete word: gratitude. It can be seen commonly that such financial necessities are desired by the physical body but, on many accounts, the spiritual idea of emotional acceptance can help resolve issues. (This can be seen in The Notes of the Underground.)