Number one: Crime and Punishment:
Why am I annotating this work?:
The work I will be annotating is the book review I did first in my current Dostoevsky project, on the magnum opus novel "Crime and Punishment". I selected to annotate this book because I think I did the most work in this one and it is rather wide in terms of content in it. The "Crime and Punishment" book review is filled to the brim with social reasoning as the main one, and then Personal qualities as the second main one. I talk about Russian life and Russian culture at the time in the elegant novel, I talk about the philosophy behind it and the human implications of the philosophy. I use examples from fiction and other philosophies. I am proud of this work and so that is why I am selecting it mainly. It has a very wide scope of mediums for my reasoning and knowledge, including philosophical, theological, musical, artistic, and writing.
What learning goals did I address in this work?:
Firstly I mainly focus on the social side of the project and social reasoning. The main point of the book review is that, a book review, in which I go into the plot and themes of the book I read apart of the Dostoevsky literary works, and a big summary and discussions about the novel, but that is only the surface. I go in deep into history, philosophy, religion, and the themes of the book in different interpretations and discussions, (which are mainly philosophical). I also show where the writer was at in his life at the time and how that affected everything about his writing and world view. I use the example of the books main plot theme, i.e. the murder of the pawn in the motive of Utilitarian ethical beliefs and radicalism. The main character exudes beliefs about radical Utilitarian beliefs, and in my conclusion I talk about the consequences of killing somebody to do good in the world and how it would effect us terribly. And that also, life and morals are more complicated than Utilitarian beliefs make it out to be, and debunking the notion and or doctrine of diminishing morals and the ethics of humans down to cold hard reasoning and rationality, and that nothing is as simple as "giving the most good to people while bad and suffering should be enjoyed one hundred percent of the time and how suffering is actually a good thing that we need to experience and that suffering shapes us to be better people in the world and that it is utterly necessary for ourself to be more rounded individuals. I also debunk Utilitarian doctrines, (that suffering should be avoided and that pleasure should be strived for), and show that in the milieu of the book crime and punishment how it affects people and how we truly have to atone for what we do wrong and that we need to suffer for ourselves to be fully rounded in life and that suffering makes us who we are. I use an example from the anime "death note" and show how it is clearly mirroring the plot of crime and punishment in the 21st century. I mention the themes of Orthodox Christianity and the bible verses and parables that are cited in the book for my Theological knowledge. I also mention the Philosophy of Frederick Nietzsche and his philosophical idea of the "Over man" and compare that towards the ideas of the main Character Raskolnikov with his own complex of thinking that he has certain rights to overstep boundaries and that he also compares himself to the General Napoleon. I put Nietzsche's idea next to the Character Raskolnikov and show how they are different with the example Nietzsche talks about called "The camel, the Lion, and the child." And I also talk about the implications of how people thinking that they are superior than others is a dangerous ideology to possess and how it causes death and suffering, (WW2, genocide's, Etc.)
I also show my knowledge of the Russian language and what words are in Russian.
The second main one that my learning goals hit is the personal qualities section, in which I made a drawing and a song for the book and my interpretation of the book. In the painting, I draw many symbolic symbols which represent the book and its themes. I depict the Orthodox cross in the painting as the main force of religion and its implications that it has on the right side, and on the left I drew a axe with blood which he killed the woman with, in a certain sense showing the juxtaposition of both, and then, finally the last symbol I depict is the Kopeck that made him desire to kill her for the money and the riches and I show how it corrupts him. I also write many things in the Russian language, including "crime and Punishment", "Fyodor Dostoevsky", "Kopeck", and "Suffering" all in Russian to show my knowledge of the language as I am now, at this moment, learning it. And then secondly I did the song in the project to represent crime and punishment's themes. In the song, (which is ten minutes), I start off with minor 7 chords with a large amount of chromaticism with the melody I play, which in turn represents his idea that he has to kill the Pawn broker and how it is coated with dissonance and abhorrence, but at the same time, with the rather colorful chords, I also represent the idea as it seems in his head, (as logical and pleasure bringing for everyone). Throughout the whole song I coat it all with extreme dissonance and Chromaticism to signify the horror of his thoughts and actions, in which I bring distorted guitars and dissonant melodies, chord progressions, scales, modes, and time signatures to make you feel like you are witnessing the mans very downfall.
What Skills did I learn?:
In this project I learned how to apply my knowledge of the works of Dostoevsky in different writings and mediums. Because at the time of writing the project and starting it I knew a fair amount about Dostoevsky and the Project acts as a vessel to show my knowledge and how I can apply it all in different means and my progression of reading all of his works.
1) I learnt how to use music more effectively to convey meaning and stories through symbolic instrumentals. I would use this later on in my other projects around representing things, and same with art.
2) I learnt how to use art and drawings to convey meanings and stories through symbols.
3) I have gotten better at summarizing and citing my sources and resources for the work, which are listed at the bottom of the Project. This is good for my writings and showing my sources and credibility for papers for higher education.
4) Using examples to convey meanings and show relations between religion, philosophy, literature, history, social reasoning, biographical interpretations, to show how things connect together in the big picture of everything together. Such as the examples I talked about and how it affects us, (Death note, Frederick Nietzsche's philosophy, Christianity, religion as a whole, Utilitarian beliefs, and more.) This shows my knowledge of relationships between ideological beliefs and how they apply and this can be used in further writings and university papers and my books.
And mainly how to show my knowledge of something.
What could I do better?:
In summary I think I could improve on my citing a tiny bit more, even though I listed it as something good, such as citing and quotes for my other examples for other Philosophies. And that I could improve on doing the same thing for each book review in the depth I did here.
Number Two: The Brothers Karamazov:
Why am I selecting this work?:
I am selecting this book review I did for my Dostoevsky project because, one, it is the most revered work out of all of his books and literary works, two, because it is my favorite book by Fyodor Dostoevsky out of all of the works I have read, and three I did my previous book review on the work last year and this work in my Dostoevsky project incorporates a little part of my other book review I did last year. In this book I lean a bit more heavily into the philosophical themes of the book itself and the religious themes as well. And the most interesting part is the part from my previous book review where I do a philosophical exercise on the books themes that are apparent and I made a philosophical theory titled "Dmitri's execution theory" which I lean into heavily at the latter end. The point of annotating this one is because I love the book, it is his most popular, it is filled with social reasoning, and my philosophical theory.
What Learning goals does it address?:
1) The learning goals address the themes of social reasoning mainly and social qualities. Firstly it incorporates social reasoning through the background of the novel that contribute to the themes that are apparent. For example, I talk about how Dostoevsky's son had died while he was writing it, which furthered the themes of father and son and the theme of childhood in the book, and how his father was rumored to have been murdered and how that contributes to his work as well, with the theme being the murder of the brothers father. I also show how I know his life and works by, in the biography in a different section of the project, I compare the step son of his that Dostoevsky took care of and whose name is the same as one of the illegitimate sons in the novel, with the stepson in his time being called an illegitimate son. I talk all about the plot and summarize it and give a full character list with everyone in the book. I talk about Orthodox Christianity themes that are also apparent in the book as well as well as some history such as the Spanish inquisition when it was mentioned in the book In a poem about religion. In this work I also did a critique of one of the quotes in the book, which was "if their is no god, then everything is permitted". And I went on to show my skills in critical thinking to explain what that quote would mean for everyone and how it wrong and is actually the opposite of what it claims and I used Quran and bible verses as examples of how the claim is clearly the opposite if anything. If their is a god then everything is permitted, not the opposite. (That was in the conclusion)
2) The second one that my learning goals hit is the personal qualities section and at the same time I think it also shows social reasoning, but mainly personal qualities I think. The second part is my previous book review that I put in with the project as well, which is called "The Philosophical theory of Dmitri's execution". What it is is a philosophical exercise on one of the sections in the book and I applied it towards a philosophical theory. In which I describe the different relationship between desiring things as a process, and I go on to claim that when one gets their desire they end up in the exact same place they were when they wanted it, and also that, (in a nutshell), when one is achieving their desire, (gaining it but not yet got it), they are in a constant state of wanting their journey to end and immediately get the item and that they want, but once they get the item, they cherish every single moment until it eventually leaves them and then they, (in the theories terms), get executed by regret, and that they are in a constant process of achieving and releasing, in which, I use the example of the prosecutor in court imagining what a murderer must feel like as they are wheeled down the street to the gallows, where he describes that they look around them and cherish every road until they get towards the gallows, while they are cherishing every single second; I simply relate that theory to desire. This is personal qualities because it shows my artform of writing and my skills in it as something I love to do as a hobby, and at the same time shows my social reasoning.
What Skills did I learn?:
I learnt how to apply my knowledge of philosophical investigation and theories in an example of a novel and show my rational thinking and reasoning with my medium of writing as a personal quality. This I can use in my own philosophical theories, which I am playing to also rewrite the theory as well.
I learnt how to critique a part in the book, which would be great for literary criticism.
And I learnt to show how I can relate his life towards the novel, which I can use for literary scholarship.
What could I do better:
I could of rewrote my theory instead of putting it back in its original form, but I short on time.
Number three: Biography:
Why?: I am selecting this work because it shows my deep knowledge of Dostoevsky's books, and as well it shows my knowledge of his life in relation to his books. I am also selecting this one because I use quantitative reasoning as well in the biography as a application of my use of math's.
What learning goals did it address:
It mainly, again, shows my deep knowledge of social reasoning, religion, philosophy, and more thing related as well such as history. In the biography I tie many parallels between his life and his novels as I go through his life and all of his siblings, and his daughter. I show my knowledge of theology with his religious beliefs and his convictions, I show my knowledge of the Orthodox Christian tradition in Russian culture and also I show the historical aspect of socialism at the time, which led him to be imprisoned.
And secondly, I show my application of math's to a financial situation and money's value over time. In which I use the example of Dostoevsky selling 3000 books and if they were at a Rouble each, it would add up to 202 Aud dollars today and rounding the 202 down to a 200 you get 200x3000=600000 Aud in todays money which he could of got.
What did I learn?:
I learnt how to show parallels between the life of his and his books which would be useful for literary work in the future and critical thinking.
And I showed that I am capable of applying math's in ways creatively, which is useful for the future and financing.
What would I do differently?:
In total, I would write the biography differently by having the book I wanted about his life, but don't have know, to reference and do a deep dive, but I don't have it.