Part V - Chapter I Practice Quiz — Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Part V - Chapter I
What is Luzhin doing at the start of Part V, Chapter I?
He is nursing his wounded vanity the morning after his broken engagement to Dunya, calculating his financial losses from forfeited apartment deposits and furniture.
What financial losses does Luzhin face after the broken engagement?
He cannot recover the forfeit on the apartment lease or the instalment paid on furniture. The German landlord insists on the full contract and the upholsterers refuse to return any money.
What does Luzhin regret not having done for the Raskolnikov family?
He regrets not having spent fifteen hundred roubles on a trousseau and gifts, reasoning that such generosity would have made them feel obligated to him and unable to refuse him easily.
What event is being prepared in the building during this chapter?
Katerina Ivanovna is preparing a funeral dinner (memorial feast) for her late husband Marmeladov, to which all the lodgers have been invited.
Why does Luzhin summon Sonia to his room?
Ostensibly to apologize for missing the funeral dinner and to discuss a charitable subscription for Katerina Ivanovna's family. In reality, he is setting up a scheme to frame Sonia for theft.
What does Luzhin give Sonia during their meeting?
He gives her a ten-rouble note, presenting it as a personal charitable donation for Katerina Ivanovna's family.
Why does Luzhin insist that Lebeziatnikov stay in the room during his meeting with Sonia?
He wants a witness to the transaction so he can later use the meeting as evidence in his scheme to frame Sonia for theft.
How is Andrey Semyonovitch Lebeziatnikov physically described?
He is an anaemic, scrofulous little man with strangely flaxen mutton-chop whiskers. He is a clerk who almost always has something wrong with his eyes.
What is the nature of the relationship between Luzhin and Lebeziatnikov?
Luzhin despises and secretly manipulates Lebeziatnikov but stays with him to gain access to progressive circles. Lebeziatnikov increasingly dislikes Luzhin but still shows him residual deference from earlier years.
Why did Luzhin originally seek out Lebeziatnikov in Petersburg?
Luzhin feared being "shown up" by progressive circles and wanted to use Lebeziatnikov — his former ward — to understand and potentially ingratiate himself with the nihilist movement.
How does Sonia behave during her meeting with Luzhin?
She is shy, overwhelmed, and confused. She avoids looking at the money on the table, tries to leave multiple times, and eventually bursts into tears when Luzhin mentions the orphans.
How does Lebeziatnikov view Sonia's prostitution?
He considers it a "vigorous protest against the organisation of society" and claims to respect and rejoice in her for it, reflecting his distorted application of progressive ideology.
How does the chapter explore the theme of exploitation disguised as charity?
Luzhin presents himself as a generous benefactor to Sonia and her family, but his gift of ten roubles is actually bait in a scheme to frame her for theft — showing how apparent kindness can mask calculated cruelty.
What does the chapter reveal about the theme of money as power?
Luzhin views all relationships in financial terms: he regrets not buying the Raskolnikov family's loyalty, counts money ostentatiously before Lebeziatnikov, and uses a charitable gift as a weapon against Sonia.
How does Dostoevsky critique radical ideology in this chapter?
Through Lebeziatnikov's muddled advocacy for free marriage, communal living, and cesspool-cleaning as nobler than art, Dostoevsky satirizes shallow progressivism while also exposing Luzhin's cynical conservatism as equally bankrupt.
How does Luzhin's rational self-interest parallel Raskolnikov's theory?
Both men use intellectual justification for harming others. Just as Raskolnikov theorized that an "extraordinary man" may commit murder, Luzhin calculates that exploiting the vulnerable is simply good business — revealing different manifestations of the same moral corruption.
How does Dostoevsky use dramatic irony in Luzhin's gift to Sonia?
The reader can sense Luzhin's ulterior motive while Lebeziatnikov sincerely praises his generosity, and Sonia is genuinely grateful — creating tension between what the audience suspects and what the characters believe.
What role does social satire play in the Luzhin-Lebeziatnikov dialogue?
The extended conversation satirizes both shallow radicalism (Lebeziatnikov's absurd theories) and cynical opportunism (Luzhin's exploitation of progressive ideas), functioning as Dostoevsky's commentary on 1860s Russian intellectual culture.
How does Dostoevsky use foreshadowing in this chapter?
Luzhin leaves money on the table, insists on a witness, asks about Raskolnikov's presence, and appears "excited" and "preoccupied" after Sonia leaves — all signaling his hidden plot without revealing it directly.
What does "preternatural" mean in the context of Luzhin's description of Katerina Ivanovna's condition?
It means beyond what is normal or natural — Luzhin uses it to describe Katerina Ivanovna's desperate state, though he quickly substitutes the simpler word "ill" when Sonia struggles with the term.
What is a "commune" as Lebeziatnikov uses the term?
A utopian community organized around socialist principles where property is shared, traditional marriage is abolished, and members live according to progressive ideals. Lebeziatnikov claims to be establishing one on a "broader basis."
What does "nihilist" refer to in the context of 1860s Russia?
A member of the radical movement that rejected traditional social institutions, religious authority, and moral conventions in favor of rational materialism. Dostoevsky uses characters like Lebeziatnikov to satirize the movement's excesses.
Who says: "Am I to get married simply for the sake of the furniture?" and what does it reveal?
Luzhin says this while lamenting his financial losses. It reveals that his concern about the broken engagement is primarily economic — he reduces marriage to a financial calculation rather than an emotional bond.
What does Lebeziatnikov mean when he says Sonia's prostitution is "a vigorous protest against the organisation of society"?
He reinterprets Sonia's suffering as ideological activism, claiming she exercises her right to dispose of her "capital" as she sees fit. This absurd rationalization shows how progressive ideology can distort moral judgment about real exploitation.