The biblical notion of the "promised land" has had a profound influence on secular literature. Modern authors have reinterpreted this biblical ideal to include any land of redemption or salvation. This is an important concept in both Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Kafka's America. Although these novels present very different images of the Promised Land, both focus on the protagonist's sense of claustrophobia until the moment of liberation for both protagonists ultimately lies in a sense of spatial freedom . of redemption. Karl goes abroad because he has inadvertently impregnated a servant; he is sent away to escape paternity charges and his social sin can be traced between Karl and the biblical Joseph, who also has to leave his home because he is equally blamed for the sexual advances of an older woman. When Karl arrives in America, he is greeted by a brilliant light: "a sudden burst of sunlight seemed to illuminate the Statue of Liberty, so that he saw it in a new light. (3)" This can be compared to that of the Israelites' exodus, who is guided by a pillar of fire: «And the Lord walked before them by day with a pillar of cloud, to guide them on the way, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light. (Exodus 13:21)" However, a crucial difference between the biblical guiding light and Kafka's is that, despite its brilliance, the latter illuminates an ominous entrance: the Statue of Liberty holds a sword instead of a torch. Despite this detail, America, for the moment, remains a landscape of freedom: "The arm with the sword rose as if it had just been stretched high, and around the figure blew the free winds of heaven." America, the Land of the Free, could also be Karl's House of Slavery. Joseph has a similar experience: he escapes the advances of Potiphar's wife only to be thrown into prison. When he manages to get out of prison, he becomes a figure important in Egypt, a land where his people will eventually become slaves. Karl also unknowingly goes to a new land that may prove to be the antithesis of the Promised Land that he thought was his alienation. He describes himself as “fighting for righteousness in a strange land (22)” as Moses calls himself “a stranger in a strange land.” (Exodus 2:22)" Despite his idealized image of America, no doubt derived from Europe. Conceiving of America at the time as the land of opportunity, Karl discovers a country of oppression. At first, under the tutelage of his uncle, feels welcome and safe. Even then he begins to feel claustrophobic. In fact, before disembarking from the ship, he finds himself “uncomfortably crushed (5)” in the stoker's bunk his first personal connection, with the ship's stoker. This friendship soon disintegrates when Karl exchanges it for the alliance with his uncle Jacob. Despite the unusually luxurious accommodation with his uncle, Karl is almost a prisoner the city outside his room is the view from the balcony and windows, but his uncle prevents him from enjoying this pleasure, who "would frown in annoyance if he ever found Karl on the balcony. (40)"The first When Karl leaves New York City, he goes to Mr. Pollunder's country house. It is here that Karl feels overwhelmed by the claustrophobic environment. The house itself is oppressive. Mr.Pollunder says: "Don't you find that when you leave the city and go to the country you don't feel a kind of feeling of freedom?"... "He talks," thought Karl, "as if he knows nothing of all this." huge house, the endless corridors, the chapel, the empty rooms, darkness everywhere.' (80)" But it's not like that, precisely the labyrinth of dark corridors contributes to Karl's claustrophobia: "everything has cramped him here (82)". He feels attacked by Clara, to the point that he sees Mack, her boyfriend, "as a liberator ". (69)" He is physically trapped by his host when Mr. Pollunder questions him: "And he hugged Karl and held him between his knees. (79)" When they finish talking, Karl notices that Mr. Pollunder is holding him with his arm "and involuntarily struggles to free himself from Pollunder's arm (82)" Imagine a clear but impossible escape: "the road that led to his uncle through that glass door, down the stairs, across the drive, along the country roads, through the suburbs to the great main street where his uncle's house was, seemed to him a strictly ordered whole, lying there empty, smooth and prepared for him, and calling to him in a loud voice (82)"Nevertheless, once Karl leaves his uncle and his uncle's friends, his journey leads him to further oppression and toil comparable to slavery. He finds work in Ramesses, a city that shares its nickname with the biblical city that the Israelites built while they were slaves in Egypt: "Therefore they set overseers over them to burden them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh the cities of the treasure, Pithom and Raamses... And they made their life bitter with hard slavery, with mortar and with bricks, and with all sorts of service in the fields: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor (Exodus 1:11 -14)" Karl describes the hotel employees with similar narrative force. He is shocked by the intensity of the work: "he had not conceived of work like this (198)." “After a twelve-hour shift, finishing duty at six in the morning, he was so tired that he immediately went to bed without paying attention to anyone. (148)” The exhausting work contributes to Karl's progressive sense of closure and alienation. When Karl leaves the hotel, he finds himself trapped once again in a compromising position in the service of Brunelda, a domineering, obese woman whose puppet lover, Delamarche, Karl knows from his previous trip. As their mutual friend Robinson, who had been Brunelda's servant until Karl's arrival, points out, "this is not service here, it is slavery." (242) Karl finds himself literally suffocated by Brunelda's fleshiness when he tries to escape: in an involuntary but failed attempt to escape the pressure of her body (248)" She is the ultimate contribution to Karl's claustrophobia: "her head, which she was pressed against her breast, she could not move either backwards or sideways (252). "Thus, instead of a land of freedom, America becomes for Karl the land of slavery from which he must escape. His escape mirrors the biblical Exodus in its dramatic composition. Karl follows a job offer for the Nature Theater of ' Oklahoma stating, "All are welcome! ... Our theater can find a job for everyone, a place for everyone! (272)" Karl notes that even "destitute and disreputable characters (295)" are hired. In the biblical exodus, Moses also insists on the inclusion of everyone. He will not even accept Pharaoh's offer to let go of everything except the cattle: “And Pharaoh called Moses, and said, Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and herds stand still; let your little ones also go with you". . (Exodus 10:24)" The Israelites leave Egypt quickly; they cannot take anything with them or even wait for the bread to rise. Similarly, Karl notes that “no one carried luggage;the only thing that could be called luggage was the pram." (296)". The dramatization of the hiring process invokes a more biblical meaning. The journey of future employees begins by passing through a field of women on pedestals: «hundreds of women dressed as angels in white robes, with large wings on their shoulders, blew on long trumpets that glittered like gold. (274)" These angels, which means redemption, sound the trumpets, which is a biblical signal to the Israelites, gather together and continue their journey: "Make thee two silver trumpets; of the assembly and for the navigation of the camps. (Numbers 10:2)" The trumpets also indicate deliverance: "And if you go to fight in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you will sound the alarm with the trumpets and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. (Numbers 10:9)" The Israelites, like the new employees of the Nature Theater, have no idea where they are going, but they trust in the unknown promised land. Karl's excitement is underlined by the long-awaited liberation from the confines of his former life in America. “Only now did Karl realize how great America was. (297)” The America that Karl passes through on his journey to Oklahoma contains new promise. Even the confines of his railway compartment cannot take away his newfound sense of freedom: "Everything that happened in the small compartment, which was thick with cigarette smoke despite the open window, faded into relative insignificance before the grandeur of the scene. outside. (297)" Images of endless landscapes abound in the novel's final scene. "Boulders of blue-black rock rose in sheer wedges above the railway line; even if you craned your neck out the window, you couldn't see their tops. (297-8)" This landscape of mountains, valleys, and streams is in stark contrast to the view from the balcony of Karl's room at his uncle's in New York, where he had "little more than a view of a street, running perfectly straight between two rows of square buildings. (38)" We therefore expect Karl to find in the promise of Oklahoma, the land of redemption that his first experiences in America had not offered him. Crime and Punishment presents a character in an equally claustrophobic environment whose redemption occurs not in endless landscapes, but in a prison in Siberia. However, for Raskolnikov, the protagonist who torments himself mentally after killing a pawnbroker, prison provides release from claustrophobia and mental, rather than physical, anguish. Like Karl, Raskolnikov is completely alone and poor in a strange environment. He lives in a small room, "more like a closet than a place to live... hidden under the roof of a tall five-story building. (1)" The small enclosure contributes to Raskolnikov's claustrophobia: "He was a a tiny place... and so short that anyone, even of slightly above average height, felt uncomfortable (23)" This environment also contributes to Raskolnikov's isolation: "A more slovenly and degraded lifestyle is unlikely could have imagined, but it suited Raskolnikov's current state of mind and was resolutely withdrawn from all human contact (23)" But Raskolnikov is also mentally alienated because he considers himself superior to everyone else and therefore cannot relate to others. others. He agrees with a conversation he overhears: "Kill her, take her money...don't you think that thousands of good deeds will erase one small, insignificant transgression?...Nature must be guided and corrected. (56)" Use this philosophy of the "superman" to justify his actions: "What he contemplated was 'no crime' (61)" After the murder, Raskolnikov's sense of isolationit grows due to his intense guilt and feverish delirium. He initially questions his sanity: "A dark and tormenting idea began to arise, the idea that he was going mad and that he was incapable of reasoning or protecting himself. (69)" He feels that way. guilty of doubting his own faculties: «The belief that everything, even his memory, even the simple faculty of reflecting, was abandoning him, had begun to torment him in an unbearable way. my punishment?" (76)" Intense self-condemnation brings Raskolnikov to new lows: "In his soul he was tormentingly aware of a sad feeling of eternal loneliness and estrangement. (87)" Despite being aware of his situation, Raskolnikov rejects every offer of help, friendship and support. "He had cut himself off from everyone and had withdrawn so completely into himself that he now shied away from any kind of contact. (1)" He is so tormented by guilt that he expects imminent accusations from everyone, and therefore he is not unable to trust anyone, not even his mother and sister. The city of St. Petersburg adds to Raskolnikov's oppression and alienation. It's dirty and crowded and the people are poor. The intense and "suffocating" heat of July contributes to claustrophobia and causes the smell of sewer to pervade the city "The heat, the crowds crowding together, the bricks and mortar, the scaffolding and dust everywhere, and that peculiar summer stench... everything combined to aggravate the young man's nervous disorder (2)" It is not possible that Raskolnikov could free himself from his physical and mental oppression by remaining in the city. Raskolnikov's only escape from his mental prison is his dreams. Their hallucinatory quality is a far cry from the dirty bustle of the city and the killer's intentions. guilty conscience. “He [gets lost] in a labyrinth of daydreams (58)” that represent the antithesis of his world: an Egyptian oasis, “clear and fresh” water. flowing over brightly colored stones. The bright and pure images of the dream have a biblical resonance. The clean water, in contrast to the dirty and diseased canals of St. Petersburg, represents the pure baptismal water of the New Testament: "And he showed me a river of pure water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)" However, even his dreams are invaded by the claustrophobic images of his doomed reality. During a delusional hallucination, "A fly woke up, banged against the window glass and made a plaintive buzz. (235)" This same fly appears when Raskolnikov wakes up from his dream: "Only a large fly buzzed and banged against the glass (236)” Like the trapped fly, Raskolnikov is trapped within the confines of St. Petersburg and his tormented, guilty conscience. Therefore, the only way Raskolnikov can escape his doomed existence is to leave St. Petersburg and morally purify his conscience through Confession is the biblical path to redemption: «If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us sins and purify us from everything. injustice. (1 John 1:9)" Confession is also linked to baptismal purification, and the "wide and lonely river (463)" in the Siberian prison camp suggests the biblical meaning of the Jordan: "and [they] were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. (Mark 1.5)" However, it is difficult for Raskolnikov to actually confess. Once he does, he finds himself reliving his murderous act: "the time had come... This moment seemed terribly similar to that other, when he had remained behind the old woman, after she had freed the ax from the slot. (345)" Raskolnikov's confession allows him to cross the boundaries he has struggled with since committing the crime. But even though the confession serves as.