Marmeladov and the drunken girl suggest that the people in this environment have lost all hope that they have to resort to alcoholism to ease their problems.  It also demonstrates that people in this area have no morals because they are willing to take advantage of a 16 year old girl.  To top it all off, once she was drunk, another man had the nerve to follow her with the intentions of raping her once more.  People here have lost all sense of decency because of their extreme poverty that they have reverted their basic animalistic instincts.

There were many different responses to the drunkenness of Marmeladov and the girl.  Most people laughed at Marmeladov because his plight made them feel better about themselves.  Since everyone in this area is poor, they needed something to make them forget their troubles and Marmeladov supplied that for them.  This demonstrates to us that the people in this world are very shallow and take pleasure in someone else’s pain and discomfort.  It was much the same for the drunken girl except that instead of laughing at her, the man wanted to use her for his own pleasure and take advantage of her.  This demonstrates that the morals of the people in this world are not good.  Although the policeman wanted to help the girl, this small act of kindness doesn’t refute the fact that most of the people in this society are corrupt.

The ideas that float around in Raskolnikov’s society are very dark and morbid.  When he is at a bar one day he over hears two students talking and one of them tells the other that everyone would be better off if they killed Alyona Ivanovna.  He justifies this by saying that they would be able to do a lot of good with her money and help many impoverished families.  However, this justification still does not permit the murder of another human being, no matter how cruel they are.  Even Raskolnikov, who is normally a good kindhearted person, gets dragged into the idea of killing this woman and will actually follow through with it.  This demonstrates how one person can be influenced by another’s ideas rather easily if they think there is no other way to obtain something.

The presence and prominence of Alyona Ivanovna suggests that most people in this environment are desperate and in need of money.  Everyone knows that she will only give them one fourth the actual value of their items, which is by no means a fair price, but they are so desperate for money that they will settle for anything that they can get.   The fact that Alyona has so much control over people tells us that the impoverished people who live here don’t know where else to turn, or that there is nowhere else to turn.  It further imparts the feeling of despair among the people to the reader.

The presence of Darya Frantsevna is significant because she serves as a constant reminder to young girls of what will happen if they are not able to escape their poverty and despair.  She is always there to capture all of the girls who have gone astray and had sex before, like the drunken girl Raskolnikov comes across.  In this novel prostitution is looked down upon by most.  The girls who resort to the sale of their bodies are almost ostracized from their society.  They are required to move out of their original home and go live in the home designated for them.  On top of that, they must carry a yellow card that identifies them as a prostitute.  However, due to the fact that it is legal to be a prostitute in their society, one might say that there is a certain acceptance of them to a small degree.  The acceptance isn’t complete, but at least they are tolerated by the people.