"Humane treatment may humanize even one in whom the image of God has long been obscured."
How important humane treatment is! -- And notice that he says "obscured" and not completely diminished. The love for one another cultivates what little loves is left in the person. How delicate it all is; with what gentleness one needs to love, it is so fragile.
"The more fantastical his hopes, and the move conscious the dreamer himself was of their fantastical character, the more obstinately and shyly he concealed them in his heart, but he could not renounce them."
All the prisoners were dreamers, dreaming an impossible dream. That is all they could do- escape into their minds.
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How hard it must've been for Dostoevsky to write this book, based on his own experience. I thought it was extremely interesting how sick, and yet how insecure and lost the "criminals" were. How they needed to have each others respect in the prison, when they themselves had no morals whatsoever in real life. In the end, at their core, they still had an ounce of their conscience, which is quite a miracle after what they have done. Even the human beast cannot escape their humanity, that they are meant to become good.
This is a very fragile existence he described- for a man to be locked up with his mind.
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