The Brothers Karamazov

When my grandparents died, I inherited a set of books that my grandfather had purchased. They are an incredible collection of books including ancient Greek poets and philosophers through modern scientists, scholars, and philosophers. Authors include Homer, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Augustine, Hobbes, Locke, Bacon, Newton, Hume, Kant, Smith, Marx, Melville, Tolstoy, etc.

Earlier this month, I grabbed Dostoyevsky's 'Brothers Karamazov' from the collection and started reading it. I've been wanting to read that book since High School and for some reason, I never got to it. Wow! Tolstoy is still my favorite author, but I've found another favorite Russian author. This was the last book he wrote in his lifetime. In it, he explores a lot of powerful theological and philosophical questions. All three Karamazov brothers are beautifully developed. Alexey (Alyosha), the youngest, is described by many characters as an 'angel' for his virtue and ability to inspire others for good. He is not a shallow character, in spite of my flimsy sketch of him, and is endowed by the author with a formidable intellect. Both he and his mentor, Father Zossima, represent a virtuous life and through them, we explore the attitudes, habits, and joys that can attend such a life. The oldest brother, Dmitri (Mitya), is the least intellectual and the most physical, sensual, and passionate of the three. Note: these adjectives do not necessarily mean sexual, though there is an element of that to Mitya's character. He, like all the characters in the book (except perhaps Father Zossima and Smerdyakov), is a mix of good and evil. He is an honorable man, though often misguided through his intense passions.

The most interesting, though, is the middle brother, Ivan. His expositions on the problem of suffering and a play he invents called 'The Grand Inquisitor' are well worth reading by themselves. He is an extremely intelligent character who claims he doesn't dispute the existence of God, but inwardly is tormented and undecided on many important theological questions. He tells his religiously devout younger brother that he doesn't dispute the possibility that all wrongs will be made right, that all suffering and torment may be justified in some miraculous way in the end of creation, but that he rejects it. Not that he disbelieves the possibility, but he won't accept it. In support of this decision, he brings forth some incredibly tragic tales of suffering in children that made me shudder. A couple of them reminded me of the child in the story 'The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas' and almost made me cry to read them. He claims that regardless of any future redemption, the current suffering of even one innocent child is not worth it. I admire the character's feeling and I can understand it even though I disagree with his assumed purpose for such suffering.

A very interesting scene near the end of the book has Ivan, possibly hallucinating, in conversation with the devil. Struggling with his desire not to believe in God or the devil, he seems to be playing a game either with a subconscious part of himself or with the devil himself in which he explores parts of his philosophy and events that have derived from it. One part of that philosophy that turns out to be central to the plot is the idea that if God does not exist, if there is no immortality, then everything is lawful. If there is no absolute - and admittedly, the discussion of whether such an absolute can exist without God doesn't even appear - then there is no justification for ethics, morality, or any external standard by which conduct can be measured and judged. Every man is a law unto himself. And the consequences of that philosophy permeate the novel as they are imbibed and/or evaluated by two characters in particular, Mitya and Smerdyakov. These consequences and his own sense of guilt end up driving Ivan almost to madness and he is seriously ill when the book ends.

It's a LONG book, but a powerful one. It was really interesting to follow Dostoyevsky as he explores both sides of some long-standing issues dealing with God, immortality, ethics, and other ideas in philosophy. In answer, perhaps, to Ivan's accusations against God regarding suffering, the book ends with the death of a young boy whose life had been plagued by undeserved suffering. Primarily through the efforts of the youngest Karamazov brother, the young boy's last few weeks were made a little more joyful and his death had a significant impact for good in the lives of many of his schoolmates. The book ends with a stirring call from Alyosha to a group of boys to remember their dead friend and their feeling of kinship with him and with one another on the day of the boy's funeral. One of Alyosha's final statements is, "How good life is when one does something good and just!" and is followed shortly after by a confirmation of Alyosha's belief that they would all rise again after death and continue their associations with one another. The book ends, then, with a repudiation of the assumption that led to Ivan's fatal philosophy, which I think must reflect Dostoyesky's own view near the end of his life.