Contingency, Irony, Solidarity and The Brothers Karamazov

First Impressions Upon Comparing the Work Done on CIS and TBK:

-TBK falls into the category in which Rorty call helping the reader “become less cruel” rather then the search for autonomy.  

-Within the public realm of books that help us become less cruel, TBK falls into the category of injustices practiced between kinds of people, rather then the focus of injustices of an institution.

-Further distinguishing the text, I believe TBK falls into Rorty’s category of those who seek to update the private Final Vocabulary, over the category that seeks to update the public Final Vocabulary.  

• That TBK does achieve what Rorty calls getting the reader “inside cruelty”.

• I debated whether or not TBK was able to evoke the readers emotions up to the standards of Nabokov.  Did this book cause the “tingles” Nabokov describes?

• Has TBK (can it) given Fyodor Dostoyevsky the immortality Nabokov speaks of?

• That the following quote relates very well with TBK:

  “Further, literary interest will always be parasitic on moral interest. In particular, you cannot create a memorable character without thereby making a suggestion about how your reader should act.”

And that both the characters Fyodor and Alyosha exhibit the quality being described.

Exploring These Impressions

-TBK falls into the category in which Rorty call helping the reader “become less cruel” rather then the search for autonomy.

I think this claim is fairly obvious as this text does follow a group of brothers who constantly come across some form of cruelty - whether they are experiencing it, inflicting it, attempting to correct it, or simply witnessing it.  As we follow the protagonist, Alyosha, we his efforts to lessen the suffering of those around him, especially that of his family.

~Throughout the text, Alyosha attempts to eradicate the issues of others.  When seeing the group of school boys attacking a single weak child, he goes to inquire.  He asks the boys to stop beating up on the lone child, and even goes to help the child.  In this section we see a cruelty being done, and someone attempting to lessen the suffering of another.

~Zosima as a religious figure, listens to people’s hardships and sins, and gives aid or advice respectively where he can.  In the case with the man who killed a woman and got away with it, after another man was accused and died before trial, Zosima listened and advised the man to confess- which both made him feel much better.

 

-Within the public realm of books that help us become less cruel, TBK falls into the category of injustices practiced between kinds of people, rather then the focus of injustices of an institution.

TBK does not focus of one group or institution specifically inflicting cruelty.  Rather it displays family member being cruel to family member (Fyodor and any of his sons/wives), class being cruel to class (Demetri beating the captain), male being cruel to female and vise versa (Lise/ Alyosha, Grushenka/ ) and even society in general being cruel (the town about Zosima’s death). 

~Fyodor treatment of women shows a kind of cruelty that can occur between man and wife.  He disregards Sofia Ivanovna’s (his second wife) feelings and the sanctity of their marriage by regularly holding drunken orgies with various women.

~After Zosima’s death no miracle occurs like some predicted.  When his body begins to decay with no sign of mystic enlightenment, many of the towns people disregard his good works and say he was morally flawed and possibly evil.  Rather then mourn or celebrate his life, they condemn a dead man, which I think demonstrates a harsh cruelty.  

-I debated whether or not TBK was able to evoke the readers emotions up to the standards of Nabokov.  Did this book cause the “tingles” Nabokov describes?

Personally while reading the text there were a few scenes that gave me chills, a few powerful moments that allowed for greater emotional depth to be reached.

~As I intended to give a specific quote from the chapter 5, in book 5, i think the passage as a whole was very powerful.  In this section Ivan describes his poem the Grand Inquisitor, which describes Jesus Christ coming back to earth and being condemned for his works.  The descriptions of the people, and the church leaders is truly chilling (at least I found it this way).

~Another “tingling” passage is when Alyosha goes to the captains home, and finds out his brother savagely beat the man in front of his son- the same boy who bit Alyosha earlier in the text.  It was an emotional scene when the boy’s father refuses to take money from his abuser- in order, he feels, to keep the little respect his son might hold for him.  

-That the following quote relates very well with TBK:

  “Further, literary interest will always be parasitic on moral interest. In particular, you cannot create a memorable character without thereby making a suggestion about how your reader should act.”

And that both the characters Fyodor and Alyosha exhibit the quality being described.

Personally while reading I found the most memorable characters to be Fyodor, Alyosha, and Zosima.  Zosima and Alyosha are both in the monastery and religious/spiritually driven lives.  These are obvious characters who we look up to and possibly admire for their good works:  Zosima for his wisdom, ability to go beyond tolerating and extend kindness to all, unwavering beliefs.  Alyosha for his faith, goodness, and dedication to others.   Fyodor is used as a suggestion how not to act and treat others.   

-Fyodor consistency seeks to only fulfill his interests.  This is cruelty by ignoring the interest of others in pursuit of one’s own desires.  Fyodor attempts to cheat his sons out of inheritances, and consistently disregards the feelings of others around him.  This may evoke feelings of disgust from the reader, and is clearly a character who’s values are contradictory to those a moral person who have.  Juxtaposed to Fyodor, we have Zosima.

-Zosima is a highly spiritual individual, who is loved and respected by the town.  He never judges others, and serves as a moral compass to those seeking advice.  The character is written in such a way that although the reader may want to embody some of his characteristics.