The Brothers Karamazov Part 4, Book X - XI

Book X - The Boys

The narrator takes up the tale a couple of months later and introduces the reader to Kolya Karsotkin, the son of a respectable widowed woman of means, the same fourteen-year-old that Ilyusha, the son of the captain, Snegirov, who had been dragged through the streets by Dmitri. Alyosha had gotten involved in the matter and had begun to bring Ilyusha’s friends from school over to his house to see the poor ailing child. It was said that Ilyusha lay at death’s door and he was particularly influenced by an incident that involved Kolya. Ilyusha had been devoutly enamored by the intelligent Kolya, who was said to be better informed in world history than even their teacher, and had several other legends associated with him. Kolya had not been to visit Ilyusha yet and even refused to meet Alyosha when he had requested such a thing, even though he secretly nursed a great admiration for Alyosha. However, Kolya had finally decided to visit Ilyusha and had brought along his dog.

He meets Alyosha and informs him of his history with Ilyusha, that Ilyusha had been close to him but one day he had come to Kolya and told him about how he had fed a dog a piece of bread with a nail at Smerdyakov’s instigation. Kolya had meant to vex Ilyusha for a bit to discourage such kind of behavior, but then all of that Dmitri business had occurred, and Ilyusha had suddenly stabbed him in the hip when the other boys had been making fun of him. Alyosha escorts Kolya into the home, and he behaves most respectably with all the assembled boys and Ilyusha’s family. He surprises Ilyusha by revealing that his dog was the very same that Ilyusha had feared he had killed with his prank, and the matter had weighed on him greatly in the past month. The boys fall into happy conversation about a variety of subjects and Ilyusha’s mood is greatly improved. The family’s material condition had improved spectacularly as the captain had finally accepted the help of Katerinna, who had visited the family and taken a great interest in Ilyusha’s health. An important doctor from Moscow who is summoned to the town for a most urgent business is directed to see Ilyusha at her behest.

Alyosha and Kolya wait outside, and Kolya does his best to impress Alyosha with his knowledge. Alyosha is severely concerned that a young adolescent such as he would have been corrupted so early by political theory, for the boy proudly declared himself to be a socialist, and believed Christianity to be a means for the higher classes to enslave the low. Alyosha learns that Kolya has been spending quite a bit of time talking to Rakitin. However, Alyoha recognizes a true spark of intellect in him, and they form a rather special connection, that Kolya considers to be an expression of love. Kolya is certain that Alyosha and him will remain friends for life and he is especially grateful that Alyosha had treated him as an adult throughout their conversation. They are suddenly interrupted by the emergence of the doctor who had just been examining Ilyusha.

The haughty man informs Snegirov rather sadly that there was no hope for the recovery of Ilyusha. He expresses a hope for an immediate trip to Europe, where a possible cure could be found. Ilyusha’s father points out the decrepit condition of his living quarters that make such a course of treatment impossible. Kolya, who has a rather poor view of medicine, insults the doctor by repeatedly referring to him as a leech. After the doctor departs in anger, Ilyusha embraces both his father and Kolya with his emaciated and weak arms. He expresses his knowledge of the approaching end and asks them to never forget him. Kolya is moved nearly to tears, but he storms out of the room with the promise of returning soon after dinner and goes out to cry in the corridor. Alyosha follows him, comforts him, and asks him to return to Ilyusha as soon as he can manage it.

Book XI - Brother Ivan Fyodorovich

Alyosha hurries away from Ilyusha’s house and aims to complete a set of engagements before the trial of his brother, Dmitri, which occurs on the following day. He makes his way to Grushenka’s house and thinks about how Grushenka had recently taken severely ill. These past two months had been particularly difficult for her, and she had visited Dmitri often in prison. However, she had begun to become quite upset with Katerina, who had taken such a large role in organizing Mitya’s defense going so far as to arrange legal aid, and medical assistance. Grushenka felt extremely jealous of Katerina, even though Katerina had not once gone to visit Mitya in prison. Geushenka receives Alyosha with ardor, and she confesses that she is in a foul mood because she and Dmitri have quarreled yet again. Upon their last meeting, Dmitri had been upset at her for being too close to the Polish man from her past who had continued to reside in the region in dire poverty. Grushenka had decided to help them with a little bit of money. She mentions a secret that Dmitri had asked her to keep from Alyosha, a secret between Dmitri and Ivan, who had visited Dmitri twice, and yet Alyosha had been kept in the dark about both visits. Grushenka asks about the doctor that had been called by Katerina for Dmitri’s aid, as the defense was trying to argue that Dmitri had been momentarily mad while murdering his father. Alyosha believes that Dmitri will never agree because he knows he didn’t kill Fyodor. He departs with the mission to seek out what secret is being shared by Dmitri and Ivan.

He first goes over to meet with Mrs. Khokhlakov, who appears to be in a wild and excited state for her life has changed rather remarkably in the past two months. She has been receiving visits from both Ratikin and Pyotr Ilyich, who both seem to be courting her. She prefers Pyotr Ilyich and had only recently banned Ratikin from coming to her door, even though he had written a rather beautiful poem about her feet. She is also very excited about the trial since it made it into the Moscow and St. Petersburg papers. She chides him about visiting Lise in secret over the past month and assures him that the business with the marriage arrangement that she had overheard was understood to be all nonsense.

The doctor from Moscow had also seen Lise and indicated positive about the health of her legs. Yet, Lise had been quite upset over the past few days, since the arrival of Ivan, who had visited her very recently. Alyosha extricates himself from the conversation and goes over to speak to Lise and finds her to be quite upset at him and Ivan. She claims that she has received other marriage proposals, and she no longer respects Alyosha. She gives him a letter to give to Ivan, and Alyosha departs. He visits Mitya, who has seemingly accepted his fate, and confesses a newfound faith in religion. He reveals the secret with Ivan, that their brother has been planning a means for Dmitri to escape punishment. He had made arrangements already, but Dmitri hadn’t yet decided what to do and would decide after the conclusion of the trial, which would take place the next day. Alyosha is convinced that his brother is not guilty of the crime and so has no reservations about his plan of escape. He asks Alyosha to go to Katya and tell her not to reveal the favor he had done her upon their first meeting, as he thought it would be far too humiliating for her.

Alyosha goes to Katerina and finds her in conversation with Ivan, who prepares to leave just as Alyosha arrives. Alyosha remarks on their closeness, and as the matter turns to Dmitri, she claims that he had convinced her that Dmitri was guilty of the murder. Ivan leaves her, but Katerina compels Alyosha to follow his brother. She explains that Ivan has been torturing himself over the trial for several days now and that she was worried about his mental state. Alyosha catches up with him and has a conversation with him as they haven’t conversed in a long time. Alyosha believes that Ivan has been avoiding him for several days. Ivan asks him if he truly believes that Mitya is innocent and Alyosha states without hesitation that despite all the proof, he believes him. Alyosha blames Smerdyakov because Dmitri says so, but Ivan doesn’t agree with him. Alyosha suddenly tells him that whoever it was, it wasn’t you, and tells Ivan that this was a message from God. This causes Ivan to become irate, and he storms away.

Ivan had believed the same thing as Alyosha, and he had questioned Smerdyakov very deeply after returning because Smerdyakov had predicted the falling sickness, a fit that couldn’t have been predicted. Smerdyakov had defended himself, by saying that he had been afraid of Dmitri, and merely wished to get out of the way. He accuses Ivan of leaving home, expressly when Smerdyakov had warned him about the circumstances. He implicates him for his father’s death because he had knowingly left. Ivan is haunted by the memory of that night when he had eavesdropped on his father. However, he becomes convinced that Dmitri might have done it. He returns in a couple of days because he had thought Smerdyakov was threatening him by revealing the details of their conversation to the investigators. Smerdyakov comes outright and tells him that he had been threatening him. He stresses the case that Ivan had wanted his father dead and this time Ivan becomes more concerned that Smerdyakov is indeed the true murderer. This also means Ivan was guilty as well for Smerdyakov had all but told him that he would murder their father, and yet he had done nothing. He had gone to Katerina with his concern, and she had shown him a letter that Mitya had written a couple of nights before the murder while heavily drunk. According to Ivan, this was a mathematical proof that Dmitri had indeed murdered their father. In the letter, Dmitri had written that he would murder his father, and had even swore to it. His motivation had been to secure the wretched three thousand roubles that he had taken from her. Ivan had been convinced, but Alyosha had stirred something in him. He visits Smerdyaov again.

This time Smerdyakov acts surprised that Ivan doesn’t truly know what had happened and he outrightly describes how he had murdered the old man, and that it had been Dmitri. Ivan disbelieves him but then Smerdyakov shows him the 3000 roubles that he had stolen as proof. He continues to blame Ivan, who he says had taught him that there was no such thing as virtue. Ivan is horrified, but he accepts responsibility and tells Smerdyakov that they’ll reveal the truth in the trial. Smerdyakov doesn’t believe him and lets him leave with the 3000. Ivan returns to his lodgings where he is tormented by his conscience as he doesn’t want Mitya to suffer for his crime and he cannot believe that he had himself brought about the murder. Ivan is revealed to suffer from hallucinations as begins to converse with his alter ego, which takes the form of an old Russian landlord who is a sponge. Ivan believes this is the devil. It turns out that he’s been dreaming, as he’s awoken by Alyosha who has just learned of Smerdyakov’s suicide.

Analysis

Various instances in the novel lead to the development of a rather controversial theme, that of unkind children. Dostoevsky leads readers to conclude that children are not necessarily always devoid of blame, for instance, when the children beat and bully Ilyusha, who in turn wounds Alyosha without provocation. This point is also made through Kolya, who is an intelligent adolescent but also severely vain. Through the same character, Dostoevsky reveals that these faults in children are a consequence of the adult influences in their life as Kolya has mostly formed this opinion through his conversations with Rakitin, and the old books that his father had left in their library. Kolya’s character is quite changed after he meets with Alyosha, who treats him as an equal and admonishes him for any poor behavior. Similar to Grushenka, Kolya humbles himself in the face of the meek and gentle Alyosha.

Evil is another important theme of the novel, and characters like Rakitin, Smerdyakov, and Ivan are some of the characters with whom this theme gains particular relevance. Both Smerdyakov, and Lise claim that they have been deeply affected, nearly possessed by the ideas of the rationalist, Ivan Fyodorvich. In this section, Ivan is finally forced to conclude that there is such a thing as virtue, because he labels his alter-ego, the devil. It can be argued that if Ivan believes in the existence of the devil, then he must certainly believe in the existence of God as well.