#wait why tf did Dostoevsky name the worst character in this book after himself

[angel-with-paper-wings]

“The Brothers Karamazov”: Book 1 Random Thoughts

Spoilers under the cut!!!

Poor baby Mitya being forgotten at every turn by the adult guardians in his life 😭😭 This definitely won’t leave any long-lasting psychological damage…

We’re two chapters into the first part and Fyodor Pavlovitch is already proving himself to be worth less than the scum on my shoe 😤

I can tell Dostoevsky was a big believer in the “trauma during childhood leads to psychological challenges in adulthood” theory, which is so important since a huge portion of modern-day psychology believes this to be true as well. It just makes his book seem so real.

SLAYYY THE GENERAL’S WIDOW DOING WHAT WE ALL WISH WE COULD DO AND SLAPPING FYODOR PAVLOVITCH IN THE FACE 👏👏👏🔥🔥🔥

In the words of that Brooklyn-99 meme: “I’ve only had Alyosha for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.” 🥹🥹

“There are “certain” words and conversations unhappily impossible to eradicate in schools. Boys pure in mind and heart, almost children, are fond of talking in school among themselves, and even aloud, of things, pictures, and images of which even soldiers would sometimes hesitate to speak.” - It appears that students in Russian schools in the mid-1800s acted the same as students in American public schools today 🙄

During the whole “Are there hooks in hell?” conversation between Fyodor and Alyosha at the end of Chapter 4, all I could think of was that one SpongeBob ep:

“He entered upon this path only because, at that time, it alone struck his imagination and presented itself to him as offering an ideal means of escape for his soul from darkness to light.” - But why did Alyosha feel the need for the escape from “darkness”? So far, this kid seemed to grow up in a nice household where he was taken care of well, at least in comparison to his brother Dmitri. I’m curious to know if he’s secretly guilty about something, or maybe he is still grieving his mother? Hmm, he is a tough nut to crack…

I’m so fascinated by the chosen alliances of the brothers: you would expect that Dmitri, being the most similar to his father in behavior, would be the one to get along with Fyodor the best, but instead he allies with Alyosha almost immediately, and Ivan gets along with their father the most??

“He only sent word the day before, through a friend, to his brother Dmitri, that he loved him and expected him to keep his promise. Dmitri wondered, for he could not remember what he had promised…” - DMITRI 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

This has been SUCH an interesting read so far! I’m so excited to learn more about these brothers and their terrible father!!

#the brothers karamazov #dostoevsky #fyodor dostoevsky #wait why tf did Dostoevsky name the worst character in this book after himself #there’s some deeper meaning there probably but idk what it is