sticky little spring leaves

the brothers karamazov fanblog; not spoiler-free, generally

[currentlycryingaboutlancelot]

what a slap in the face for raskolnikov to throw his life away doing such a horrible, inexcusable thing for no reason other than to prove he is not like others and he alone has unique qualities that make him a higher human being than other people and then to find out upon being reunited with her sister that she’s giving everything she has away for a lifetime of unhappiness so she can help their family. the horror of it is so good. dostoyevsky knew how to write em

[unexpectedphilosophy]

Asabiyyah

The first book we read for our book club was The Brothers Karamazov. It had been a few years since I had stepped away from The Church so it was a kind of beautiful journey for me. Dostoyevsky's and the Orthodox view of Christianity was so dissimilar from my experience in my ways gave the idea of Christianity a refreshing perspective for me.

But I'm not thinking about Christianity today, I'm thinking about the lecture I listened to yesterday on the History of Social Thought and Ibn Khaldun and Machiavelli, particularly the idea of "Asabiyyah" discussed in Khaldun's work. Asabiyyah loosely means "group feeling" and how important it is for the cohesion of society. How we feel a sense of belonging to one another.

Which brings me back to Dostoyevsky, and his anxiety about the state of Russia in 1880. It was stressed. The serfs had been liberated but integration wasn't really happening, the rich were rich and the poor were poor. Ideas that challenged the state were being smashed and the cultural cohesion was splintering under it's weight. A little haunting.

And while the church in 1880 Russia was intertwined in the state, Dostoyevsky was arguing for something far less centered on the state. Something earthier. More human and tangible that the people could hold onto. Unfortunately another idea took hold of the people of Russia in 1917.

But I'm thinking about Asabiyyah today.

Asabiyyah - Wikipedia

Machiavelli and the Muqaddimah by Professor Kozlowski Lectures

Professor Kozlowski ventures into the modern era of political philosophy with a look at two titans of early-Renaissance era political philos

[chromatic-romantic]

"It's a most precious graveyard, that's what it is! Precious are the dead that lie there, every stone over them speaks of such burning life in the past, of such passionate faith in their work, their truth, their struggle and their science, that I know I shall fall onto the ground and kiss those stones and weep over them; though I'm convinced in my heart thst it's long been nothing but a graveyard."

- Ivan Karamazov, The Brothers Karamazov, Book 5, Chapter 3

[chromatic-romantic]

my brain at all times: I have a longing for life and I go on living in spite of logic though I may not believe in the order of the universe I love the sticky little leaves that open in the spring I love the blue sky and I love some people whom one loves you know sometimes without knowing why I love some great deeds done by men though I've long ceased perhaps to have faith in them yet from some old habit one's heart still prizes them

[vikkture]

some attempts at an Alyosha sprite I’ve been working on for…reasons

look at him go!!

[tiredandanxiouschaos]

Pasha's "It's always interesting to talk with an intelligent man" is my favourite line of his, because in my opinion it really shows both his more human and his more cunning side while also directly pointing at his feelings towards Ivan*. He praises Ivan with it. He insults him with it. He suggest they're similiar. He taunts Ivan with it. It's almost worshipful. It's not. It's insulting. Is it? He says it as if to honour Ivan. He says it as if to bring him to his own level, because he knows Ivan thinks he's better than him. He says it to bring himself down to Ivan's level, because after all, he's self-centered, he probably believes he's better than Ivan. He says it to show they are equal (each of them believe the other is lesser). He says it to show the bond between them ("what motivates me? hatred? is it love?"). Ivan despises this line for all the reasons and Pasha knows it.

*which are… confusing, I think even to himself, because I refuse to believe he's just an "ohhh cunning psychopath, he doesn't care about anyone!!"

[monktoucher]

my favorite scene in tbk is when pavel is like "you killed him. i only did the killing but youre the real killer bc you wanted me to do it," and then ivan is like "???? youre the MURDERER???" and pavel is like "yes???? you didnt know?? i thought we had a bit going, you know. like you say 'mitya did it' and i say 'yeah, crazy how mitya did it' and we both have a chuckle bc we know we only framed mitya," and ivan is like "no????"

[bbgdionysus]

I wanna talk abt Liza for a second. Spoilers ahead!!!

Everyone always talks about how tragic Shatov and Kirillov's fate at the end of Demons was because they were so close to happiness only for it to be stripped away from them but I have seen very less people talk about how truly tragic Liza's fate was. She was finally done with Stavrogin and Pyotr's bullshit who kept pulling her down throughout the book ruining her health too but exactly as she has a moment of confrontation in A Romance Has Ended she dies right after. Also, the fact that Liza had dreams she could have done like that journalism thing she always wanted to do but it all got ruined. Also not to mention this is kind of my own opinion but I think that Liza's death of being beaten alive was one the most gruesome deaths in Demons :(((

[secretmellowblog]

Feeling normal about Javert and Eponine today

[keef-art]

the Karamazovs brothers but sisters (and manhwa)

[raeiyyn]

peace and quiet for my baby alyosha when

[igniiies]

An art trade with  @sutekooooo ! Assassin!Alyosha

He was supposed to join the revolution and assassinate the tsar in the sequel.

[igniiies]

“That's plagiarism.”

[sutekooooo]

这张图真的是本人的白月光级别的图记得当时看完卡马上lof搜粮第一眼就是这张直接把我踹进这个坑不懂此图含金量的人已和你们没有共同语言...............（有夸张说辞）🔥🙏🏻

[simplysebby]

I really like how Red & Black is just everyone telling Marius to lock in. who careeeesssss about your love life dude. we've got a monarchy to overthrow. focus

[mysticaldistancing]

Alyosha quoting Ivan was my roman empire by the way.

[hamliet]

Mind if I ask you a Dostoevsky question? I was wondering why Alyosha never talks to Smerdyakov. Other characters look down on Pavel because he's a servant or they're put off by his ~bad vibes~ but Alyosha usually helps people even if they're unpleasant or lower class iirc, so it seems unusual that he just ignores him. The one significant interaction they have (that I can think of) is when Alyosha spies on him and Marya, which I always took to be Alyosha being interested about Pavel's personal life/surprised to see him talking (relatively) normally with a friend.

Also, if Alyosha had been able to help/get through to Smerdyakov, it might've averted the whole tragedy, but do you think he'd be able to? It's hard to dislike Alyosha, but Pavel's a pretty dedicated hater.

Also also, thanks for your analyses, here and in general! I'd been meaning to get into Dostoyevsky for a while, but your posts were the push I needed to start reading!

Ah I'm so happy to hear this! I'm glad you're liking him.

So basically, I think the fact that Alyosha didn't reach out to Pavel is the precise point of the story. It's his flaw that even Alyosha, a compassionate and Christlike figure, is still human and subject to the tendency in human nature to go along with society rather than stand against it. Of course, in many ways Alyosha does stand against it... but not in this, and as a result of him ignoring his blood brother, the children suffer.

None of the brothers treat Pavel as a brother. He is, but their father acknowledges him just enough to give him the patronymic and house him but not enough to give him his name. Instead Pavel got an insult as a surname and serves his father who raped his mother, and the servant who raises him beat him.

Mitya, Ivan, and Alyosha have two different mothers among them too, so Dostoyevsky is emphasizing that this is not a blood thing. The brothers weren't really raised together either, so it's not a shared experience thing. So then, why aren't they accepting of Pavel?

The only real answer is that they adhered to social norms of the day regarding Pavel, and the result is that he treats them like they've treated him.

Mitya doesn’t really acknowledge Pavel at all, treating him exactly like their father treats him. He acts like Pavel doesn't count, so Pavel frames Mitya as if his life doesn't count.

Ivan comes to closet of all the brothers to acknowledging Pavel, but he really just uses Pavel as a receptacle for his ideals without any consideration of Pavel as a person much less a brother—so Pavel uses those ideals to justify his murder. 

But, Ivan does ask the pointed question: what of the children? Of course, the irony is that Ivan can ask about the neglected and abused children in theoretical debates with Alyosha, but he neglects to actually put any theory into action. Like. Ivan. Your brother. He's an abused child. Right there. Listening to you.

Alyosha doesn't interact with Pavel much at all, but neither does he treat him like a brother.

His mentor, Father Zosima, even comments that suicides (how Pavel died) should be the most pitied:

But woe to those who have slain themselves on earth, woe to the suicides! I believe that there can be none more miserable than they. They tell us that it is a sin to pray for them and outwardly the Church, as it were, renounces them, but in my secret heart I believe that we may pray even for them. Love can never be an offence to Christ. For such as those I have prayed inwardly all my life, I confess it, fathers and teachers, and even now I pray for them every day.

Zosima's lament is not just that people take their own lives--it's specifically that the Church casts them out. It's tragedy creating tragedy. And because Alyosha didn’t reach out to Pavel while he lived, he loses almost his entire family because of it. His father's murdered. Mitya's in prison. Ivan's consumed by guilt and "brain fever."

So is it fair to say that Alyosha created his own tragedy? Well, that seems a bit harsh. Yet at the same time, it is a theme in the novel that we are all responsible for each other. So it's fair to say that the tragedies are a natural consequences, but that's not saying he deserves it. In fact it's tragic because he doesn't.

Yet, there's hope. The tragedy and Alyosha's realization of it is why, thematically, the ending of the entire novel takes place at a child's funeral.

Keep in mind, the child who died, Ilyusha, was not a perfect child--in fact, he was noted to be spiteful and attacked other kids and even Alyosha. He was a victim of bullying and a rough family situation, and had a terminal illness (tuberculosis)--all of which Pavel also endures (except his is epilepsy). So basically, we're supposed to see Ilyusha as an earlier version of Pavel (and again, Pavel actually encourages Ilyusha in the novel to be cruel to animals, which he does).

Yet at the very least? Ilusha was loved by his family. Pavel didn't even have that. Ilyusha is also noted to be capable of intense kindness. Could that have been Pavel, if someone had tried to reach him?

At Ilyusha's funeral, Alyosha says the following:

Let us make a compact here, at Ilyusha’s stone, that we will never forget Ilyusha and one another. And whatever happens to us later in life, if we don’t meet for twenty years afterwards, let us always remember how we buried the poor boy at whom we once threw stones, do you remember, by the bridge? and afterwards we all grew so fond of him. He was a fine boy, a kind‐hearted, brave boy, he felt for his father’s honor and resented the cruel insult to him and stood up for him. And so in the first place, we will remember him, boys, all our lives. And even if we are occupied with most important things, if we attain to honor or fall into great misfortune—still let us remember how good it was once here, when we were all together, united by a good and kind feeling which made us, for the time we were loving that poor boy, better perhaps than we are. 

So what of Pavel? What of the children? Reach out to them. Even the ones who appear spiteful and cruel. Especially the ones who are unloved, because love is, as Alyosha himself says in the same speech at Ilyusha's funeral, even if it's just a memory:

If a man carries many such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days, and if one has only one good memory left in one’s heart, even that may sometime be the means of saving us.

Maybe Alyosha reaching out would have prevented the tragedy. Maybe it wouldn't have. But you have to try for there to be hope of salvation.

[sparklehare]

demons,but disco elysium au