Keeping Up With the Karamazovs: How Does Dostoevsky Justify Suffering?
The other day, a woman saw me reading The Brothers Karamazov and told me Crime and Punishment was her favorite Dostoevsky novel. Respectfully, (I replied) I disagree. All that happens in Crime and Punishment is that a guy kills an old woman (who deserves it) and also (by accident) kills her sister (who does not deserve it). And then he spends the whole book feeling guilty about it. Boring!
The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery wrapped up in two separate love triangles that poses the ultimate religious question: how can a just God allow innocent children to suffer? Dostoevsky avoids the question by having the character who doubts in God simply…go insane. But don’t worry — we’ll tackle the question without going crazy in this January 28th Novel Exchanges session at Sharky’s Bar and Grill! And the best part is, you don’t have to read all 800 pages of The Brothers Karamazov to join the discussion – you just have to read two short chapters (about 20 pages).
Let me give you a quick run-down of the 800-page novel – just so you have some context for the chapters we’ll be discussing. Ivan, Alyosha, and Dmitri are the sons of Fyodor Patrovich. Fyodor is a buffoon and a drunk and a miser. Dmitri is engaged to Katerina, but he’s in love with Grushenka. Fyodor is in love with Grushenka (and trying to bribe her to sleep with him), and Dmitri is pissed about it. Ivan is in love with Katerina, but Katerina can’t make up her mind if she’s more in love with Ivan (a “respectable” guy), or Dmitri (who’s totally broke and in debt to his father, but it would make Katerina feel really good about herself if she could save his soul). Alyosha is a monk-in-training who’s just doing his best to keep his family members in check. It’s a line-up worthy of a reality TV show.
In the chapters we’ll be focusing on, Ivan and Alyosha are discussing religion. Ivan has previously admitted that he doesn’t believe in God or an immortal soul – and because he believes in neither, “everything is permitted”. In “Rebellion”, Ivan tells Alyosha three stories about “the suffering of children”, all in order to prove “that if the devil does not exist, and man has therefore created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness”. He ends the chapter by declaring that if the Revelation were to come to pass, and all of the ways of God were revealed to people, he would “respectfully return him the ticket” to heaven – because “if the suffering of children goes to make up the sum of suffering needed to buy truth, then I assert beforehand that the whole of truth is not worth such a price.” Wow! Imagine telling a monk that you would turn down God’s offer to go to heaven. Are you on Ivan’s side, or Alyosha’s?
Alosha replies: “That is rebellion” – and replies that Christ demonstrates that it is possible to “forgive all and for all“. Ivan responds with a poem of his own invention, titled “The Grand Inquisitor”. In the poem, the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition arrests Jesus Christ and berates him for returning to Earth. He tells Christ that people do not want the freedom offered by Christ, because people are weak, and they want to follow a strong leader who will take away their free will in exchange for a comfortable life. Christ’s only reply is to “gently kiss” the Grand Inquisitor “on his bloodless, ninety-year-old lips. That is the whole answer.” A kiss? My God! Is that enough of an answer? Let’s discuss!
Why do innocent people suffer? Is there justice in the universe, and where can it be found? What are the responsibilities that accompany free will – and do people actually want those responsibilities? What is the purpose of forgiveness, and is forgiveness an adequate response to others’ cruelty? Click here to join me for a drink and a discussion of the questions that Dostoevsky devoted 12 novels to pondering!
