We form reality. In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky weaves together the stories of three brothers, each of whom desires a specific goal in life, each of whom achieves the reality each sought, the reality each formed. The Brothers Karamazov serves as a reminder that reality potentially lies only in one’s mind; could the entirety of being be nothing more than something contrived? Even if this appears too extreme, can one disagree with the notion that one’s mind can create one’s reality? Dostoevsky’s masterful tale seems to elucidate the mind’s capacity to form one’s life.

The Brothers Karamazov suggests both directly and indirectly the immense, overwhelming power of freedom and free will and the effect these have on one’s perception of reality. In the novel, the three brothers, Ivan, Alyosha, and Dimitri, each seek something specific from life. Ivan wants to gain the love of his brother Dimitri’s wife, Katya. Dimitri wants the undivided love of his mistress, Grushenka. And Alyosha seeks to bring the entirety of his family to a brotherhood with God. All three of the brothers achieve their ends as the novel concludes; however, the family is near ruins. Ivan has gone insane and is near death; Dimitri is charged guilty of murder and about to be sent to the mines for twenty years of hard labor; and Alyosha is left alone, without his brothers nor his father nor a wife.

The trials of freedom and free will for the human spirit are discussed at length in the passage of the novel titled “The Grand Inquisitor.” In this section of the novel, Ivan tells the story of the Grand Inquisitor who explains to Jesus that Jesus himself, through his promises of freedom and free will, has been worse for humanity than the devil. Humanity, explains the Grand Inquisitor, cannot handle free will and thus destroys itself. As Ivan explains during his tale of the Grand Inquisitor, if God created man in God's image, then man created the devil in man’s image. When one thinks of hell, one thinks of horrific acts of torture and slaughter. In reality, this is no different from what humans do to one another here on Earth. In an eerie scene near the end of the novel, the devil visits Ivan and looks almost identical to Ivan. Ivan has created the devil in his own image because of the way by which he orchestrated the murder of his father and the conviction of his brother to achieve his end of marrying his brother’s wife. Ivan has become the devilish reality that he formed in his mind.

However, there lives hope in the death and destruction of The Brothers Karamazov. Throughout the novel, Dostoevsky weaves in the tale of the school children and their rivalries, seemingly petty compared to the grown Karamazov family but, in reality, no different. In the final scene of the novel, the boys have gathered together to mourn the death of Ilyushechka, a boy with whom they fought earlier in the novel. Ilyushechka’s sickness and death bring the boys together in comradery and support for their classmate and his grieving family. Alyosha stands as a new role model for the young boys to imitate; he is someone beyond the carousing of his brothers, a godly man, who wants freedom to reign free. He will form a reality to make his brothers proud.

-Charlie, December 2023