/lit/ - Literature

>>8980410
also it could be that zossima was not as saintly as was implied

>>8980416
...which is the conclusion all the gossipy monks and townsfolk came to. It seems too pat.

Think about it, if Z smelled of flowers and seemed incorruptible Alyosha might've stayed behind and built a shrine to his corpse, staying nice and safe in the monastery being all pious and prayerful. It's almost if Zossima lit a stinkbomb to drive him out.

>>8980427
so it's just a convenient way for dostoevsky to push the plot forward? symbolic of youthful disillusionment in religious structure or something?

>>8980410
That's pretty much what I got from it. It also set up Alyosha's spiritual redemption (his faith shaken by Zosima decomposing then Rakitin trying to get Grushenka to fuck him, putting him at his spiritual lowest point, making the time right for his moment of life-affirmation (the dream/vision of Zosima telling him everything's okay).
Another angle is that it could be seen as a response to the Grand Inquisitor's argument that Jesus should have submitted to Satan and shown the world miracles, to take the free will aspect out of belief. Zosima miraculously staying undecayed would have been similar to Jesus performing a miracle for no reason; it emphasizes the importance of faith instead of blind following, what the Inquisitor was advocating.
Like you said, it's like Zosima continued to live through Alyosha. He always felt Alyosha would be better off doing good deeds in the outside world, and immediately after he dies we see Alyosha already doing just that by being a friend to Grushenka and coming to terms with some of his own faults in the process. Zosima's death is what set the next wave of that Christlike selflessness into motion, and we see Alyosha sowing those ideas in the young boys towards the end.

The book is so well-composed it really is incredible. Everything ties together in a million different ways.

Because he was a human being and that's what happens when you die. They were all being superstitious idiots and getting caught up on this weird myth rather than appreciating what a good man he was.

If this is the TBK circlejerk I have a question:
What's the deal with Rakitin? I've read it three times and understand most everything else, but
>why is he a student of the monastery if he's apparently an atheist (I remember him quoting Nietzsche and criticizing the church in some way or another)?
>what does he have to gain from trying to break Alyosha's faith? It's clear this is his goal when he brings him to Grushenka
>why does he have it out for Alyosha, who seems to be extremely kind to everyone, to the point of mocking him as he has an emotional breakdown after his father figure died? That's not banter, that's just weird cruelty
>in the likely case that he's an asshole to other monks as well, why hasn't he been kicked out or something?

>>8980487
Rakitin struck me as somebody stuck in a crisis of faith, and feeling very vulnerable as a result. He's overcompensating by putting forth this sort of edgelord persona. He almost reminds me of the Underground Man as a monk, somebody who gets perverse pleasure from sowing discord and making an ass of himself, but is secretly filled with paradox, doubt, and conflict.

I could see him have a similar "I can't be good, they won't let me" breakdown if D were to live and continue the story.

>>8980460
This is an important point. There seemed to be a culture in the monastery and village at large that was always expecting miracles and concrete proof.

I grew up Catholic, and there's this whole tradition revolving around the bodies of certain saints remaining "incorruptible" from decay after dying. I wouldn't be surprised if there was something similar in Russian Orthodoxy. I think Dostoevsky was demonstrating the unworldly, misguided nature of faith demonstrated by such thinking, completely contrary to Zossima's teachings.

>>8980447
Not only push the plot forward, but also to force Alyosha's character to develop. Remember that Brothers K was to be the first book of a trilogy called The Life of a Great Sinner, with Alyosha being the titular character.

>>8980517
I really do wonder what direction the brothers would have taken, especially in two more huge books