The Brothers Karamazov by Feodor Dostoevsky

It may be 19th-century Russia, and it may be a world in which a boy can confound his teachers with the question of who founded Troy because he owns the only book in town with the answer, but the intellectuals of Dostoevsky's day struggled with the same fundamental issues that divide society now. Atheistic socialism and progressive empiricism undermine the tradition and authority of religion on a broad social scale, while individuals wrestle personally with these competing worldviews.

In The Brothers Karamazov, this individual drama is personified by the eponymous brothers. Abandoned by their licentious father in their childhood, the boys reach a tentative reconciliation with him as young adults. But he is murdered, and suspicion falls upon Dmitri, the eldest. Dmitri, passionate and impulsive, lives almost entirely to please himself, and this does not help his case during the ensuing trial.

Ivan, the middle brother, has embraced skeptical materialism, intending to get all he can out of life before "dash[ing] the cup to the ground" at thirty. Alexey, the youngest, is thoughtful and congenial, open-hearted, emanating universal goodwill. It is through him that Dostoevsky projects his ideal philosophy of life and living, though for much of the book Alexey merely listens and observes attentively as others attempt to foist their views on him.

Indeed, the zenith of the book's philosophical discourse occurs as Ivan presents his poem in prose form, "The Grand Inquisitor," to Alexey. In a powerful, railing diatribe, Ivan's inquisitor, a Catholic priest, interrogates Jesus. "Didst Thou forget that man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil?" The priest insists that pacifying the people and appeasing them is more loving and merciful than burdening them with free will. "Thou didst not come down [from the cross], for again Thou wouldst not enslave man by a miracle, and didst crave faith given freely...But Thou didst think too highly of men therein, for they are slaves." All the time he speaks Jesus is silent, and when the priest finishes, He rises and gives him a kiss upon his forehead.

In the same way, Alexey remains quiet for much of the novel, interjecting intermittently but mainly watching his family's sordid drama unfold. The concluding chapter, however, represents his longest speech, a benediction to the group of boys he befriends through their classmate Ilusha's fatal sickness. After Ilusha dies. Alexey beseeches the boys to retain the love and sense of comity that they felt for their friend, and he joyfully assures them that they will meet again, if not in this life, then in the next. His buoyant, steadfast sentiments are made more poignant in the wake of the demeaning injustice of his father's murder trial, and of the myriad disavowals of the faith so dear to him that Alexey endures.