Infusion and the Cup - The Brothers Karamazov (part 1)
Its been
more than a year since I read war and peace. And now here another long-ass
Russian novel which is actually only 1 third the length of W&P. And I realized
that I never actually got round to finishing my review on W&P and posting
it. Somehow because I had certain things to say about Pierre which I was unable
to put into words and ended up having to
put it off, and putting it off has led to it not being completed a year later,
even though I did end up finishing that book.
And wow,
but since then, I don’t think I’ve read any other book? Recently I’ve started reading
The Brother’s Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Why? How? When?
I decided
to read this book sometime this month (or I should need to specify that it is
May 2020, because there is a high chance I will end up putting this off again
and forgetting what month I am referring to).
In the middle, or rather, rear end of the lockdown, where I had no
access to any library to borrow the hardcopy book. But Gutenberg is a thing, and
I could read the HTML version. Anyway, I decided that even if I had the
hardcopy, as I did when reading War and Peace, I would still end up going to
the Gutenberg version because it was more accessible and in all honesty it is
important to draw less attention to myself. Even at home. Because I feel so, so
trapped.
I decided to
read The Brothers Karamazov because of this one piece of assigned reading in my
intro philosophy class last semester. Chapter IV of Book 5, Rebellion, was
the reading for our chapter on Religion, which focuses on the Argument from
Evil. And I thought it was the most enjoyable reading of the whole module and
made me resolve to read the rest of the book if only to get more of Ivan
Karamazov’s nihilism, or what I perceived to be nihilism at that time. Thus, sometime
after the course ended I started to read this book, and here I am now, 3
quarters of the way through, or 65% complete.
The Brothers
Karamazov is a long book, some pages shy of a thousand pages, and is split into
4 parts of 3 books each, where each book is further divided into some chapters.
I have completed the first 3 parts.
My favourite
character, or the character which I find
most relatable, is Ivan Karamazov. Perhaps because I went into the book
because if this guy’s ideologies. I have read some reviews and comments online
which say that everyone who reads The Brothers Karamazov is able to find a
little of each Karamazov brother inside themselves. And this is perhaps true.
Something I
would note would be that most readers perhaps do not consider Smerdyakov to be
one of the Karamazov brothers, even though it is made rather clear that
Smerdyakov is also a son of Fyodor Karamazov, albeit an illegitimate one,
created by one night of merry making which Fyodor had with the destitute
Lizaveta after the death of his first wife. Smerdyakov is about the same age as
Ivan, and it is said that his beliefs most closely resemble Ivan Karamazov’s,
so much so that Smerdyakov looks up to Ivan, and Ivan finds Smerdyakov an
eyesore because two people who both
think of themselves as being “special” and having special knowledge
about the world cannot both get along, right?
Theres this
“scale” of “baseness” that some readers have talked about, regarding the Karamazovs
being on a scale from most base and most entrenched in a lifestyle of
debauchery, to the most pure and innocent. On the sinful side of things there is
Fyodor the father, who is the very epitome of “baseness”, as they say. Next
would be Dimitri, who is the oldest brother and most similar to his father in
terms of being a buffoon and drinking and fucking prostitutes. Following him is
Ivan, the intellectual and atheist who questions life the most, but yet has slightly
fallen into a life of sin with occasional debauchery. On the purest side is Alyosha,
or Alexey, who was a novice monk for about a year or more, and is rather pure
in that he neither does alcohol nor women for the sake of having fun. This scale
also seems to reflect their number of years in life, with the older ones being
more impure and base.
The Cup
This is
certainly a difficult book to read, even when translated. So there are many
confusing things which I just skim over. But one metaphor, or allegory, or
symbolism or whatever that caught my eye is “the cup”. I don’t know if it is
supposed to be a 19th century English thing, but the cup seems to
represent life?
“The cup”
is first mentioned in Dimitri’s poem, in Book 3 Chapter 3.
Joy everlasting fostereth / The soul of all creation,
It is her secret ferment fires / The cup of life with flame.
But I didn’t
make much note of it then. But it is mentioned again in Book 5 Chapter 3, by
Ivan.
if I
were struck by every horror of man's disillusionment—still I should want to
live and, having once tasted of the cup, I would not turn away from it
till I had drained it! At thirty, though, I shall be sure to leave the cup,
even if I've not emptied it, and turn away—where I don't know.
And again in the same chapter.
We shall
meet before I am thirty, when I shall begin to turn aside from the cup.
Father doesn't want to turn aside from his cup till he is seventy, he
dreams of hanging on to eighty in fact, so he says.
It confounds me, but I think the
cup represents the thirst for life? The desire to enjoy life and have fun, to
engage in sinful activities. Of particular interest to me is the act of
continuing to drink alcohol for the sake of having fun, while socialising. Because
alcohol, too, is placed in a up. It symbolizes the intention that Ivan has to
continue drinking till he is 30. And then what? What does it mean to put aside
the cup? Does it mean that he no longer desires to live once he has turned 30? That
he will stop drinking socially, and instead, drinking now becomes a chore for
one has sunk into alcohol dependency.
Does it mean, then, that before
30, Ivan intends to disregard health and honor and the stuff, and just fuck
around and drink brandy or champagne or vodka with socialites. Or does it mean
that till 30, he will continue to find the meaning of life, and continue to
think, to dwell, to write, but if he has yet to find the meaning of life by 30,
he will give up on the quest?
What, then, does Fyodor’s cup represent?
Since he is barely intellectual. Perhaps the desire to fuck around, drink,
seduce girls…or also the ambition to expand his business of many taverns.
I have also considered that Ivan’s
“turning aside from the cup” may represent a desire to stop living after 30, a
premonition that he will be sick and tired of life and all its idiocy by the
time he is 30, and no longer with to engage with other humans.
I will need to think about what exactly
the cup represents and what it means to me. Is it wise to turn aside from the
cup at a certain age when life is no longer worth living? Or is there meaning
to be found in being young at heart forever? Also, to be completely focused on
the cup. Is life all about enjoyment? What is a good way to fill the cup such
that it is more than just brandy? Can it contain more than just merriment, but
also the sorrows of life. Also, what it means for the cup to be broken when it
is unable to hold everything that it is made to hold.
I see Ivan as the representation of someone who is able to
think with extreme clarity and expects the same of his world. A passage
mentions him as a believer who accepts god but is unable to accept the world of
god. Mainly owing to the large amounts of crime and sin and evil which exists
in the world. Personality wise, he is much like the INTP I aspire to be, and is
able to advocate for two seemingly opposing positions at the same time, and
have both sides think that he is supporting them.
Ivan has a dark-ish intellectual vibe which I quite like. It
is also mentioned in the cup chapter that he has few friends and is often
alone, which is some thing I relate too as well.
The Onion
This would be Alyosha. Because this is one of the more
notable chapter titles and it is nature, which is what Alyosha reminds me of. Sunshine
and rainbows. And unlike Grushenka, who has probably only done one small good
deed her whole life, Alyosha would be a whole garden of onions, being a bringer
of peace to many. Alyosha is too naïve at times, which might lead to him becoming
annoying in his innocence. And I find his theism to be irksome. I have a low
tolerance for believers.
How is Alyosha able to remain so pure, and refrain from sin,
amidst society, the base society he lives in? On the one hand seeing his father’s
debaucheries might have motivated him to become the opposite, trying to enter ascetic
life to guard against becoming a creature like his father.
The first day of Zossima’s funeral is perhaps the most impactful
and awakening day of Alyosha’s life, from despair at his trust in Zossima and being
dejected at the rotting corpse, and deciding to let go of his soul abit by
going to Grushenka for a night of drinks and meat. And to the end, where he
regains his faith and love for the world and falls to the ground in joy.
There is the symbol of dreaming about attending a dinner
with dead people, in the Cana of Galilee scene. For some reason it is
reminiscent of the second last episode of Bojack Horseman, and ive a feeling
that dreaming of meeting dead people, at a fancy dinner in particular, is
symbolic of something more important, but I cannot remember.
Alyosha is young, only 20. I wonder if his innocence will disappear
as he ages, and will his character remain pure, or will he degenerate and become
a true blue Karamazov.
The Sewn Money-Bag
This would be Dimitri, whom I next most relate to. in my
opinion, he represents the ides of doing things with no rhyme or reason. Something
like what Fyodor does, going around and saying random bull-crap and being a
buffoon. In the murder trial scene in Mokroe, which is still fresh in my mind, Dimitri’s
behaviour of random outbursts or words, and describing his various actions, I find
to be relatable.
Grabbing the pestle, or sewing the money into a cloth bag
around his neck, to boasting about wasting 3000 roubles, the things that he does
seems not to be determined by either rational thought or feeling. If the world
were to be indeterministic, it would be Dimitri, for the things he does cannot
be explained.
And it is quite true in life too. Why do I say this? Why do I
do that? Inexplicable things happen when I am drunk, but also when I am sober. There
is no reason nor excuse.
Double Death
Zossima dies, and then the next day Fyodor is dead too. This on the other hand is the essence of a deterministic world. By Zossima’s death it has become determined that Fyodor will die. Up to part 3, it still has not been revealed who kills Fyodor. But everything that happens in those days, from Ivan’s departure to Moscow, to Zossima’s funeral, to Alyosha’s emotional rapture, to the arrival of Grushenka’s rapist (if I did not infer wrongly), to the culmination of Dimitri’s passion and desolation, to Grigory’s lumbago and Marfa’s drunkenness, and finally Smerdyakov’s epileptic episode, will all come together and cause, or make certain, Fyodor’s death
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