I'm not fond of Father Ferapont. I don't know what his purpose is really. It was about Father Zosima dying and then we were introduced to Ferapont all of a sudden and just as suddenly we were back to Zosima and Alyosha. In class Ferapont and Zosima were compared and people said which one they thought was more holy or which they liked better. I don't think one is more pious than the other. They just focus on separate aspects of religion. Ferapont focuses on personal salvation whereas Zosima is more focused on the forgiveness of humanity and sharing gods love. Whether either is completely successful I do not know. Zosima is more or less beloved. As everyone, he does have his critics. The big difference is that Ferapont just keeps to himself. Although you have to love Dostoyevsky.... He took a vow of slience... he speaks sometimes... okay let's have him have this really long conversation with this stranger to him... His characters do not seem to be very firm. But maybe that goes back to being Russian like when it said Grigory never struck his wife, but there was that one time.
Loofah anyone?
This new family of characters is very interesting. It almost reminds me of mine a little in the way of their communication. We just kind of say whatever no matter if its a parent to child or the reverse. Not quite as rude as Varvara though. It is interesting that there is something wrong with each of them. The mothers with bad legs, the hunchback sister and the ill boy. Dostoyevsky painted quite a picture of that boy. Biting Alyosha's finger like that and then taking off wailing down the street. It kind of came from left field a bit. Was definitely not expecting that. Ilyusha is a boy that saw his father humiliated and it is eating away at him. He just cares about his father and wants him to be avenged. His father isn't avenging himself so the boy just want to be able to do it, but is too small to battle Dmitry so he just does that in his dreams and battles the school yard children instead. The father is at odds with himself as well. He doesn't like to not defend himself but if he duels with Dmitry then his family will be left with nothing. Of course, Alyosha was fixing all that with the two hundred roubles from Katerina, but then he got all excited. ALyosha is becoming more and more a complex character. He almost seems nothing like the firs description of himself. He still critizices himself and he just turns the other cheek when other people insult him and blushes up a storm, but he doesn't seem as shy around the women and is learning about human interaction more and more. This might just be because of the level of human interaction he is getting as of late as everyone errand boy.
And where oh where is Dmitry?
2 comments:
Haha, I like the image of "Alyosha" here!!! And of course, the loofah (мочалка/mochalka) as well! And "at odds with themselves" is an interesting way indeed to think of the Snegiryovs--just about everyone in fact. Two of them have legs that don't work...the mother unsays just about everything she utters...and Snegiryov is a fascinating blend of contradictions...as is Ilyushechka as well...
I like your thoughts on Father Ferapont. Maybe his comparison with Zosima isn't that relevant since they do focus on different religous aspects, but ultimately they are both religous men. I like that you noticed the vow of silence thing too. What kind of vow of silence is that? It appears that Zosima is focused more on the love and forgiveness of Christianity and Ferapont is focused on the devils - not evil people themselves, but the evil creature cropping up all over the monastery.
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