While I am more fond of reading this book now and am happy we are getting more into the story and learning more about the characters (even if it may contradict what we have been told in the beginning), I am still frustrated. Of course, that's not saying much being me. We seem to get some action, but are then put on ice with another character description or very detailed backstory that contains within itself moments where Dostoyevsky gives us a hint, but then says enough about that now we'll get to that later.... Well don't mention it then!
Okay now that that's out of the way...
I think the cause behind much of the action in this book to be questionable. He couldn't possibly go on with Grushenka unless he pays Katerina back? That's some sort of nonsense if you ask me. That makes as much sense as Mikhail the murderer marrying his new young wife because he thought it would make him feel better (398). I mean giving her the money back now after so much time doesn't erase the fact that he did it or the manner in which he did going off with Grushenka like that. One side of me thinks that he really does love Katerina, but then I suppose he just respects her. He is given in to the fact that he is a scoundrel, but just wants to square things off with that one person. He knows Alyosha will love him anyways, but the only other person it seems he does owe anything is to Katerina. Of course, it's ironic that he is going around to all this trouble so he can go with a clear conscience to Grushenka when she's already run off with her old lover. The question of love is kinda thrown out the window when you start to realize through their actions, not their intentions or even words, that they more or less just deserve each other.
Ah the murder has taken place has it? It only took most of the work, but I suppose we have come to the long awaited, "business." Of course this is revealed at the end of the book, so there is more to come. Very good on the part of Dostoyevsky to get you to keep reading. As frustrating as it is, it does work. Let me go on as saying that I don't think Mitya did it. Too easy a plot like for Dostoyevsky. Dmitry is in a tight spot though. I really don't know how to feel about the characters anymore. As much as they are scoundrels, idiots, and frustrating, you know that they are also victims, romantics, and the children of circumstance. I don't know how Dostoyevsky keeps track of it all and keeps going. On to the investigation!
5 comments:
I think you're really onto something when you say that Mitya's refusal to go on with Grushenka before paying back Katarina is ridiculous. It's like Alyosha pretending he doesn't believe in God because some old monk died after predicting that event for weeks. Is it some Karamazovian trait to resist both the ordinary and change by means of clinging onto some strange idea from the past? Dmitry speaks of his relationship with Grushenka as a time of great change, but I wonder if he really wants to change at all. Alyosha is in quite the same situation regarding the death of Zosima... after that moment Alyosha is no longer a monk, but rather a "man of the outside world" and will soon be put to the test. Do you think that these two situations are similar?
I love the example you use about Mikhail. I wrote in another post comparing Dmitry as suspect for Fyodor’s death to Fyodor as suspect for impregnating the “Holy Fool”. It seems as though Dostoyevsky using small anecdotes that appear in conversation as examples show us how to read later events in the actual plot as they relate to the main characters. This is a very interesting recursive tactic; I’m so glad you highlighted this example!
@Patrick Lambdin
They do seem pretty similar. It's a little surprising for Dostoyevksy too. He seems to think everything through and has this descriptive map he is laying out, but I just feel there are these large holes like these.
Though Alyosha's crisis arises from the fact that Zosima's corpse reeks--not from the death itself? Now no doubt corpses have a tendency to reek (and sooner rather than later--but for Alyosha it's the contrast between what happens after his death versus what he and many others at the monastery had been expecting (miracles).
PS. My comment above was meant as a reply to Patrick. For some reason this format still doesn't allow replies to comments.
@Katarina: This question of dispensing with the past (for example, in this instance paying back Katerina)in order to move on with the future (which here of course means hoping for a new life with Grushenka) is one we might want to consider on a broader scale of the novel and see whether it applies to others.
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