David James Duncan was greatly influenced by the themes and characters found in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Alyosha: Alyosha is the youngest brother in the novel and is considered the protagonist of the piece, although he does not instigate the majority of action throughout the story. At the beginning of the novel, he is living at the neighboring monastery under the guidance of his Elder, Zosima. In a novel that extensively explores faith and doubt, Alyosha represents faith. In his character, great parallels can be seen between him and Irwin and him and Kade. The passages below from the novel give a good sense of who Alyosha is:
“Some will say, perhaps, that Alyosha was slow, undeveloped, had not finished his studies, and so on. That he had not finished his studies is true, but to say that he was slow or stupid would be a great injustice. I will simply repeat what I have already said above: he set out upon this path only because at the time it alone struck him and presented him all at once with the whole ideal way out for his soul struggling from darkness to light. Add to this that he was partly a young man of our time–that is, honest by nature, demanding the truth, seeking it and believing in it…”
“Indeed everyone loved this young man wherever he appeared, and it was so even in his earliest childhood… he attached everyone in the family to himself…Thus he possessed in himself, in his very nature, so to speak, artlessly and directly, the gift of awakening a special love for himself.”
Alyosha is similar to Irwin in that he is loved by everyone he meets. Something about his character is so genuine that no one would suspect an ulterior motives to his kindness. In addition, he and Irwin can both seem slow and unlearned, but these characteristics actually derive from their honest nature and straightforward beliefs.
Kincade is also connected to Alyosha in that they both act as witnesses and narratives to their family stories. When Alyosha’s brothers act out in passion, he is there to listen, and reacts calmly to their inner and outer turmoil.
Ivan: If Alyosha symbolizes faith in The Brothers Karamazov then Ivan symbolizes doubt. He poses many questions about the existence of God throughout the novel and takes on a skeptical viewpoint of faith and religion. He has trouble believing in a loving God when so many in the world are suffering. He is also a very intelligent, passionate, and hardworking man who made a way for himself in the world. The passage below reveals much about his character:
“Be that as it may, the young man was not at all at a loss, and did succeed in finding work, at first giving lessons at twenty kopecks an hour, and then running around to newspaper publishers, plying them with ten-line articles on street incidents, signed “Eyewitness.” These little articles, they say, were always so curiously and quaintly written that they were soon in great demand; and even in this alone the young man demonstrated his practical and intellectual superiority over that eternally needy and miserable mass of our students…”
Ivan can be seen in Peter. They are both experience internal conflict about what is moral and about spiritual and are extremely intelligent. At one point in the novel Ivan is described as being a genius and Peter ends up going to Harvard.
Dmitri: Dmitri lives the most tumultuous life of all the brothers. He experiences the highest highs and the lowest lows which revolve around his strenuous family ties, need for money, his love life, and false imprisonment.
“Because I’m a Karamazov. Because when I fall into the abyss, I go straight into it, head down and heels up, and I’m even pleased that I’m falling in just such a humiliating position, and for me I find it beautiful. And so in that very shame I suddenly begin a hymn. Let me be cursed, let me be base and vile, but let me also kiss the hem of that garment in which my God is clothed…”
Everett’s turbulent lifestyle is very similar to Dmitri’s. They both experience extreme highs and lows in terms of finding and losing love. They both also have struggles with the law and face punishments for their actions or in Dmitri’s case his perceived action.
Theme of Religion
Both novels pose questions of faith and religion embodied in various characters. Both sides of the argument are also well represented in both stories. In The Brothers K, you have mama, Irwin, and Bet who are incredibly devout for quite respectable reasons while Peter and Everett remain doubtful throughout. Then in The Brothers Karamazov Alyosha and the Elder represent strong faith while Ivan, Dmitri, and Fyodor are the opposite.
Sources:
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. Trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. Print.
The Brothers K 