The Brothers Karamazov

Many plot events, though crucial, occur “off-stage”: for instance, Katerina Ivanovna’s mysterious meeting with Smerdyakov the day of Ivan’s final meeting with him; the murder of Fyodor. Discuss one of these crucial but “invisible” moments, and hypothesize what occurred. Ground your hypothesis in other plot details, the characterizations of the people involved, and the novel’s thematic messages.

This novel is rife with Christian symbolism and specifically comments on miracles. How do miraculous events produce certain outcomes for characters? How do these events connect to the question of the relationship between faith and miracles?

Several forms of sustenance appear at crucial moments within the plot and carry symbolic import: an onion, a pound of nuts, pancakes. Discuss food’s symbolic and thematic importance within the novel.

Many of the novel’s situations involve characters from different social classes interacting. The story of Snegiryov and his son Ilyusha is especially rife with social and class commentary. How do class and social hierarchy operate within the novel’s world? How do they complicate the characters’ interactions?

“The Grand Inquisitor” is the novel’s most famous chapter, yet it has little to do with the central plot. How does this chapter deepen the novel’s philosophical dimension? What is the significance of this chapter, either for the characters or for the novel’s overall message?

Suffering—and the question of the necessity of suffering—is a major theme of the novel. How does the novel connect suffering and redemption? How do characters respond to their individual suffering, and how do their responses impact those characters’ trajectories? Explore at least two characters.

The narrative often references Russian literature and culture. What do these references add to the novel? How do they show the relationship between Russia’s religious and political history and its literary and cultural impact?

The narrator has a distinctive voice, and his interjections present opinions, biases, and digressions from the main plot. What does Dostoevsky accomplish by using a narrator who is separate from the author himself?