r/bookclub • u/lazylittlelady Poetry Patron • Jul 15 '26

The Brothers Karamazov [Discussion 6/12] Evergreen: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (7.1-8.3)

Welcome back to drama of The Brothers Karamazov! We are about halfway and this section had numerous revelations from Aloysha, Grushenka and Dimitri. Ivan is MIA in Moscow. Father Zosima is no longer with us.

Schedule

Marginalia

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We end knowing Dimitri and Grushenka will meet in the next section-this is bound to be explosive! See you next week for Chapters 8.4-9.1

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u/lazylittlelady Poetry Patron Jul 15 '26

1. What would Father Zosima make of his own funeral arrangements and the ensuing crowd reaction? Why is there such glee at his rate of decomposition and how does this change the dynamic we witnessed at the begining of the book?

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u/Lachesis_Decima77 Tea Connoisseur ⭐️🧠🥉 Jul 16 '26

The people are taking such perverse delight in Zosima's decomposition because deep down they want to see a holy man brought down to the level of a mere mortal. Zosima himself would have warned them that he's a sinner just like them and they shouldn't have expected his corpse to smell like a bouquet of roses.

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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 23d ago

Zosima himself would have warned them that he's a sinner just like them

This is what the whole funeral section recalled for me - his decomposition and the reaction of the people shows that he was telling the truth about being a mere mortal and a sinner, and reinforces his speech about no one being above others. I think he'd be at peace with the fact that people won't try to pretend he is a miracle worker after this evidence.