Book Report On Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov Essay -- Book Review

CHARACTERIZATIONThe main characters of Dostoevskys novel The Brothers Karamazov are, asthe title suggests, the members of the Karamazov "family," if it canister indeed becalled such. The only things that the members of this family share are a nameand the "Karamazov curse," a legacy of base impulses and voluptuous lust.References to this tendency towards immorality are sprinkled heavily throughoutthe novel phrases such as "a brazen brow and a Karamazov conscience,""voluptuary streak," and "Karamazovian baseness" abound.Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the father of the brothers Karamazov, is theembodiment and the source of this immorality. In him Dostoevsky creates suchperversity and depravity that one can feel no positive emotions for the man.His sensible appearance--he is "flabby" with "small, suspicious eyes" and a"long, cavernous mouth with puffy lips, behind which could be glimpsed smallfragments of black teeth"--accura tely reflects his foul, disgusting character.He has no respect for himself he enjoys playing the part of the shameless"buffoon" for attention, even though the attention he receives is negative.Beca single-valued function he has no respect for himself, he can have no respect for others, either.He has no respect for women, for example he is a despicable "voluptuary," andhe satisfies his lust at any cost. He drives his wife to madness by bringing"women of ill-repute" into their house right in front of her. Even moreshockingly, he rapes a mentally retarded woman, who later dies giving birth tohis illegitimate son, Smerdyakov, who grows up as his fathers servant.Fyodor is even more blatantly disrespectful to his three legitimatechildren. After his wifes death, he abandons them, for they "would have beena hindrance to his debaucheries." He is never a true father to any of them.When his oldest son, Dmitry, becomes an adult, Fyodor is even so cruel as todeny Dmitry his inheritance and instead use the money to seduce Grushenka, withwhom his son is in love.It is Alyosha, the youngest brother, that is most successful in escapingthe curse of the Karamazovs. Miraculously, he is almost the complete oppositeof his father he is an soft "lover of mankind" whom everyone likes. Whent... ...ativity of theatmosphere.STYLEDostoevskys style is very realistic and straightforward. He almostnever uses flowery or poetic language or figures of oral communication his language is unsubdivided and spare, as if he tried to eliminate all that wasnt absolutelynecessary. Similarly, he is unpretentious in his choice of words. He generallystates things in the simplest terms possible. Contrastingly, however, hissentences are often fairly complex despite their complexity, though, they areeasy to understand and thus do not detract from his simplicity andstraightforwardness.Because the retain consists largely of dialogue, Dostoevsky changes hisstyle freque ntly, for each of his characters has a unique style of speaking thatcomplements his character. Dostoevsky writes Ivans dialogue, for example, in avery verbose, complex style that reinforces Ivans characterization as anintellectual. He writes Dmitrys dialogue in a very random, disjointed stylethat underscores Dmitrys tendency to allow his passion and his emotions tocloud his logic. Finally, he writes Alyoshas dialogue in a simple style verysimilar to his own, as Alyosha is himself simple and unpretentious.O