3000 roubels

The number 3000 roubles comes up consistently throughout the novel. It seems like it's the only money ever dealt with. I can think of four examples off hand having to do with 3000 roubels.

The number revolves a lot around Grushenka. It's the amount of money that Fyodor set aside to pay Grushenka for visiting him at his house. It's also the amount of money that Dmitry spent on Grushenka when they went out on the town. Dmitry got this money from stealing the money that Katya gave him to give to her aunt in Moscow. So now it's the amount of money that Dmitry owes Katya.

We also find out in this chapter it is the amount of money exactly that Fyodor still owes Dmitry. Although before Fyodor told us earlier that Dmitry actually owed Fyodor money, I guess Dmitry found out some information.

The Grand Inquisitor

The Inquisitor is a man who rules his people and burns anyone who is rebellious at the stake. His philos0phy was to take away mankind's freedom. He believed that free will is the worst thing a man can have; he also believed that man cannot be happy with freewill. "'For only now has it become possible to think for the first time about human happiness. Man was made a rebel; can rebels be happy?' (251)"
The scene folds out in the jail cell where the Inquisitor had Jesus imprisoned. Basically he calls Jesus a fool. On page 254 and 255 the Inquisitor talks about how Jesus wanted man to love him freely and willing, and have the right to choose for himself what was good and evil. " And so, instead of a firm foundation for appeasing human conscience once and for all, you chose everything that was unusual enigmatic, and indefinite, you chose everything that was beyond men's strength, and thereby acted as if you did not love them at all...But it did not occur to you that he would eventually reject and dispute even your image and your truth if he was oppressed by so terrible a burden as freedom of choice?...Thus you yourself laid the foundation for the destruction of your own kingdom."
The ultimate goal of the Inquisitor is to hold people captive for their own good. There are three ways to do this: the powers of miracle, mystery, and authority. Jesus had the chance to use all of these powers on the people and he chose not to. Now instead of seeking the "heavenly bread", all of the weak will seek the "earthly bread" that the Inquisitor gives them. By these people taking the bread, they are now like his slave and submit to him. "We shall prove to them that they are feeble, that they are only pitiful children, but that a child's happiness is sweeter than any other (259)."
In a way it's like the man thinks he's noble by doing this; like he's better than Jesus because he has it all figured out. The Inquisitor also seems to mock Jesus as well. On page 257 and again on page 260 he says that "we have corrected your deed." He's mocking Jesus in the sense that this Inquisitor thinks he's smarter, like he's got it all figured out. He also goes into talking about how he gives up his happiness to save mankind because he knows the secret. It's a very interesting outlook on how a population should be run.

Ivan

For the first time in the novel Ivan and Alyosha have their first long chat at the tavern about Ivan’s views on religion. We get an insight into the way Ivan really thinks and get to know his personality a little better. Ivan thinks God does unjustifiable acts.

Ivan believes in God; he’s just not sure if God created people or people created God. In great detail Ivan describes true stories of injustices that have happened to children in the past. Children suffer daily for things that they didn’t do. He describes a little girl who was forced to sleep in the outhouse after her mother smeared poop on her face and made the little girl eat it as well. She weeps for God to protect her. Ivan thinks that’s nonsense. “—Can you understand such nonsense, my friend and my brother, my godly and humble novice, can you understand why this nonsense is needed and created? Without it, they say, man could not even have lived on earth, for he would not have known good and evil. Who wants to know this damned good and evil at such a price? The whole world of knowledge is not worth the tears of that little girl to ‘dear God’ (242).” Ivan is asking why would God do that? It’s wrong and painful to hear about.

On page 244 Ivan makes his point. “If everyone must suffer, in order to buy eternal harmony with their suffering, pray tell me what have children go to do with it? It’s quite incomprehensible why they should have to suffer, and why they should buy harmony with their suffering.” Why do children have to suffer for something that they didn’t do?

Ivan definitely proved the injustices in God’s plan because of his use of children. Children don’t have a say in it at all, if he were to use an adult, the scenario would be different because adults have free will for the most part. Ivan is asking Alyosha how God can let such terrible things happen to children. And it’s a good point; why should innocent people have to suffer for anything?

Smerdyakov

Smerdyakov obviously seems to have some Karamozov blood in him. It’s pretty clear that Fyodor is his father. He has something in common with all all of them in the way he acts.

He is similar to Ivan because they both share the mindset of not wanting other people’s help. Smerdyakov confides to Maria Kondratievna that he would be long gone to Moscow to start a restaurant if he had the money (225). He’s very independent. And like Ivan as well, he asks very philosophical questions about his faith and about God as well. I also think they’re both ashamed of where they came from and who their parents are. Smerdyakov goes as far as to say he wishes he wouldn’t have been born. Although Ivan didn’t go that far; he despises his father and never talks about his mother.

The Dmitry and Fyodor characteristics are present in his anger. Smerdyakov is a very angry and violent person. On page 224 he says “ I’d have killed a man in a duel with a pistol for calling me a low-born.” Killing, tends to show up as a Karamozov trait. Even though no one has killed yet, Dmitry has talked about it. Smerdyakov is also quite the ladies man, like Dmitry and Ivan.

Smerdyakov also doesn’t like to take responsibility for his actions or his status in society. This is present in most of the Karamozovs except for Alyosha. He thinks he was born into this life and can never change or advance himself because of who his mother was. He’s blaming his mother for something she had no control over. He could better himself if he wanted to, he chooses not to.

I don’t really think that he’s that similar to Alyosha, but I haven’t really seen many Karamozov traits in Alyosha. Maybe in later chapters there will be more similarities.

Gruschenka

Gruschenka is more rude than a scoundrel; but I have mixed emotions. She was very rude when she refused to kiss Katya's hand and rubbed the fact that Dmitry loved her more in Katya's face. But if she was a scoundrel depends on how Gruschenka really feels about Dmitry. I also think it matters if she had made promises to Katya or not; that changes where her morals stand.
On page 150 and 151 Katya and Gruschenka are talking about Dmitry. When Katya says, "But now it will be you who save him. You gave your word. " Gruschenka replies, "Ah, no, I never gave you my word. It's you who were saying all that, but I didn't give my word." If that's true, then Katya made her own hopes high, that isn't Gruschenka being a bad person.
"...whatever I want, I will do...what if I like [Dmitry] again all of a sudden because I did like him once very much, I liked him for almost a whole hour. so, maybe I'll go now and tell him to stay with me starting today..." (151). If Gruschenka loves Dmitry then she does have the right to be with him. If she doesn't then she just likes to see others suffer.
Gruschenka definitely has attitude and doesn't let anyone push her around. She made a fool out of Katya when she refused to kiss her hand and brought up Katya's shameful past. This was rude, but it was true; Katya did in a way sell her beauty to Dmitry. I don't think that makes her a scoundrel, just mean.

Dmitry vs. Fyodor

Dmitry does act like a scoundrel to his father, but I don't know if Dmitry can entirely control his anger. The things a man will do for the woman he loves is sometimes over-the-top. When I think of the scene in Chapter 8 of the third book it reminds me of the quote "Jealousy can drive a man mad." (Moulin Rouge) Dmitry acts more like an animal than a human.
There were several obstacles that Dmitry had to overcome to get to Fyodor. Grigory and Smerdyakov had both tried to stop Dmitry in the front hallway. Then Dmitry struggled with Grigory until Dmitry punched him and Grigory fell to the ground. When he had gotten Grigory and Smerdyakov out of his way; Dmitry started screaming at his father. (pg 138)
"..Dmitri raised both hands and suddenly seized the old man by the two surviving wisps of hair on his temples, pulled, and smashed him against the floor. He even had time to kick the fallen man in the face two or three times with his heel." (pg 139) Dmitry had so much anger, he was hitting his father. That's no being honorable at all; the sad part is, the entire brawl is all about a woman.
I have mixed feelings about the way Dmitry treated his father. During the scene, Dmitry wasn't really thinking; he was just so upset that he acted on a whim when he saw Gruschenka running toward Fyodor's house. Maybe he'll feel badly about it later or come to his sense and realize that his family is more important than a prostitute.

Katya

Dmitry is totally a scoundrel. He not only spends the money Katya gave him to mail to Moscow, but spends it with the woman he loves. Dmitry isn't even man enough to tell Katya himself that he doesn't want to be with her either. He was a scoundrel when Katya came to his room for money earlier on in the novel when Katya's father was in trouble.

Katya gave 3000 roubles to Dmitry to send in the mail to Agafya Ivanovna who lived in Moscow. Instead Dmitry ended up at with Grushenka and together they went to Mokroye. Later on Dmitry had told Katya that he had raced to the capital and sent the money and would soon give her the postal receipt. It's malicious of Dmitry to spend Katya's money on the woman he loves since Katya loves him. He's turning his back to Katya and the few morals he might have had to spend time with Gruschenka. (119)

Alyosha was sent to tell some news to Katya even though he had only met her once before. Dmitry is such a baby he's making his brother tell Katya about the money and about Gruschenka. He's the one who got himself into this mess; he should be the one to get himself out. Katya also deserves to be told to her face by Dmitry how he feels about her and what he did with the money. It's a sign of respect.

Before Katya and Dmitry were engaged is when he was the most dishonorable. When Dmitry found out some inside information about the General, Katya's father, he immediately used it as a plan to get revenge against Katya. He was upset with her because she had given him the snuff at a picnic. The general was having money issues so Dmitry offered to give the family money if Katya came over to get it. It totally belittled Katya and Dmitry only did it because Katya hadn't been into him at a picnic.n(111-112)

Fyodor

I think Fyodor has more feelings than I originally thought. After the fight he had with Dmitry about the woman, he showed that he really did love this girl. Maybe not for the right reasons, but he did love her. Although Fyodor gets angry and lies to make a scene, Dostoevsky reveals that it’s not all fun and games for Fyodor; the things people say really do hurt him. He might not the best person in the world, but he is still a person with feelings. I think he carries on the way he does because that’s the only way he knows how to express emotion and let people know how he feels. And now he’s act that way so long, he doesn’t know how to change. He goes above and beyond and is obnoxious because he doesn’t know what else to do; he knows he humiliates himself by his ramblings. When he returned to the monastery to have dinner with the Father Superior, he only did it so he could feel like he wasn’t making a fool out of himself.

Question 3

Basically Ivan said that there should be no separation between Church and state. The two contradict themselves. Ivan explained that "compromise betwee the stae and the church on such questions as courts, for examples, is in my opinion, in its perfect and pure essence, impossible." He thought that Church should not be just a corner of the state, but be involved in the whole state.
Miusov thought that would give all the power to the Roman Catholic Church, but more specifically to the pope. His understanding of what Ivan was saying would lead to a form of socialism. There would be no wars, diplomats, banks, etc.
Zosima answered the debate by saying that in a way what Ivan is talking about already exists. Zosima goes on to explain that without the church, there would be more crimes and there would be no punishment for it later. With the Church and God, now there is a punishment for their afterlife and also the battle the criminal has with his conscience. It's Christ's law that makes a man struggle with his conscience. The Church will also never excommunicate anyone so that the criminal will still have faith and maybe correct their wrongdoings some day. I think he's right with the faith and the conscience, but there are going to be some people that don't care about their conscience still. He also fails to mention that the government is still there and still making laws.

The Elders

The controversy that surrounds the institution of the elders has to do with the history of the elders. Some said that the idea of the elders is fairly new; less than a hundred years. Others in the Orthodox East believed that it would have had to existed more than a thousand years, even maybe dating back to ancient Russian times.

I think the narrator portrays Zosima as sympathetic. In the book it said the monks used to say he was "attached in soul precisely to those who were the more sinful, and that he who was most sinful the elder loved most of all." That's him getting involved with his "victims". The people who went to the monastery told Zosima their sins and sorrows looking for advice and comforting words. Zosima put their bad deeds on his heart and gave the people that came to him advice. He did that so often that it got to the point where he could tell what was on his visitor's mind before the person spoke. After leaving the monastery most of visitors left happy; they had come in feeling scared or worried.

Characters

Fyodor: Fyodor was a drunk and also very tight with his money. He didn't seem to care about anyone but himself. All 3 of his children didn't live with him growing up because he forgot they existed.

Dmitry: He was the oldest of the 3 sons that Fyodor had. He didn't finish high school and joined the military. He did okay for himself but spent large sums of money. The only time he really talke dto his dad was to get money (greedy). He lived wildly and was impatient.

Ivan: Ivan always realized that he was kind of someone's charity case and he didn't like it. He was very very smart and went to a secondary school in Moscow at the age of 13. He then went on to a university. He didn't want to ask anyone for money though so he worked to get money to pay for the rest of his college. He wrote articles that made him known.

Alyosoha: He seems like a very caring and compassionate person. He lived in a monastery and is a man of love. He had always been different from the average boy. A weird aspect about him was that he remembered his mother's touch and her face to a T even though she died when he was four. He's very accepting and doesn't judge others. He is usually loved by everyone, although he was somewhat reserved.

I would not get along with Fyodor at all. He doesn't respect women and is very self-centered. It's hard to get along with a man who is a drunk as well. He just doesn't have some very good qualities about him that I would agree with and get along with. I think he's also money hunger too. He doesn't seem like he cares about anything but that.