Brothers Karamazov

[Z Buck McFate]

Question for those of you who have read it: why do you suppose Alyosha never acknowledges Smerdyakov as a brother?



(I'm writing a thesis, testing my own speculation on the reason 'most' people would give.)

 

[SearchingforPeace]

For Alyosha, Smerdyakov is his father's servant and merely rumored to be his illegitimate brother. He was not acknowledged by their father. As such, he is not a legal brother, as well as not a gentleman or of the gentleman class.

So let's take your question and flip it: under what circumstances would Alyosha ever realistically acknowledge him as his brother? Would it even occur to him to do so? Would it even be his place? If he had done so, would it ring true for the Russian culture of the era?

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Well that's kind of the topic of my thesis. (And of course, feel free to discuss it, if you want.)

What I'm looking for specifically is to test my own speculation about what the typical assumption is for others while they read the novel. I'm going to guess that most people don't think very hard about it, and basically accept that Alyosha just always knew Smerdyakov as a servant and never questioned it.

(And thanks for responding. )