The Last Blog

Twas a great class, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not much to say on the topic, but I specifically liked the topics of discussion in class - they seemed to stimulate all the students, instead of a minority of them. Everyone had something to say, and that is not usually observed in a literature class. I would take another class by Professor Sexson, but I am transferring back to University of Alaska Anchorage, and am going to miss classes like these. Hopefully, I can find another class such as this one.

My Paper

This is my complete paper, minus works cited and all of the additions:

The Shadow Archetype

In class, we have discussed many different archetypes, but we have yet to talk about the most troubling and mysterious one of all: The Shadow. The Brothers Karamazov has a very model example of the shadow in Dmitri Karamazov. But what is it exactly that makes him a good representation of this archetype? This essay will hope to explain that, and prove that Mitya was placed into the book by Dostoyevsky not as an actual character to be critiqued and understood, but as a force of nature and human psyche that should be apparent in all of us, whether it is suppressed or accepted. I believe that Dostoyevsky wanted the reader to understand the other characters in the book (and also themselves) by first examining Dmitri, and the part of human character that he reveals as the archetype of the shadow.
First, though, one has to ask oneself what the shadow really is. Carl Gustav Jung was a 19th century Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist who developed many of the fundamental ideas upon which modern psychology is based. Among these was the definition of multiple archetypes - repeated characters either in the real world or literature. One can have multiple fractions of every archetype within them, or simply be an epitome of a single one. In any case, Jung found that the most common archetype, and one that is definitely in each of us, is the shadow. The shadow represents the darker side of oneself - “darker” being the avatar of the taboos and unacceptable behavior of the individual’s specific society. This means that the shadow differs from one individual to the next, and cannot take either corporeal or ethereal form, since it feeds off of the beholder’s societal and personal moral compass. Thus, the shadow has been described by C.G. Jung as a synonym for the subconscious, with one major difference. Whereas one’s subconscious can represent both good and evil characteristics, the shadow is the direct separation of the subconscious, and the emphasis on the darker half. The shadow also manifests itself as the wild, unbridled, and almost berserk part of our character. Only when all emotional barriers have been broken can this part of the shadow be seen. A good example of this is Enkidu in the Mesopotamian myth of Gilgamesh - where the demon-man Enkidu is the perverse reflection of the shadow, whose only aim is to destroy Gilgamesh. Nevertheless, Jung argues that all of us have a shadow within, and while most try to deny this important part of our psychological makeup and instead project it upon others, one cannot become ‘whole’ without reintroducing it into our lives and accepting ourselves for who we really are. However, as said before, most of us suppress the shadow, and it is thus the struggle between the shadow and the conscious is born. Nowhere else in literature can represent this struggle be seen in its pure, unfiltered form than in Dmitri in The Brothers Karamazov.
Dmitri is such a good personification of the shadow because he holds elements of other archetypical characters as well. Being in the military in 19th century Russia, he is seen as the hero, and has a seemingly good cause, but acts in such a way that, if you were to only look at a list of things he does, you would think that he was the devil (and all that). However, he is much too complicated of a character for this to be an adequate summary of his psyche.
Nearly every book that he is involved with, Dmitri has an innate struggle between his conscience and his inverse - that which can be called the shadow and its many forms within him. For instance, he “borrows” a large sum of rubles from Katerina, and while he has essentially stolen from her and left her for Grushenka, he feels as if he has wronged her and wishes throughout the book to pay her back, not only as a fulfillment of his debt, but also as an apology to a lost lover that his promise of marriage could not be made. However, we see in several parts in the novel that the shadow also takes a strong hold over him and directly controls his actions. An example of this can be seen when he searches for Grushenka and finds her in the Polish officer’s home. The scene ends with him locking the officer in another room and planning his marriage with Grushenka. No reasonable human being would commit such a crime to an officer of the law. In fact, the book that describes his crusade for love and justice can wholly be named after the shadow’s nearly demonic possession of this young man. Stripped of all the previously mentioned emotional barriers, Mitya does not care what happens to him, since he has already committed multiple crimes and stated that he will end his life if Grushenka is truly out of his reach. This is where the shadow took over him.
There is a good side to all of this, as it is because of his actions on that day that he realizes that living as he does is not the way that a respectable Russian citizen would carry out his life. Later, in prison, he decides to begin anew, now recognizing how erroneous he has been in his logos. Carl Gustav Jung would call Dmitri a complete and whole human being, because he has seen what he looks like in the shade of the subconscious and he has accepted his true self. Jung’s message to all of us would be to look into the shadow of the darkness, stare straight into its eye, and walk away accepting the horrible things you have seen. Whether we can do this or not is within ourselves.

Karamazov Readings - Book XII

Book 12 plus epilogue:

Awesome ending to an awesome book. It plays out like a good Law and Order episode. The hotshot defense attorney, the seemingly broken defendant, the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, the moment of intense intrigue when Katerina shows the letter to the audience, etc.

At first, the crowd expects a guilty verdict, but the legendary Muscovite defense attorney shows that all the evidence is based on rumors, hearsay, and circumstantial grabble. In the end of the trial, the audience sides with Mitya. However, after a short span of time, the jury finds him guilty, raising hell as Dmitri is walked out of the courtroom.

A plan is hatched among our other characters to break him out, and Dmitri agrees to go along with it. The book ends on a hopeful note, when the Karamazov family is redeemed. Alyosha once again counsels Ilyusha's friends, and they chant the Karamazov family. Not because of Fyodor, but because of Alyosha. The End.

Karamazov Readings - Book XI

Book 11:

This was an intriguing book that could have easily been taken out of an investigative novel. Alyosha is asked to snoop about Lise's wild behavior and Dmitri and Ivan's plan that Grushenka feels she is not being filled in on. Turns out, Ivan corrupted Lise with his intellectual hooplah about being hopeless and the world being against Lise, and Dmitri had been plotting with Ivan to break out, but is no longer wanting to do it.

In fact, he has given up on fighting his case anymore. In this chapter we see three characters break - mentally and physically. Dmitri basically admits to his crime, and is looking forward to repenting for it, as an act to repent for his past sins. The vitalized, brash young Dmitri is now a broken shell, no longer the confident man he once was.

Ivan breaks mentally. He visits Smerdyakov and through his 3 visits thinks that he is as much responsible for the death of his father than the real killer (Smerdyakov). He then has hallucinations, which includes the devil coming to him, and when Alyosha visits him he is basically a nervous wreck, and Alyosha is kind enough to stay with him.

The third person to break was Smerdyakov. I'd pay to find out what caused him to hang himself - he was not remorseful about his crime, and he was generally a person that had little morality or self-guilt. It is the greatest mystery in this book, in my opinion, and we will never find out the answer to why Smerdyakov killed himself.

Men and Women... and their arguments

This was a crazy one.. read if you want a laugh.

It happened a while ago, back when I didn't have a roommate (my old one got kicked out of the college due basically to being too poor). I was sitting in my room on a Wednesday after my post-workout shower, just vegetating to Sportscenter on my bed. Suddenly, I hear a slew of loud voices and obviously angry inflection. Being the curious fella that I am, I kicked the door farther open and listened in like that thing a cat does when it wants to hear something far away, leaned over and all. This is a paraphrased dialogue of what I hear:

"I can't believe you slept with Ronny at that party!" (man)
"Well at least Ronny gives me what I want!" (woman)
"You know I can't even have sex with you without getting tested" (man)
"What does that mean?" (woman)
"It means this" *slaps woman loudly*

I was like no way dude, but then I heard:

Third voice - "Yeah that was pretty good, do you want to run through it again?"

And then I realized that they were practicing for a play. Oh well.

My Paper Thesis

My thesis will be as such:

Dmitri is represented in the book as a person. However, to truly understand him, we must look at him not as a human being, but rather a primal force that lives within us all. How it is expressed is seen when one examines the shadow archetype, a creation of C.G. Jung.

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 9

Book 10:

This is a very sad book, but it also offers optimism. It tells the story of a mercurial friendship between Kolya and Ilyusha. These two boys became friends when Kolya saw that Ilyusha was being picked on the boys and even though he was outmatched, he always fought back. Kolya has an innate sense of fatherhood and wanted to help Ilyusha, and they became friends because of this.

However, Ilyusha is a very rebellious, and for some odd reason fed the local dog Zuchka a piece of bread with a pin inside, a trick Smerdyakov taught him. This satanic display of indifference toward innocent life is very puzzling, and it shows that the boy has been tormented for a very long time, and no longer believes in the worth of life, whether human or animal. This is shown in the fact that he stabs Kolya with a knife when they fight.

Ilyusha is dying, however, and Katerina (still upset that Dmitri beat Ilyusha's father) sends a doctor from Moscow to the house to try to help him. This is after Ilyusha and Alyosha become acquainted, and an impressive show of respect is displayed between the two, mutually. They enter the house and Ilyusha sees the dog that Kolya called Perezvon, which is actually the dog that he fed the "pinned" bread to, and Ilyusha is very happy at the fact that the dog survived.

This book ends with Kolya promising that he will visit his friend as often as he can.

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 8

Book 9:

This book is an investigation into the sins of Dmitri Karamazov. It is actually quite appalling how evil Dmitri is without even realizing it. He has struck an innocent man almost to death, he has stolen money from the woman he left, he uncontrollably pursued Grushenka, and lied to everyone he could about everything he did. However, he did not kill Fyodor. I knew this before I even finished the book. All one has to do is look into the literary techniques employed by Dostoyevsky.

In the previous book, we were presented with a situation where Dmitri was broke, and then a short while later somehow became very wealthy. This missing piece of the story is a writing technique called and ellipsis - where part of the action is not told to arouse the suspicions and biases of the reader. What we are to assume is that Dmitri stole the money from his father and then killed him. However, we have to remember that he found out his father was not seeing Grushenka, and he did not know his father had 3,000 rubles stashed otherwise he would probably have stolen it long before this time. This is why he is not guilty of the crime, but the officials do not know this, so he is kept at the station for a trial.

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 7

Book 8:

This is without a doubt my favorite book, bar none. It plays out like a thriller, with Mitya as the main character. After two unsuccessful attempts to borrow money, one from a scheming businessman and the other from a drunk, Dmitri goes to Madame Khokhlakov to ask her for funds. She refuses to hand over any moolah so he asks the servants of the woman where Grushenka is. They refuse to tell him, and he becomes enraged because he thinks that she is at his father's house.

When he goes there, he sees through the window that Father Karamazov is actually alone, and when Grigory accosts him for sneaking around in the garden, the two men fight. Dmitri uses the pestle he got at Madame Khokhlakov's place to attack him, and Grigory falls to the ground, bleeding.

Dmitri leaves the scene, goes back to the servants to find out where Grushenka is once and for all, and somehow comes up with A LOT of money. Hey buys back his pistols and buys several hundred's rubles worth of wine and food. This he takes to Grushenka's place, where she is staying with her long lost love. The threesome play cards, and Grushenka realizes that Dmitri is really the man she loves. After a scuffle, Mitya locks the Polish officer in another room, and the two lovers start talking. But then, officers storm into the room and Dmitri is arrested for the murder of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov.

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 6

Book 7:

This brief book, although is not physically long, explains much about the development of Alyosha's faith. He, along with the rest of the church, is befuddled that the body of Zosima, instead of paving the way for a miracle, unleashes a great odor upon the people.

He then meets with Grushenka, with Rakitin's prodding, and speaks to her about her personality. He tells her that she is not a bad person, and her realization of this has allowed Alyosha to regain his faith. His dream is revealing in the sense that we can see that, while Alyosha is somewhat insecure with his feelings, he has the strength of will to overcome that insecurity.

Short blog post I know, but this is my third in a row in one sitting and I'm running out of ideas. Plus this was a short book so don't criticize me!

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 5

Book 6:

This is a very interesting part of the novel, and not only because Zosima dies. It is intriguing to know that Zosima was once a military man and converted to Christianity through an epiphany he had on the morning of a duel he was supposed to have between him and a man that was due to marry Zosima's love. It is a refreshing change from the brooding of Book 5, where the murder is planned and all but done.

The best part of this novel is when Zosima said that monks are extremely important to Russian people. What he said is true. As a Russian citizen I can back up his claim that the monk is closest to the common people. Maybe it is because Christianity is much more important to my people, but when a Russian man or woman has a problem or something is bugging them, they don't pay a certified psychologist and lay on a sofa to talk about their problems, instead they go to the church. We rely on our religion, and it has worked for us very well. The monks are our counselors and those who will stop to help anyone, no matter how evil.

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 4

Book 5:

This is one of the more deep books, as we have discussed in class. In this book, Ivan makes the case against God that, because there is suffering in the world, God does not exist. It feels like Dostoyevsky has seemingly taken a break from the actual flow of the book and story development to take some time to further develop the characters and their beliefs. This is good in a way because it proves further how deep and human-like the characters really are. Dostoyevsky has not simply created a name on a page. He has created life, in all its definitions except for the physical one. These ethereal creations of a writer can think for themselves, and this is shown in the way Ivan argues his point.

The second major theme in this book is the emotional instability of Lise, with whom Alyosha begins to plan a marriage with. She constantly argues with her mother. While this may seem normal in this country, at such a young age in Russia, children arguing with their parents is a very rare thing to see. I think it is simply because age is not valued here. In Russia, you value an elder's insight, as they infinitely more wise than you. Same with parents. As a child growing up in Russia myself, I knew at a very young age that my parents knew better than I did and accepted their decisions. This is due out of respect. It is quite sad really - in most other places, elders are treated as the leaders of a community. Here, they are dumped into the nearest nursing home as soon as their children are tired of them.

Also, the groundwork for Smerdyakov's murder of Fyodor is laid here. First, he fakes a seizure to make people think it was not him that did it, since a bedridden epileptic cannot possibly commit murder. Once his alibi is certain, he tells Ivan that Dmitri will be aware of Grushenka meeting with Fyodor, because he knows her secret knock. This sets up his attempt to pin it on someone else.

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 3

Book 4:

It is interesting to note that when Zosima was dying, he asked once again of Alyosha to leave the monastery. Even more interesting is that this time, Alyosha listened.

The book consists of Alyosha's crusades, or whatever one may call them. It is filled with character development, and character exposure. We see exactly how similar Alyosha is to Zosima, as he defends his father, saying he is not evil but "twisted". He realizes that his father simply acts on his own moral compass, and wherever it may be pointing, it is not entirely his fault that it is pointing there. The scene with the captain was very revealing. At first, Alyosha was very befuddled that some random boy would bite him, for no reason. Then, when he finds out that his brother (Dmitri) brutally beat the old captain that is the boy's father, he understands, and does not pursue the matter further. He also understands why the old captain will not accept money, and this shows that Alyosha is the ultimate saint in the book, maybe even greater than Zosima himself. This is because while we do not know what kind of upbringing he had (many Russian priests were actually offspring of wealthy citizens), we do know that Alyosha has had a very difficult road of tribulations on his way to the monastery, and how he was able to stay so vigilant in his faith is a testament to the strength of it.

Old Karamazov Readings Pt. 2

Book 3:

An extremely eventful book, and one of my favorites. We find out more about the servant Grigory, and how he had a deformed child that died two weeks after the birth. Then we find out about the child of stinking Lizaveta, Smerdyakov. It is very plausible that Fyodor raped the idiot girl and this shows exactly how bottomless his immorality really is. The interesting thing here is, while Lizaveta was what is now considered mentally handicapped, Smerdyakov is actually an intelligent individual. Granted, he has epilepsy, but the contrast of lives between him and his mother is apparent.

Alyosha leaves the monastery and is given a note by a wealthy acquaintance of the Karamazovs that asks Alyosha to visit Dmitri's former fiancee Katerina. He sees Dmitri on his way there and is told the story of how he met Katerina in the military, which included a story about a plan Dmitri had to bed Katerina, and his failure to do so because of his conscience. He also asks Alyosha to tell Katerina the engagement is definitely off, and to get 3,000 rubles from their father to pay off his "debt" to Katerina. This part of the book is interesting because it shows how Dmitri is different from Fyodor. While Fyodor does not know of a thing called regret and his conscience is completely absent, Dmitri is disgusted by how he sometimes acts, and wants to somehow make up for his sins. This is a very important contrast because it shows that Dmitri is somewhat of a combination between Alyosha and Fyodor. On one hand, he commits deep wrongdoings multiple times, but on the other hand he always tries to make up for them and lives a religious life.

Here is where it gets interesting. After dismissing his servants (Smerdyakov and Grigory) due to their argumentative state, Fyodor starts throwing verbal jabs at Alyosha about his mother. When he starts describing Alyosha's mother's seizures, Alyosha has one himself. Then Dmitri busts into the room, accuses his father of housing Grushenka, throws him on the floor and then leaves after threatening to kill Fyodor.

Alyosha then visits Katerina and later gets a letter from Lise, who describes her love for Alyosha. After such an exhausting day, Alyosha decides to stay with Zosima, who's health is rapidly deteriorating.