Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Character Comparisons

While reading the Brothers Karamazov I realized that each of the sons reminded me of famous influential people.

Alyosha reminded me of a lot of Gandhi. From the information I have researched and read about Gandhi, he and Alyosha have very similar personalities with some very key traits. Both Gandhi and Alyosha have very a very calm, easing, and poised day to day personality that shows how at peace with themselves they both are. They are both very caring people and believe truly in forgiveness and redemption. They are both strong individuals in the sense of their connection with God. The words they speak seem to be very well chosen and it seems as though they take advantage of nothing. Neither of them put any body below themselves even the "horrible" old man Karamazov. One thing that I have thought about while comparing the two of them is how their reactions to the idea of an innocent child suffering for the worlds peace and unity would differ. Would Gandhi be left nearly speechless? Would he have something wise and uplifting to answer back with? What would Gandhi do?

Ivan Karamazov did not strike me as similar to any particular influential person until I was researching around and found some interesting comments that were posted by very important people about the Brothers K. I found a web site that had multiple quotes from Albert Einstein praising Dostoevsky's wonderful work of literature. That's when I realized that Ivan Karamazov has very similar personalities to Einstein. They are both questioners of almost all material placed in front of them. They are men of extreme intelligence and devoted to the their work. They both like to take claim of their actions and discoveries which sadly leads to a period of near insanity for Ivan as he contemplates his contributions to the old man Karamazov's murder.

Last but not least Dimitri Karamazov bares a striking resemblance to Chris McCandless the 1980's and early 90's most powerful voice of man speaking for the earth. McCandless spent his time outdoors, traveling and living amongst the earths creatures. Both Dmitri and McCandless are very sensual and are considered men of earth. One main difference that I see between McCandless and Dimitri is their idea of money well spent. While Dmitri spends his money on whatever he wants as a means of leisure, McCandless if he had any money would spend it on only the necessary tools to survive, knives, food, maps, etc...

So these are some of the characteristics that popped out at me as similar to influential people of the world. What other people do you draw connections to when reading the Brothers K?

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