valiah’s Reviews > The Brothers Karamazov > Status Update

"actually, people sometimes talk about a man's 'bestial' cruelty, but that is being terribly unjust and offensive to the beasts: a beast can never be as cruel as a human being, so artistically, so picturesquely cruel. the tiger simply gnaws and tears and that is the only thing it knows."

a benefactor permits one's visible suffering to create a visually aesthetic and digestible form of 'service', while only addressing the non-visible aspects to sustain their aesthetic illusion of moral superiority

"the greater the stupidity, the greater the clarity."

bro cannot escape dysfunctional families

"From sin and the Devil there is no hiding-place, however, not only in the world, but also in the monastery."

i like this challenge of naïve faith and the assumption that christians are all the same in morale and in application. he obviously favors alyosha's worldview over the 'buffoon' or respectable atheists, but also subtly critiques his disconnect from reality & failure to apply faith where it matters (yet)

alyosha is (basically) introduced to performative girls' girls and lesbianism