The Brothers Karamazov
The brother of Alyosha by the same mother, Sofia, Ivan is perhaps one of the most complicated characters in the story. He is an extremely clever student, (it is probable that he represents, in the novel, the intellectual part of mankind) and is proud and filled with doubt. Dmitry calls him “silent as the grave.” He cannot believe in God, or thinks that if God is real, he must be a very mean God who doesn’t care about humans. He says that “everything is possible” – there is no “good” or “bad.” However, he is disgusted at the life of his father, which logically is right according to his beliefs. He is too proud to follow his own happiness by acting on his own love for Katerina. His final madness shows the novel’s rejection of his beliefs. The sad problem with Ivan is that “his head is not in harmony with his heart”: with his feelings he loves God’s world, although with his reason he can’t accept it. Ivan has both a strong sense of justice, like Alyosha, and is unhappy at the suffering of children; but, unlike Alyosha, who actively makes friends with and helps children, Ivan does not do anything about it. It is unclear what will happen to him: but the novel ends so cheerfully it suggests he will probably find some way of spiritual redemption.