The Brothers Karamazov
Meanwhile, Alyosha has made friends with the schoolboys who had been throwing rocks at Ilyusha, and makes them be friends again. Alyosha helps Ilyusha’s family, and all the boys love him very much. He becomes friends with Kolya, a boy about two years older than Ilyusha, who is proud and “immensely enjoyed” bossing the younger boys around. Kolya is very impressed with Alyosha, and says, “…there’s only one person in the world who can tell Kolya Krasotkin what to do,” meaning Alyosha; he even cries, “Oh, Karamazov, we’ll become very close friends. And shall I tell you what I like most about you? It’s that you treat me just like an equal. But we are not equals—you are by far my superior (better than me)!” Kolya is very clever and knows it, but when he talks to Alyosha about what he thinks of life, Alyosha quickly sees that his “philosophy” is just lots of ideas mixed up together from Rakitin; however, Alyosha respectfully listens to him and tells him clearly what he thinks about life. A doctor that Katerina sent comes and says that Ilyusha will die, and Kolya finally begins to cry out loud at the sight of his sick, unhappy friend.