Ok so again I'm late but I think that I am mostly caught up now. ok so I finished book two yesterday and I actually think I may be starting to like this novel. The first part of this book was rather boring to me. Besides the argument between Ivan and Zosima, the only other thing that caught my eye was the girl Lise teasing Alyosha. I think that it may be a big indicator that bigger things other than the monastry are going to happen in Alyosha's life. And I do hope so, he is my favorite character and i would love to see better things happen to him. But moving on to the most exciting part of this book, the very wordy argument between Ivan and Zosima. The very first impression that i got from the discussion was that in modern times Ivan and his side of the argument would be very much like president Bush's toward the Iraq war, while Zosima's side would be very similar to the Pope's and many other Priest's opinions on the matter. Ivan sees only the bad in most people that motivates them to commit crime. He believes that because most Russians hold religion or some kind of faith close to their hearts that by using the chance at immortality as a punishment then he could stop the Russian people from commiting crimes. While Zosima,who sees the good in all people(much like Jesus), says that the church in it very nature could not do such a thing to it's people(ex-excommunicating them for commiting crimes). The church, Zosima says, should be behind the current punishment system rehabilitating the criminals, letting them know that they can repent and God will forgive. To me Zosima's character represents the way God asks us to live out his Word, and Ivan represents the way the world tries to make sense of the Word and then create actions that fit into today's society, depending on how comforatable they are. I really liked this discussion in the book. I think that all people of faith go through a time in their lives where they struggle, like Ivan, to take that blind leap of faith, which is what a belief in religion is. I also noticed that Dostoevsky uses a lot of two sided arguments in this book to demonstrate his deep philosoohical meanings, and yet he never really tells you what they are.
... oh jeez this was long, guess it goes to show that I think I am beginning to appreciate Dostoevsky.