The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov is broadly regarded as a major work in the genre of literary realism. Like other realist authors, Dostoevsky portrays the lives of ordinary people in a realistic fashion, eschewing the emphasis on idealism and the supernatural that defined Romanticism. In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky is particularly attuned to social issues in 19th century Russia, such as poverty and socioeconomic inequality. This typically realist focus is evident in Dostoevsky’s portrayal of the impoverished Snegiryov family. After witnessing the wealthy Dmitri publicly beat his father, Captain Nikolai Ilyich Snegiryov, Ilyusha discusses the harsh realities of class and social status with his father: 

‘Papa,’ he asked, ‘papa, is it true that the rich are stronger than anybody in the world?’ 
‘Yes, Ilyusha,’ I said, ‘no one in the world is stronger than the rich.’ ‘Papa,’ he said, ‘I’ll get rich, I’ll become an officer, and I’ll beat everybody, and the tsar will reward me. Then I’ll come back, and nobody will dare …’ He was silent for a while, then he said, and his little lips were still trembling as before: ‘Papa,’ he said, ‘our town is not a good town, papa!’ ‘Yes, Ilyushechka,’ I said, ‘it’s really not a very good town.’ 

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