Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky raised a lot of literary discussions. The novel presents a nineteen-year-old as the hero in the very beginning. Alyosha Karamazov is the youngest of the Karamazov brothers and he is the hero that we are talking about.
Alyosha is an immensely likeable young boy. It is believed that Dostoyevsky based the character sketch of Alyosha on his friend Vladimir Solovyov, a Russian philosopher and poet who led a generous life, even giving away his clothes to people in the street.
Alyosha is a novice in the local Russian Orthodox monastery. Quiet contrary to his faith, his brother Ivan is an atheist. Alyosha gets engaged to a young girl named Liza Khokhlakov. Liza sinks into depression and self-hatred later and ends up rejecting Alyosha.
Alyosha’s place in the novel is that of a messenger or witness to the actions of his brothers and others. His involvement with a group of school boys adds a hopeful message to an otherwise tragic novel.
The novel began to be celebrated right after its publication. In fact, Dostoyevsky wanted to come up with a sequel about Alyosha’s life, but unfortunately, he died shortly after the publication of Brothers Karamazov.