Reno-Sama

I draw a cover for every single chapter of The Brothers Karamazov (but I can only use MS Paint)

Book VIII: Mitya

This book is such a ride, even I felt frantic (like Mitya himself) drawing it. Fun fact; the actual first drawing was a random MSPaint cover for 8- 8. When I finished it, I thought: wouldn't it be funny if I made one for every single chapter? And now I'm more than halfway through.

If Dostoyevsky did not intend to make Mitya a babygirl, then why Books VIII and IX

*Keep in mind that this contains spoilers for the entire book and that in order for this comparison to work, one must assume that the rumour about Fyodor being Pavel Smerdyakov's biological father has to be true.

While there is a lot written on the theological debate of Ivan and Alyosha Karamazov, I have yet to see a comparison between Mitya Karamazov and Pavel Smerdyakov. Perhaps I haven't explored enough, but these are my two cents (dare I say 3000 rubles) on the matter. Both taken care of by Grigory, both suspects in the murder of Fyodor Pavlovich, yet two people couldn't be more different from each other. I will write down my thoughts separated by topics in this order:

Different from their birth (social circumstances)

Contrasting the individuals (their descriptions and characterization, side by side)

Brotherhood (relationships to Ivan and Alyosha, preparation for the next point

Narrative (their place in the narrative)

1. Different from their birth

From even before they were born, their paths were diametricaly opposed. Mitya was born out of the union of Fyodor Pavlovich and Adelaida Miusova, an aristocratic, beautiful and educated young woman who married Fyodor against her family's wishes and was no mere innocent victim of his, despite her struggles as a woman in a patriarchal society. Even when she left her son, it was her choice, though a hard one (and probably the best one, considering her fate.)(BookI,chapter1).

Stinking Lizaveta didn't have much of a choice. She was a poor and mentally disabled woman who suffered violence from Fyodor shortly after Adelaida left, and died in childbirth (BIII.ch2). Mitya keeps a connection to his mother through his inheritance and noble blood, but for Pavel, his maternal origin is a curse. He is "the stinking son of Stinking Lizaveta". Mitya has "honour", Pavel does not.

From these circumstances, the children grow up to be a firstborn who feels entitled to what he feels is owed to him, and an illegitimate child whose work as a servant is taken for granted. Yet, even when Mitya is in a privileged social class and Pavel is in a disadvantaged one, Mitya is the one who seems to sink below what is considered to be appropiate public behaviour for an aristocrat. He's compared to a beast, and he has often surrounded himself with peasants in his parties, in which social distinctions and rules disappear. On the other hand, Pavel takes small steps to strive for more than what he's given, he likes to dress well, he learns and has aspirations beyond what he's expected to do. He disdains other people of his social class for the ways they speak and act. (BV.ch2) He learns French, the language associated with good social class. Both him and Mitya still keep a dictionary, could it imply Mitya is not yet fluent in French, due to his chaotic upbringing and failed education? In any case, their relationships to social class are foils to one another. Both are archetypes of their time: an impoverished noble clinging to honour- based values and a recently relatively freed serf looking forward to a prospect of social mobility. Moving on:

I think a lot about the unexplored dynamic of Mitya and Ivan. There is so much potential there, yet we only have the pieces.

Imagine being Ivan and meeting your half brother for the first time. You didn't know he existed until recently, he's practically a stranger. His manners are rough, he drinks, he makes scenes, he's debauched, just like your father, who made your mother suffer. He throws around money when you have to work to sustain yourself. It saddens me, but I can understand why Ivan dislikes Mitya so much.

But Mitya is no buffoon: he holds respect for Ivan and sees him as superior to him, even if part of it comes from his own self- pity. He's not the brightest, but he appreciates education and smarts when he sees them and wants to know what's on Ivan's mind.

Mitya is most likely eager to make a connection, but the obstacle is exactly the source of the personal pain in both of them and the only thing they had in common from the beginning, their father. Ivan pushes away those he cares about, but he can't escape Mitya, who will keep seeking attention from people and taking them for granted even when he knows they don't like him. And Ivan is too proud to not put up with it. This dynamic is a goldmine.

Ivan's relationship to both Pavel and Mitya is the answer to why although his idea has not been refuted, him as a person with prejudices had his downfall. In Mitya is the bestial man who was once one of those weeping children.

Mitya, a body aware of the mind, and Ivan, a mind aware of the body, as some critics say. Mitya, who would love God from the depths of Hell, and Ivan, who returns the ticket even in the face of salvation.

Perhaps they do have more in common than they think. I believe readings of Ivan as the rational one are very reductive, when his rejection of harmony is a question of his feelings towards the suffering of the innocent. His passions are bubbling under the surface. Both grapple with the tension between their pathos in front of reality and their unexplainable love for life, they have questions about sin and salvation expressed in different ways. Ivan presents the idea that if there is no God, everything is permitted, and Dmitri echoes it as a question that receives no answer. Even when Ivan became a representation of the intelligentsia and "Westernised" himself, he knows the eternal questions still plague his mind. Mitya barely thinks about God, loving God seems natural in him, and Ivan may think about God more than anyone else.

Despite their not- so- perfect relationship, it was Ivan who in the end dragged himself to court and claimed to be the guilty one, it was Ivan who came up with an absurd plan to free Mitya, and doing so he showed that he cared more than any of Mitya's relatives, who did absolutely nothing to help him (except for Alyosha, who could at least offer emotional support). It's almost poetic: the culmination of a relationship that was damaged from the start, as "Free the monster!"

Note: Their relationship to Katerina is also an essential piece to their dynamic, something that takes even more to explore and that I hope to see more clearly in future chapters of my fic, as well as the Ivan- Mitya dynamic I talked about here.

(Late) Karamazovtober day 29, Dogs

Remember that if you have these thoughts or find yourself in similar situations, you must seek help before you end up in a situation like our guy Mitya here.

One of my favourites:

:(

The following is another favourite. The other just makes me sad.

I find it so funny how the Sun quote is posted everywhere, but with the full context he says this soon after:

The total count: 0 rubles obtained, 18 suicide thought/threat moments💔

Dmitri subplot

Oooh........OOOH... OH.

First of all!… *look at the clock* MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS DEAR ANON! I will definitely draw this situation in the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm still deciding how the family members of our Twist boys will be, and unfortunately it will take some time. BUT I AM ANSWERING YOU TO MAKE IT VERY CLEAR THAT I WILL DO IT!!!… just please have a little patience I HOPE YOUR CHRISTMAS WAS GOOD, SURROUNDED BY FAMILY/FRIENDS THAT YOU LOVE AND WHO LOVE YOU vERY MUCH. Or if you don't celebrate Christmas itself, I still hope your day was perfect <3

Some parents are VERY unhappy with what happened regarding their children-

Others are calmer but... They seem to carry a weight on their shoulders... The meetings are quick, so the awkward atmosphere dissipates quickly, at least...

Or they don't even want to listen to the principal and prefer to check on their own children!

Some prefer to.... Well, ensure that everything is resolved before anything else...! Not awkward at all!!

The rarest thing is for them to bring the children to apologize...

But these meetings always come to an end! So our director can finally rest!

I forgot to post this but have a good look.

I did my best to balance out all the VDC members

Art by me

I already did Rielle and Minhaj so here are (nyota) Neige and Che'nya!

like imagine ur awful master's three legitimate sons all suddenly come home. one of them keeps you trapped and threatened as an informant for his stupid love war with fyodor pavlovich. the other one of them is at the monastery most the time and literally ignores you.

it's only the last one who pays you any mind at all. like he actually tries to get you to talk to him and seems interested in you at first. you talk philosophy together and he shares a bunch of cool ideas with you about how god isnt real and so all is permitted. wow... and you both dont like fyodor pavlovich. you're practically kindred spirits!

and he's clever... so clever that when you talk of potentially killing this fucker fyodor in vague and coded language he actually understands! wow! he went away when you suggested which means he wants to leave you to do it! you just really understand each other and he's just sooooo clever and will be so glad to see his intellectual ponderings actually brought to reality. all is lawful! all is understood!

so you kill the guy and flawlessly frame it all on the oldest brother.

and when your idol, the one who you did it all for returns, you're able to talk about the murder in your vague and coded language again because he's so clever. but... but he's almost like. too good at being indirect. like he's so cleverly playing the part of the oblivious innocent man that he acts like he doesn't even know. but its all a front, right? he understood, didn't he? he knows? he has to. but... you start to doubt it...

and then when he sees you for the third time after the murder, you finally tell him to stop playing around with the indirectness.

AND.... and FUCK!!!!! you realize he wasn't really being clever, he wasn't really understanding your hints, and definitely wasn't telling you to kill fyodor pavlovich. YOU REALIZE HE REALLY DIDN'T KNOW!!!!! HE DIDN'T KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND NOT ONLY DID HE NOT KNOW, BUT HE CONDEMNS YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!!!!!! this guy is horrified! this guy wants to CONFESS!

so basically you alone murdered fyodor pavlovich, and deep down you know that even if you try to manipulate this guy into believing he told you to, that's not actually true. the man whose intellect guided you to do this never really wanted you to do it. and with the collapse of his ideas and the revelation of his cluelessness comes the collapse of your entire perception of this situation. your world? flipped. your sense of morality? shattered. your life? useless anyway.

welp! there's nothing left! you may as well give the money back and kill yourself :(

rip pasha

everyone told me it would be helpful if I made diagrams and explanations of the characters with drawings so these are lowkey handouts im going to be giving to like. 7 other adults