“Just art thou, O Lord”

For a while I could not understand how “The Mother of God Visits the Torments” related to the parable about the Grand Inquisitor. After some re-reading (which is kind of important in literature, after all) I recalled the part after Mary and the saints won over God to give some mercy to some sinners in hell. The sinners then praised God, calling him just. But in the following parable, Dostoevsky ironically evaluates the actions of Jesus through the Grand Inquisitor.

While the sinners thanked God for the ounce of mercy they received and praised his actions, the Grand Inquisitor claims Jesus’s actions are flawed. The stories are direct comparisons of how God works. The impressive facet Dostoevsky adds, though, trumps this connection. Free will is the motif that outlies “The Grand Inquisitor.” It is God who ultimately decides to extend mercy to the sinners; he does so of his own volition. Therefore, Christ using his trial in the desert to promote free will (instead of enticing humans through offers like earthly bread to “win them over”) is consistent with the character of the God figure in “The Mother of God.” God seems to value the free will of humans more than coercing them into grace, even if the latter produces a more beneficial result for humans.

This puzzles the Grand Inquisitor. The sinners, for murdering his son, do not deserve mercy but God gives them some anyway. Of course, this is illogical, which is why it’s so foreign to the Grand Inquisitor. It seems that mercy makes as little sense to him as free will, since the majority of his rant is dedicated to how Jesus has hurt the human race by not playing on its frailty for its salvation. Logically, calling God unjust makes sense because he gives the sinners a little leniency for murdering his son. For the Grand Inquisitor, it would also be logical to do away with free will, as it typically leads humans to inevitable self-destruction or destruction of others due to their being slaves of their sinful nature. The Inquisitor states: “You thirsted for love that is free, and not for the servile raptures of a slave before a power that has left him permanently terrified. But here, too, you overestimated mankind, for, of course, they are slaves, though they were created rebels.”

What he doesn’t realize is that it’s free will–the free will shown in the pleading of Mary and the saints–that convince God to show mercy. The short poem of the torments actually swiftly negates the long treatise the Inquisitor has that humans will inevitably fall into self-destruction if allowed to exercise free will.

Pretty impressive of Dostoevsky, if you ask me.

 

The Nose

I found this story to be absolutely ridiculous at a first glance. In my opinion, it was so absurd I was almost certain there was severe underlying meaning but I soon came to realize that this short story was pretty much straight forward in its direction and intention. After the first read, I realized that there really was not any point to story except to entertain and be genuinely funny to its audience. Once I relaxed and noticed that very important point, I read the story once again. The second time around, I found the events to be almost hilarious. I noticed that not every story has to have significant meaning and symbols; it is ok to be funny, even in an intellectual setting. This story gave me a sigh of relief, almost like a breath of fresh air, meaning that the topics we plan on discussing in class can be light hearted and funny! What made this story so funny was how seriously such a preposterous event was taken. The nose came to life, jumped off Ivan’s face, got a job, and even tried to run away! It was taken so seriously that you were laughing and thinking “Is this guy serious?! He needs to wake up already!” There was some awesome imagination in this Gogol’s plot. I especially enjoyed this story because it was a light-hearted easy read. I find myself more indulged into the stories that I can understand when reading on my own.

The Nose

This was a rather strange short story, I cannot imagine what it would be like to wake up one day and see that you have no nose anymore and then later on that day come face to face with your nose that has somehow been personified and has a mind of its own. The fact that the Major was trying to put out an add to find his nose which had run away from him and was trying to leave the country made the whole thing even more strange because how on earth would anyone’s nose just up and walk away?  It also has a very interesting ending with lots of open questions in the last paragraph that weren’t at all answered with the conclusion of the story. Then it goes into talking about strange subjects that writers pick to write about as if he were giving a lecture on writing and topics, not concluding a short story which kind of threw me off. I didn’t like that at all its like when you’re having a really important conversation with someone and instead of them answering the most important question that you really need the answer to they go on about something else and straight up change the topic in the middle of the conversation. It is also almost as if he is criticizing himself for writing such an out there story so no one else is allowed to make a comment about how weird his topic is because he already told you all that it is and he doesn’t quite understand where authors who write stories like that come up with their motivation.

The Nose

I have never read a story with the main focus being a nose, and I probably never will again. I have no idea how someone could even come up with such an idea, but maybe that’s just me not being creative…I found Gogol’s “The Nose” to be ridiculous and couldn’t stop from laughing the whole time. Kovalyov just seems to get shafted the whole story, first losing his nose, then finding out that his nose is in a more powerful position in civil service. Nothing goes his way, and his anxiousness is well portrayed through the story.

I’ve always been fascinated by dreams, which is why I enjoyed this story. When we are in dreams, we don’t realize how unrealistic or ridiculous they are until we wake up. I often have a recurring dream that I am being chased and later eaten by a black bear. It seems so realistic while it is happening and I get terrified each time, but after I wake up I always wonder why I don’t realize that it is a dream.

I had a difficult time thinking of how Gogol’s “The Nose” could be classified as realism. It was only after I realized it was a dream that I understood. The dream isn’t realistic at all, with the nose developing a mind of its own, but ridiculous dreams do happen and the reaction of Kavalyov within the dream was very real.

The Grand Inquisitor

Holy shit, Dostoyevsky is a god damn genius.  I cannot believe a man in 1880 had the balls to go out and write something like this.  The thought process and analysis of religion is so far ahead of his time I think that it would blow over the heads of the majority of people even today.  The idea of a personal God, freedom of choice, and is manifested in such a sophisticated manner.  Jesus as a silent prisoner, alone in a dark room conversing with an elderly man.  It is a beautiful, fantastical trip into the subconscious of the Great Inquisitor, who has all these revolutionary ideas and unorthodox beliefs, but alas no support or back up.  Jesus the whole time remains silent, his only action is a final kiss on the old mans lips.  A seal, a passionate reminder to maintain this thinking.  Everyone has there own version of God, and their pressing questions one can only dream of asking.  What Dostoyevsky is scratching at is this separation from God being the puppeteer to God being the marionette, an entity completely in our control, someone who we can manipulate, but at its core is our essence.  What is a puppeteer without his puppet? I’m definitely going to have to reread this short story because there is a whole lot more than I anticipated in the realms of philosophy and theology.  Excellent read, favorite so far.

-damian hunt

God Sees The Truth But Waits

This story was kind of predictable but thinking about the year in which it was written one can see that there have been many other stories in which someone waits for something all their lives and dies right before they are given it. This story is very similar to the Shawshank Redemption, the main character is locked up for a crime he didn’t commit and then is put into the same jail as the person who actually committed the crime. The difference is that in the Shawshank Redemption, the innocent guy got out of jail and didn’t die, which is a much happier ending.

 Emily Bowden

God Sees the Truth, but Waits

I found Tolstoy’s “God Sees the Truth, but Waits” to be a very powerful story, one that I highly enjoyed. The plot, like that of all the other stories we’ve read, is very simple: A man is falsely convicted of murder, is sentenced to Siberia, and is later found to be innocent and released. I disliked how predictable the plot was – I guessed most of it after the police had accused him of the murder – but there were many interesting things that happened in the story that I liked. One was the use of the wife’s nightmare to foreshadow that something bad was going to happen. It was powerful how forgiving Aksionov was and how smoothly he dealt with the injustice that was dealt to him. I also enjoyed Aksionov’s attitude while he was in Siberia. Instead of becoming angry, he devotes his life to God and becomes well respected. I disliked the use of religion, probably because I am not religious, because I find it to be unnecessary and believe that the acquittal of Aksionov did not happen because of some divine intervention. This is something that, unfortunately,  happens quite often – the false conviction and later the release of innocents. The story definitely falls into the category of realism because of this.

Miracle, Mystery, and Authority

The Grand Inquisitor’s comments on the frailty of the human condition were probably among the greatest, deepest thoughts I have heard about Jesus in a while. When he states that the papacy has succeeded where Jesus “failed,” namely, trying to rule others through the human condition, I come convinced in mind but not entirely in heart. Instead of seeking to improve the human condition through Jesus (whose ways the Grand Inquisitor does not accept) by following what Jesus taught to the church (namely, faith, forgiveness, and humility), the Inquisitor accepts the human condition as is but does not attempt to improve it.

The weak are ruled by the strong, since the people are too weak to yearn for heavenly bread, or a more satisfying life. But the Church’s attempt to improve the world by enslaving people through mortal means takes advantage of human nature, when even at its best is still prone to folly; his claims to rule people are rationalized. The human condition–without having anything to eternally guide it–leaves undisciplined people to destroy themselves and the morally decrepit to exterminate each other. The Grand Inquisitor reminds me of Big Brother and one of the slogans of Ingsoc: Freedom is Slavery. He states this when he says the third group of people he’s mentioning: “Yes, you were right, you alone possess his mystery, and we are coming back to you– save us from ourselves.”

Ironically, Jesus (who is acknowledged as Lord in this work) is the one who promotes freedom the greatest, and that might be the greatest miracle of all. By not providing other miracles when he is tested in the desert, he allows people to make up their own minds. Through the mystery of not providing a miracle in the desert, he continues to remain mysterious, but he still has authority if he is the Lord. In this way, he fulfills all three things the Inquisitor laid out.

Seeing a Different Side of the Story

The Grand Inquisitor by Dostoyevsky is a short sooty (or chapter) that really made me think of a different perspective on what really happened to Christ and how the church idolizes him today. This story states by questioning the motives of Jesus in one of the most famous stories of when he was tempted threw times by the devil in the dessert. This Grand Inquisitor starts to question the motives of Jesus about if his choices to ignore the temptations of the devil were really made to save the human race like he was made to do. He explains that it would have been easier for him to just except the temptation so we can live secure in the choices we make today. I don’t particularly agree with what this short story has to say because of my religious background, but it does put some things into light that religious people may not have thought of. I would like to think that free will is something that makes humans free to do as they please, but as this story I begin to contradict this thought. Would it be better for people to have security instead of having the freedom to do what they want? Would we have a more successful society? What amazes me even more about this story is the fact that it is written almost like a parable, which is how Jesus would speak to his disciples making it all the more contradictory to its readers.

God sees the truth but waits

The plot of this story is very simple. A man gets charged with a murder that he didn’t commit and he ends up in prison for it. The plot and the story in general is very basic but the short story goes much deeper. There are several layers of the story that expresses different emotions and ideas. After reading the story, what jumped out at me was the title “God Sees Truth but Waits.” When I was done reading the story I didn’t think too much about it. I just thought that it was another good short story. But when I saw the title a major theme through out the work really stood out. The idea of everything happens for a reason. Let things take its course and everything will be fine. Although Dmitrich ended up in prison, ultimately he found a better life. He dedicated his life to God and found peace within himself. So many bad things happened but the weight on his shoulders was lifted when he finally finds out that it was Aksionov who killed the other man. This gave Dmitrich peace of mind and finally his freedom. Although Dmitrich does die before he gets home, at least he dies in peace. He dies in a good state of mind. Everything did happen for a reason.