Children In “The Brothers Karamazov

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ntion it more, in detail, later. First I

want to look at the chapter “A Meeting with the Schoolboys” in which Alyosha runs into a

group a schoolboys on a bridge. Alyosha meets these boys, who all seem to be carrying rocks,

on a bridge. He starts up a casual conversation with them, but soon finds out that they are not in

the mood to talk. There’s another schoolboy, by himself, on the other side of the bridge who

throws a rock into the crowd. The boys retaliate, so he throws another rock and this one hits

Alyosha in the shoulder. The boys cry out that they are aiming for him because he was a

Karamazov. Alyosha goes over to the boy, who is bleeding after getting hit in the head with a

rock, and asks him why he was throwing the rocks. The boy tells him to leave him alone, so

Alyosha tells him that he wasn’t teasing him and walks away, and as soon as he does this he gets

hit in the back with a rock. The boy tires to provoke Alyosha to fight him, but Alyosha won’t

have it. The boy realizing that he won’t attack ran at Alyosha and bit his hand. Alyosha

screamed in pain, then after bandaging his finger asks the child if he’s happy now that he’s

badly wounded him. He again tells the child that he doesn’t know him and doesn’t understand

why he’s doing what he’s doing. The boy now breaks down into tears and runs away, leaving

Alyosha there with his finger almost bit off. (161-164).

This story shows children as what children are; little adults. Children can be just as cruel

as adults, so why should they be treated differently? Why feel so sorry for a child who dies if

they were just as cruel as some adult? I don’t know the answer to that question, but it’s a point

that should be brought up. The boy that bit Alyosha’s finger had a reason, which you find out

about later, but the other boys who were throwing stones at the him ...