How did ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ changed your life?

I am just finishing up The Brothers Karamazov, and I can feel, quite strongly, that something had changed in me. Now more than ever, I feel the santity of life, and I am strangely more attuned to the world around me. My ambition has been subdued; my pride repressed; my intelligence rendered meaningless. I only seem to have one goal, for today at least: I want to be kinder; I want to be of service to others. I want to worship God, submit to him completely. I have no desires at all at the moment. I am not sure if this feeling will last, but I am grateful for it. Like Dmitri, I have become a new man.

My view of the brothers had changed as well. In previous readings, I was curious about who had committed the murder, who was most to blame. In this reading, I think all are to blame. Alyosha is to blame because he had failed to heed Zosima’s prompting and did not attend fully to his brothers, however difficult this might have been. Dmitri is to blame because he had paid no respect to his father, however undeserving the old man had been. Ivan is to blame because he submitted to his pride, and unconsciously sanctioned his death. And of course the other man — the one who regains his humanity by committing a murder — is to blame because he actually committed the act. If they had been kinder to one another, if they had respect for each other as a family, things might have been different. The lesson is clear: be kind, whether it is deserved or not. Love, whether it is deserved or not. Respect others and be humane, whether it is deserved or not.