Sibling relationship, birth order and upbringing in The Brothers Karamazov

[UMstudent]

Hello fellow readers!

My name is Alexa and I am a student at the University of Miami taking Russian Literature. In about three weeks, I have a paper due and I can't seem to find any more sources of information for my research. I was hoping maybe one of you could help me in my search! The following paragraph discusses my topic:

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, the three main protagonists of the novel are siblings. Among the religious debates, romantic entanglements and dramatic encounters, each of the brothers seems to have a different opinion and individual role in each situation. Dmitri, Ivan and Alyosha, which are all several years apart, coexist but really do not share any of the same values as demonstrated in Dostoevsky’s story. Psychologically they have pursued very different reactions to their upbringing by Fyodor Pavlovich, as well as their absent mother who passed away. The development and closeness of the relationships among the Karamazov brothers can be studied by analyzing the psychological consequences of their parenting and the order of their birth: Dmitri is the oldest, Ivan is the middle child and Alyosha is the last born. Also, with this research kept in mind, it is important to note how and why each of them took on a certain way of life as a result of their psychological development. Dmitri, for instance, became the most emotional and rash of the brothers, while Ivan is highly dependent on reason and intelligence and Alyosha on Christianity and faith. Siblings have the tendency to distribute themselves among roles in society, in relationships and in certain ways of thinking based on their child development, especially when each has such a heavy influence on the other, as do the Karamazov brothers.

Let me know if you have any ideas on where I can gather more information to discuss this topic!

Thank you

[axon]

Your class sounds like fun. This is by far the most interesting topic I have seen on this forum in a few years. I think delving into some psychology books would help you understand the relationship of siblings. Also exploring the motherless upbringing can bring some interesting explanations to the Brothers' personalities - that is where I would start.

http://www.essortment.com/all/birthordersibl_rbay.htm
http://ohioline.osu.edu/flm99/fs06.html
http://social.jrank.org/pages/576/Siblings-Sibling-Relationships.html

This is a super loaded question. You could probably spend a semester researching it. I will give it some more thought and let you know if I come up with anything. I would be interested, however, to read your paper once you have written it. Good luck!

[axon]

another good article

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0003/ai_2699000393/

[UMstudent]

Axon,

Thank you so much for your help! Your research is extremely beneficial to my final paper. I'll be sure to post up the final result once I've completed it next week.

Thanks again. And if anyone else has any more input, feel free to help me out

Happy holidays!