The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov is a family tragedy centered around a father and his sons. Dmitri has a dispute with Fyodor over his inheritance, and Alyosha, who is living in a monastery, suggests that they see Father Zossima, Alyosha's mentor. On a deeper level, The Brothers Karamazov has a central philosophical conflict in the novel embodied in the characters of Zosima and Alyosha (faith), and Ivan and Fyodor Pavlovich (doubt). The conflict is a consequence of free will, in that it arises from the fact that man is free to believe in God or not.