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its better than your Pushkins poetry, he said, for Ive managed to advocate enlightenment even in that. I understand what he means about Pushkin, I quite see that, if he really was a man of talent and only wrote about womens feet. But wasnt Rakitin stuck up about his doggerel! The vanity of these fellows! On the convalescence of the swollen foot of the object of my affectionshe thought of that for a title. Hes a waggish fellow. Though swollen and red and tender! The doctors come and plasters put, But still they cannot mend her. A theme for Pushkins muse more fit Its not her foot, it is her head: I tremble for her loss of with! Her intellect is on the wane Oh, for some remedy I pray That may restore both foot and brain! He is a pig, a regular pig, but hes very arch, the rascal! And he really has put in a progressive idea. And wasnt he angry when she kicked him out! He was gnashing his teeth! Hes taken his revenge already, said Alyosha. Hes written a paragraph about Madame Hohlakov. And Alyosha told him briefly about the paragraph in Gossip. Thats his doing, thats his doing! Mitya assented, frowning. Thats him! These paragraphs I know the insulting things that have been written about Grushenka, for instance. And about Katya, too. Hm! He walked across the room with a harassed air. Brother, I cannot stay long, Alyosha said, after a pause. To-morrow will be a great and awful day for you, the judgment of God will be accomplished I am amazed at you, you walk about here, talking of I dont know what No, dont be amazed at me, Mitya broke in warmly. Am I to talk of that stinking dog? Of the murderer? Weve talked enough of him. I dont want to say more of the stinking son of Stinking Lizaveta! God will kill him, you will see. Hush! He went up to Alyosha excitedly and kissed him. His eyes glowed. Rakitin wouldnt understand it, he began in a sort of exaltation; but you, youll understand it all. Thats why I was thirsting for you. You see, theres so much Ive been wanting to tell you for ever so long, here, within these peeling walls, but I havent said a word about what matters most; the moment never seems to have come. Now I can wait no longer. I must pour out my heart to you. Brother, these last two months Ive found in myself a new man. A new man has risen up in me. He was hidden in me, but would never have come to the surface, if it hadnt been for this blow from heaven. I am afraid! And what do I care if I spend twenty years in the mines, breaking out ore with a hammer? I am not a bit afraid of thatits something else I am afraid of now: that that new man may leave me. Even there, in the mines, under ground, I may find a human heart in another convict and murderer by my side, and I may make friends with him, for even there one may live and love and suffer. One may thaw and revive a frozen heart in that convict, one may wait upon him for years, and at last bring up from the dark depths a lofty soul, a feeling, suffering creature; one may bring forth an angel, create a hero! There are so many of them, hundreds of them, and we are all to blame for them. Why was it I dreamed of that babe at such a moment? Why is the babe so poor? That was a sign to me at that moment. Its for the babe Im going. Because we are all responsible for all. For all the babes, for there are big children as well as little children. All are babes. I go for all, because some one must go for all. I didnt kill father, but Ive got to go. I accept it. Its all come to me here, here, within these peeling walls. There are numbers of them there, hundreds of them underground, with hammers in their hands. Oh, yes, we shall be in chains |
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