The Brothers Karamazov

This section covers the following chapters: “Kolya Krasotkin,” “Kids,” “A Schoolboy,” “Zhuchka,” “At Ilyusha’s Bedside,” “Precocity,” and “Ilyusha.”

A 13-year-old boy named Kolya Krasotkin is watching his neighbor’s two small children. He leaves them to go with his friend, Smurov, to visit Ilyusha, Snegiryov’s son. Ilyusha has fallen gravely ill. On the day the boys were throwing rocks, Ilyusha stabbed Kolya in the thigh with a penknife. Smurov tells Kolya that he should pretend that his dog Perezvon is Zhuchka, Ilyusha’s dog that has gone missing, because the dogs resemble each other. Kolya says no.

Kolya is eager to speak with Alyosha. Kolya tells Alyosha that he and Ilyusha were very close friends until Ilyusha fed Zhuchka (Ilyusha’s dog) a piece of bread with a pin in it. After this, he stopped being friends with Ilyusha. Kolya explains to Alyosha that the other boys ganged up cruelly on Ilyusha following his father’s humiliation partially because he no longer had the protection of Kolya, who is the leader of the schoolboys. Kolya tells Alyosha that he planned a surprise involving Perezvon, his dog.

Ilyusha has been bedridden for two weeks, and the other schoolboys have been visiting him regularly. Ilyusha’s mother, a “half-witted” woman (540), initially dislikes the schoolboys’ visits but begins to enjoy their company.