The Brothers Karamazov, Chapter 3 summary

What happens

1. Sofya Ivanovna escapes her harsh guardian by marrying Fyodor Pavlovitch, but he humiliates her, and she develops a severe nervous illness.
2. After Sofya dies, Grigory cares for Ivan and Alexey until their mother’s former guardian takes them away.
3. The guardian leaves money for their education, but Yefim Petrovitch Polenov raises and educates them at his own expense.
4. Ivan supports himself through teaching and journalism, then attracts conflicting responses with an article about ecclesiastical courts.
5. Ivan stays with his father and partly represents Dmitri, whose dispute with their father includes a threatened lawsuit.
6. The brothers gather in the same town, where Alexey spends a year as a monastery novice.

In this chapter

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