The Brothers Karamazov Lesson Plan

How does Book 10 fit into the novel's overall pacing, and what larger statement might Dostoevsky be trying to make by focusing on Ilusha?

This book focuses on a younger generation. In addition to Ilusha, whom Alyosha met earlier, there is Kolya, a willful and precocious classmate of Ilusha. They are the youngest characters in the novel, and this is the first book devoted mostly to them. After the murder–the most important event in the novel–the focus shifts to a new storyline. This acts as a breath of relief from the heaviness of the murder trial, though this is by no means a section with a great deal of levity, for young Ilusha is dying.

His death will be a parallel...