A Raw Youth: Analysis of Major Characters
"A Raw Youth" is a novel that delves into the complexities of youth and identity through the lens of its central character, Arkady Makarovitch Dolgoruky. Arkady, often referred to as the "raw youth," grapples with his dual heritage as the legitimate son of a servant and the illegitimate son of an aristocrat. This conflicting background fuels his volatile personality and ambition to attain wealth and influence, symbolized by his desire to become a "Rothschild." His journey reflects the struggle between high ideals and low selfishness, illustrating a battle within himself that leads to a profound sense of humility.
The novel also explores the contrasting characters of Arkady's father figures. Andrei Versilov, his natural father, embodies a cosmopolitan spirit and a progressive vision but is also marked by a flawed duality that he must confront throughout the story. In contrast, Makar Dolgoruky, Arkady's legal father, represents a deeply religious and resigned figure whose humility profoundly impacts Arkady. Meanwhile, Sofia Dolgoruky, Arkady's mother, serves as a stabilizing domestic presence, balancing her past with Versilov and her role in Arkady's life. Together, these characters contribute to a rich exploration of human complexity, moral struggle, and the tensions between ideals and reality in the context of Russian society.
A Raw Youth: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Fyodor Dostoevski
First published: Podrostok, 1875 (English translation, 1916)
Genre: Novel
Locale: St. Petersburg, with flashbacks to Moscow
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The 1870's
Arkady Makarovitch Dolgoruky (ahr-KAH-dee mahKAH-roh-vihch dol-goh-REW-kee), the narrator and “raw youth” of the title. He is a boy of some talents but no social polish, and his attempts to strike a course for himself in life are hampered by his confusing social position and his unorthodox family situation. He is the legal son of a servant, the natural son of an aristocrat, and a volatile character, even by the standards of Russian literature. He is an exemplar of the dual nature, combining in himself a craggy, low selfishness with high principles and a warm, effusive love of others. The personality built on this cracked foundation is unformed and ill-directed. He is as likely to break out in shouted insults, or to remain haughtily silent, as to be gushingly affectionate. Arkady has a powerful talent for solitude. His ambition is to become a “Rothschild,” a man of immeasurable wealth and influence. Like his natural father, he is neither good nor bad but has a double nature and can be pulled both ways. Although he has this dual nature, he is good, because he understands that he is divided and must struggle to support his better self. The knowledge that he is divided, that he has no true strength over his own soul, gives him humility, which, in the eyes of the author, is close to true holiness.
Andrei Versilov (ahn-DRAY vehr-SIH-lov), Arkady's natural father, a nobleman. He is a figure in society, with a questionable reputation. In the first section of the novel, Arkady, in the bitterness of adolescence, is misled by a number of coincidences and, jumping to conclusions, denounces Versilov as an evil and degraded man. When Arkady finds out his mistake, he comes to love and esteem Versilov. He is revealed, through Arkady's eyes, as a true cosmopolitan, endowed with the noblest progressive European spirit and committed to a utopian vision. Behind this truth, Versilov has a baser nature, a second self, that has an equal claim on him. He brings it out in a symbolic act: He breaks an icon, showing his rejection of religion. By the book's end, he has changed for the better and come to terms with his other self. He does so, however, with the knowledge that he has not overcome it, that he lives with it still.
Makar Dolgoruky (mah-KAHR), Arkady's legal father, a religious pilgrim. In the many years since he lost his wife to Versilov, he has spent his time wandering across Russia, begging, going from shrine to shrine. His religion is not at all ideological but something more than an attitude. He is infinitely resigned, to the point of refusing to take pride even in his piety and obedience. This beatific disposition has a profound effect on Arkady's extended family, particularly on Arkady himself. Enfeebled by age and his travels, he comes to stay with them. While Arkady is recovering from an illness, sunk in his worldly concerns, Makar distracts him, changing his own joy in the mystery of the world for Arkady's dreadful, scientific certainties. Although Makar, desperately ill himself, dies soon afterward, it is his vision of the world that survives after Versilov's own weaknesses have shown themselves.
Sofia Dolgoruky, Makar's wife, the mother of Arkady by Versilov. She takes little part in the action of the book but remains its domestic center, perhaps because of the calming effect she has on her two random and rampant men, her lover and her son. She had had a passionate affair with Versilov when she was his servant. Now that she is past middle age, he still has an emotional attachment to her (at least when his better self is dominant) and to her kind nature and selflessness. This attachment is perhaps not so surprising as that this pious woman had a passionate affair. She does not renounce it, although she feels that she must atone for it. This affair is her dual nature, and her humility in the face of her sin is, again, the author's true piety.