Mitya’s dream
(illustration by Fritz Eichenberg)
Mitya felt oppressed by a strange physical weakness. His eyes were closing with fatigue. At last, the examination of the witnesses was over; so, Mitya got up, moved to the corner, lay down on a large chest covered with a rug, and instantly fell asleep. Then, he had a strange dream. A peasant was driving him in a cart with a pair of horses, somewhere in the steppes, through snow and sleet. He was cold. The peasant was somewhere about fifty; had a fair, long beard; and he had on a grey peasant’s smock. Not far off was a village – he could see the black huts – and half the huts were burnt down; there were only the charred beams sticking up. And as they drove in, there was a whole row of peasant women drawn up along the road, all thin and wan, with their faces a sort of brownish color, especially one, a tall, bony woman, who looked forty, but might have been only twenty, with a long thin face. In her arms, there was a little baby crying. Her breasts seemed so dried up that there wasn’t a drop of milk in them. And the child cried and cried,
“Why are they crying? Mitya asked, as they dashed by. “It’s the babe that is weeping” answered the driver,””But why is it weeping?” Mitya persisted, stupidly. “Why are its little arms bare? Why don’t they wrap it up?” “The babe’s cold; its little clothes are frozen and don’t warm it” the driver answered.”But why is it? Why?” Mitya persisted. “Why, they’re poor people, burnt out. They’ve no bread. They’re begging because they’ve been burnt out.”
“No, no,” Mitya said, seeming to still not understand. “Why are people poor? Why is the babe poor? Why is the steppe barren? Why don’t they hug each other and kiss? Why don’t they sing songs of joy? Why are they so dark from black misery? Why don’t they feed the babe?” He felt that, though his questions were unreasonable and senseless, yet he wanted to ask just that, and he had to ask just in that way. And he felt that a passion of pity, such as he’d never known before, was rising in his heart, that he wanted to cry, that he wanted to do something for them all, so that the babe would weep no more, so that the dark-faced, dried-up mother wouldn’t weep, that no one would shed tears again from that moment. And he wanted to do it at once, regardless of all obstacles, with all the recklessness of the Karamazovs.
“I’m coming with you. I won’t leave you for the rest of my life, I’m coming with you.” Close beside him, he heard Grushenka’s tender voice. His heart glowed and he struggled forward towards the light. He longed to live, to go on and on, to hasten towards the beckoning light at once!
“What! Where?” he exclaimed opening his eyes and sitting up on the chest, as though he’d revived from a swoon. Nikolay Parfenovitch was standing over him, suggesting that he should hear the protocol read aloud and sign it. Mitya guessed that he’d been asleep for an hour or more, but he didn’t hear Nikolay Parfenovitch. He was suddenly struck by the fact that there was a pillow under his head, which hadn’t been there when he he’d fallen asleep, exhausted, “Who put that pillow under my head? Who was so kind?” he cried, with a sort of ecstatic gratitude, with tears in his voice, as though some great kindness had been shown him. He never found out who the kind person was; perhaps it was one of the peasant witnesses. But his whole soul was quivering with tears and he said that he’d sign whatever they liked. “I’ve had a good dream, gentlemen,” he said in a strange voice, and with a new light, as of joy, in his face.
-
What is the meaning and the significance of Mitya’s dream?
-
How does it compare with Alyosha’s dream in Book 7?
Considering Karamazov 
I feel that the significance of this dream is that it shows that Dmitri is becoming a better person. In the dream he didn’t focus about himself, but he showed genuine concern about the baby and the rest of the people. The original Dmitri would not have cared about the people and their problems.
If our dreams reflect moral goodness, does that mean that people are responsible for their dreams?
As I said in class, the imagery of his dream is very significant. Everything is bleak and dim, the colors of the town and the people are depressing and gloomy. It is something special that Dmitri found enlightenment from this setting. I makes me think of how he is struggling…so perhaps, despite the debt, despair, and death in his life, there is reason to be a good person and have faith in something greater. It is like the discussion that we had about being responsible for every human being; Dmitri has finally figured it out.
I think that Dmitri’s dream is similar to that of Alyosha because both dreams make them realize something. For Alyosha, the dream made him realize that he should not give up his strong faith in God, while Dmitri’s dream makes him realize that the world does not revolve around him. Both of these things are huge revelations to make in ones life. Dmitri’s dream is significant because it could show, as Krysztof said, that Dmitri is changing from a rash, aggressive, selfish man to a more caring and selfless person.
As I said in class, Dmitri has never really cared for other people. In his dream Dmitri is faced with the difficult life or the poor who have no food, clothes, etc. and he is very shocked and sympathetic. This is a reaction he has never had before since previously, he would have never cared for anyone other than himself. This explains why Dmitri asks such childlike questions and is horrified with the notion that these people live in such squalor. He seems unable to understand even after it is explained several times and all his questions are answered. He behaves like a child because this is the first time he has ever felt sympathy for others or compassion to their strife. Up until this point Dmitri seems the most like Fyodor of the sons yet through this dream we see a more compassionate, caring Dmitri.
I think that Dmitri’s dream, like Alyosha’s wakes him up to his own reality. It gives him an opportunity to change who he wants to be from now on. It gives him a choice to be good by showing him the suffering of other people and it opens his eyes. I think that, although Dmitri has been self-centered in the past, it is not because he is a genuinely bad person. He he is a flawed man with a good heart (or at least a good intentioned one) who was truly ignorant of others’ suffering.
Both Alyosha’s dream and Mitya’s dream lead to a positive revelation. Alyosha’s dream showed him what he needed to see in order to renew his faith and self control. It let him see Zossima in the setting of Christ which leads him to believe that Zossima really is in a better place. Mitya’s dream also showed him what he needed to see. It showed him the suffering of other people. The placement of Mitya’s dream is Dostoevsky’s form of satire. It is unfortunate for Dmitri to finally have this revelation from careless to thoughtful at the time that he is going to be found guilty of murder and be sent away for many years. If this dream could have happened at the beginning of the novel then the story would be very different. Because of this dream, Mitya has finally been able to take in his surroundings and see the needs of other people and how his actions have negatively affected them.