The Margin

Concept

Rebellion

Also known as I simply 'don't accept His world', don't accept the world.

Rebellion is Alyosha's name for Ivan's protest against accepting God's world. Ivan does not deny God in this argument; he refuses the moral arrangement in which innocent suffering can be reconciled by a final harmony. The word names a living spiritual condition, not only an idea in a debate.

VII-II. A Critical Moment

After Father Zossima's body is dishonored by premature decay, Alyosha briefly repeats Ivan's language and says he does not accept God's world. The phrase shows how Ivan's protest has lodged in Alyosha at a moment of pain.

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The Margin

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Rebellion