tragedy and suffering

The Tragic Sense of Life is the title of a book by Miguel de Unamuno, a Spanish author and philosopher from Spain who lived around the turn of the century. The all knowing wikipedia states that de Unamuno was a proponent of intrahistoria. The central idea of intrahistoria is that the history of humanity should be understood through the study of anonymous individuals instead of humanity's achievements as a group. If human history is to be considered in this context then the fact that suffering is universal and ongoing is apparent.

Humanity as a whole has been thriving for the past few centuries. The last hundred years in particular have brought a standard of living and luxury that our founding fathers could never have imagined. Despite humanity's growth however people still suffer. Depression runs rampant through the developed world, despite our privilege and those living in the undeveloped world live in squalor, suffering is truly world wide. Granted we try to move above and beyond the suffering, saying that today was better than yesterday, that we are happy with our lives. And may of us are happy because the suffering is buried beneath the fronts we put up. Suffering is common to all humans, weather it be illness and pain or the needs or wants of living we all know suffering.

Since suffering is universal it is vital in any true work of literature. The Bros. K carries suffering through the entire story, from the birth and separation of the brothers to the murder of old man Karamazov to the imprisonment of Dimitri and death of Ilyusha. The core of Ivan's famous argument against God is that the world is built on a foundation of suffering. At it's core the brother's K is a 700 page dialog on human suffering.

There must however be hope. Without hope the suffering becomes overwhelming and that is why the brothers K is tolerable to read. There is always hope, no matter how slight, that carries the reader along. As with our everyday life we must have hope to continue in this world of suffering, hope for a better tomorrow and a brighter future.