use for his punishment. While Fyodor neglected his fatherly duties to his other
             three sons, to his fourth, he rejects them completely. He finds the controversy around the mystery
             of the boy's conception amusing. He employs his own son as one of his servants, as his "lackey:"
             Although incredible attention to detail is paid to the story of Lizaveta, Dostoevsky waits to speak
             of the boy himself. It is as if the author is all ready separating this last son. Dostoevsky claims to
             not want to go into detail about Smerdyakov so as to not distract the reader from the story.
             However, it is an intentional set-up on the part of the author.
             When we finally learn more of this mysterious character, it is not until four chapters later.
             Dostoevsky is oddly able to summarize the character of Smerdyakov in only five pages, whereas,
             with the characters of his brothers he needs many more pages. In this way, the author is showing
             the mistreatment of this innocent boy by all who know him. Grigory is ashamed of him. He
             spreads the story of Smerdyakov's birth and ruins his reputation indefinitely. All three of the
             brothers treat Smerdyakov not as an equal, but as a servant. Despite his displays of intelligence,
             Smerdyakov is labeled and mocked by everyone. He is called a lackey, an ass, a scoundrel, and
             So, quite predictably, we find out in the sixth chapter of Book three, that Smerdyakov is,
             to say the least, bitter about his mistreatment. Smerdyakov seems to be innately aware of the
             violence, disrespect, and cruelty from which he was conceived. He is outwardly cold and
             passionless. Inwardly he has a lot of anger. He reacts to his situation much in the same way that
             the lamb reacts to the bird of prey according to Nietzsche. Those who are in power are the birds
             and those who the powerful use as a crutch to survive are the lam
             ...