Father Zossima's ideas concerning the responsibility of one man for another take on added weight in the conversations that Alyosha has with Ivan. Ivan refuses to take responsibility for Dmitri's sins and tells Alyosha that he is not his brother's keeper. Later, Zossima's concept of responsibility triggers Alyosha into considering his own responsibility for Karamazov's murder.
At the end of Zossima's talk, rumors spread of a forthcoming miracle, one that will coincide with the elder's death. Alyosha is intrigued by the rumors, especially since he believes Zossima to be saint-like, but he is sorely tested when his beloved elder's body rapidly decomposes.
As Alyosha begins his journey through the complex world of society, he goes first to his father's house and listens to all kinds of vulgar and disgusting stories. His father tells him that he will need much money in later years to tempt young "wenches" to sleep with him and suggests that Ivan is trying to marry Katerina so that Dmitri will have to marry Grushenka; thus old Karamazov will be prevented from remarrying and leaving his fortune to a new wife — in other words, to Grushenka. All these wild accusations color more darkly Dostoevsky's portrait of Karamazov as a repulsive and bestial type. Throughout the confession, Alyosha is able to retain his peaceful mien and never compromises his inner nature of dignity and love.
In the scene with young Ilusha, Alyosha still remains a perfectly self-contained individual. He does not even use violence when Ilusha bites him so viciously. It is a bitter entrance into the world — stoned and bitten only because one is a Karamazov; none of this, of course, would have happened if Alyosha had remained in seclusion at the monastery.
