Perhaps the real purpose of the section is this: Dostoevsky is showing Alyosha as he moves among Russian youth, quietly influencing their lives as a living example of Father Zossima's philosophy. The hope of Russia lies in the young and in the common people, and Alyosha teaches Kolya much in this section. He meets him as an equal and offers him understanding and trust; he teaches Kolya that one cannot judge Ilusha's father, saying that there are people of rare character who have been crushed by life. The buffoonery of Ilusha's father, he says, is only the man's way of being ironic toward those who have humiliated and intimidated him for years.
Alyosha also instructs Kolya in what a man can learn from another. Because Alyosha accepts all as equals, even Kolya, he kindles a responsive chord of love. By his quiet examples, Alyosha corrects immature views without arousing animosity. He is, for example, careful not to denounce Kolya's potpourri of philosophy; instead, he simply explains that although he disagrees, he does not have contempt for Kolya's ideas. By the latter's response, it is obvious that he will become one of Alyosha's strongest disciples.
