The Brothers Karamazov

Sunlight symbolizes the presence of God and moments of spiritual understanding and transformation. One of Alyosha’s earliest memories of his mother involves watching her sobbing and praying before an icon in a room filled with “the slanting rays of the setting sun (those slanting rays he remembered most of all)” (18). The significance of this memory for Alyosha is connected to his love for humanity and his desire to escape from the dark, wicked world toward “the light of love” (18). This memory of his mother praying for his safety shortly before her death stays with Alyosha throughout his life, and it becomes imbued with the symbolism of sacrifice and redemption. Alyosha’s love for his mother and grief over her death is one of the motivations for his entry into the monastery.

One of Zosima’s childhood memories similarly includes rays:

[F]rom above, through a narrow window in the cupola, God’s rays pouring down upon us in the church […] I looked with deep tenderness, and for the first time in my life I consciously received the first seed of the word of God in my soul (291).

For Father Zosima, this memory of sitting in a church and feeling the presence of God contributes to his decision in adulthood to join a monastery.