Something that stayed on my mind was Chow’s comment about the quote,
"I envy such a man till I am green in the face. He is stupid. I am not disputing that, but perhaps the normal man should be stupid, how do you know? Perhaps it is beautiful, in fact.”
When I first read that my mind initially went to what I said in my previous comment about religion. Sometimes it’s easier to be “stupid” or see the world more simply. Religion is something that helps people navigate and understand the world around them and not having that guide can be confusing and complicate thoughts. However, I (surprisingly) think its interesting to think of it in Chow’s way. Even though I don’t think Dostoyevsky was planning on helping Stalin brainwash and control the people of his communist country, I get how it could be read in such a negative way. This is one way this book can be interpreted from multiple points of view. When you do preach to a mass of people thats its better to be stupid, people may not see a problem in being mindless. But like the way people see beauty in children’s innocence and amazement and joy at things “intelligent” people or adults overlook or take for granted, Dostoyevsky may be commenting the positives of not overthinking and being stuck with convoluted thoughts and questions. It’s arguable that to a point, finding things out and getting all those “why are we alive” questions answered doesn't really change what happens in live or produce anything anyways. However if you have a large consciousness, you’re stuck with those thought whether you like it or not.
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