To what extent is Alyosha the hero of the novel?Dosteovsky debated about this point in a note at the beginning of the novel.

Toward the middle of the novel Alyosha is directly
identified as the "hero of the novel" by the
narrator.

Perhaps more significantly, as the philosophical
opposition is developed between faith and disbelief in the novel, the preferred
existential position is clearly established. Faith is the position of virtue and
disbelief leads to chaos, betrayal, crime and evil.

Early
in the novel this is conclusion is neither clear nor foreshadowed and only becomes clear
finally when Ivan faces the devil in his delusion-driven nightmare. Ivan ultimately
represents the inevitable despair born out of disbelief and human pride which the novel
is so interested in exploring and, in the end,
condemning.

Alyosha represents the opposite side of this
existential and philosophical divide, literally characterizing the virtues of faith and
constantly rescuing others through this honest, humble
faith.

Alyosha is the hero of the novel because he
represents the winning side of the novel's central argument regarding which position is
best for mankind - to humbly believe and trust or to push forward to a man-made
revolution, doomed to failure because of the weakness of
men.

There are passages in the novel which do suggest that
Dostoyevsky is open to considering (and maybe believing in) the potential benefits of
atheism and in the socialism attached to it in the novel. However, the idea of a
Russian-Christian revolution wins out in The Brothers
Karamazov.