Abstract: Dostoevsky's novel, The Adolescent, is not merely a Bildungsroman that addresses the theme of the father-and-son relationship and an adolescent's spiritual growth, but rather an important text that represents the idea of “a life with religion”. The “Random Family,” in which the teenager Arkady lives, reflects the essence of the Russian aristocracy's disintegration and reveals the writer's thoughts of Pochvenichestvo (Native-Soil-ism). The fact that both Versilov, a variant of “superfluous man” in Russia, and Arkady, a teenager in his transition between childhood and adulthood, are in urgent need of spiritual guidance highlights the necessity of universal salvation. Two things, “blagoobrazie” (благообразие, “holy face with kind heart”) and “spider's soul”, help the adolescent learn, from both positive and negative perspectives, how to distinguish good from evil and choose the proper way of life. The ideological significance in writing about “a life with religion” in The Adolescent is intended to show people's persistent search and pursuit of the Russian Orthodox ethics between its loss and its recovery and look forward to the ideal and mission of the young generation.

Key words: The Adolescent, “superfluous man”, universal salvation, “blagoobrazie”, (благообразие), “spider's soul”, Bildungsroman