I.S. Turgenev. "Fathers and Sons" (1861)
Meaning of the name
The meaning of the title of Turgenev’s novel is quite broad: the title reflects both the confrontation between liberals and revolutionary democrats in the sixties of the 19th century (it is no coincidence that the very first sentence precisely indicates the start date of the action - May 1859), and the eternal conflict of generations.
Features of Turgenev's psychologism
Turgenev believed: “A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret psychologist: he must know and feel the roots of phenomena, but represent only the phenomena themselves.” Turgenev, unlike L.N. Tolstoy, for example, does not explain what is happening to the hero, does not comment on his state of mind, but by showing individual details of the portrait, gestures, and intonation of voice, he allows the reader to understand for himself what is happening in the hero’s soul.
Bazarov
Bazarov at the beginning of the novel. Bazarov, the hero of the sixties, differs sharply from the heroes of other times (Onegin, Pechorin): Turgenev’s hero is not going to submit to circumstances, he came to change time itself, life, and in this he sees his calling. Bazarov is a commoner, a man who achieves everything himself, and therefore is accustomed to relying only on himself and believing only in himself. This is a man of action, action; for him, any idea that cannot be implemented in the coming years is just a “common place.”
The difference between Bazarov and the Kirsanov brothers is noticeable from the very first pages of the novel: he introduces himself in a common way as “Evgeniy Vasiliev”, it does not matter to him that his robe with tassels and sandy sideburns are not so elegant. Intelligence, strong will, internal energy are palpable in the portrait of Bazarov. In Pavel Petrovich, on the contrary, the main thing is the exquisite beauty of a person who is far from the real deal, and therefore he disdainfully asks about Bazarov: “Who is this?” and, having received the answer that this is Arkady’s friend, he is even more amazed: “Is this hairy one?”
At the beginning of the novel, Bazarov lives in a simplified world, where everything is explainable, and ideal matters are only “romanticism, rot, art.” With the maximalism of his youth, Turgenev’s hero denies the ideas of the “fathers” about authority and aristocracy, about the tasks of the time and the essence of nihilism, about nature and man, about art and love: “in the present time, it is most useful to deny - we deny,” “first we need to clear the place, and others will build”, “studying individual personalities is not worth the effort. All people are similar to each other both in body and soul,” “moral illnesses arise from the ugly state of society. Correct society - and there will be no diseases,” “a decent chemist is twenty times more useful than any poet,” “Raphael is not worth a penny,” “nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man is a worker in it.” Pavel Petrovich respects real aristocrats, is proud that he himself belongs to their number, Bazarov openly despises the slackers in them; Kirsanov reproaches Bazarov for contempt for the people - he claims that in the life of the Russian people there are many dark sides worthy of contempt. The Kirsanov brothers consider the absolute denial of traditions to be destructive; Bazarov claims that nihilism is the dictate of the time. Pavel Petrovich respects the individual: “The individual must be strong as a rock, because everything rests on it,” and at the beginning of the novel Bazarov believed that there are no significant differences between people.
Although Turgenev shows the peculiar superiority of Bazarov in a dispute with the Kirsanov brothers, he himself would rather agree with the words of Nikolai Petrovich: “But how can you break without knowing why, because you also need to build.” Turgenev does not give either Bazarov or Pavel Petrovich the final victory in the dispute: the world and man are complex, any point of view does not exhaust or cross out the others, the truth is where there is no intolerance to a different opinion. All the problems that Bazarov and the Kirsanov brothers argue about can be combined into one - the fate of Russia, its future, the place of the people and the intelligentsia in it. The very fact that Bazarov is not given the opportunity to ignore the eternal Russian question “What to do?”, that he “dares to have his own opinion” about the most pressing, most significant issues of the time - this already reveals the personality in him. You can disagree with him, but you cannot disrespect him. Many of Bazarov’s statements show the one-sidedness of his views, however, it must be borne in mind that these views were generated by a time when Russia, for the umpteenth time in its history, found itself at a crossroads and it was necessary to decide and decide to take active action. Bazarov is one of those who could not stay away.
Bazarov is often blamed for his statements about love, nature, and art. However, a person should be judged not only by his words, but also by his actions. Bazarov limited love only to physiology, but until he himself truly fell in love, and regarding art, Bazarov has another statement: “We are engaged in nonsense, talking about some kind of art, when it comes to our daily bread.” It is difficult to agree with this opinion, but one cannot help but recognize its right to exist, because this is a position. What is really difficult to agree with is Bazarov’s idea of a person, but Turgenev’s hero still has to face a riddle human soul, first of all, your own. Turgenev needed just such a hero to take him through several rounds of trials, to confront him with what he denied.
Test of love. At the beginning of the novel, Bazarov did not even imagine the ability to fall in love at first sight, passionately and difficultly, as not many are given. “She’s not like other women,” the rudeness of Bazarov’s first reaction to Odintsova’s appearance already suggests that love has entered his heart, and these words are only a doomed attempt to weaken its impact. “He could easily cope with his blood, but something else took possession of him, which he never allowed, which he always mocked, which outraged all his pride.” This “something” was precisely that secret love that Bazarov denied, and now found himself in its power. This “something” was beyond the control of his will, his mind, he felt it, tried to fight his passion - and could not control it. Bazarov is an extraordinary nature, he does not know how to love “slightly”, his love is like an avalanche - it is difficult to live with such love, such love is difficult to accept, it is no coincidence that Turgenev so often conveys the feelings of Anna Sergeevna Odintsova through the word “fright”.
Odintsova really deserves such love. She feels originality and strength of character, majesty and self-esteem, and most importantly, the ability, no matter what, to remain herself. Life's adversities did not break her, did not humiliate her, but with her cold calm, measured and prim order of life in her Nikolskoye estate, Odintsova seemed to have closed herself off from the surprises of life. The fact that it was Bazarov who attracted her attention reveals in her an extraordinary and intelligent person: she, an aristocrat, saw in this daring, “inconvenient” man a strong, complex, interesting nature. However, Bazarov still turned out to be too much for her. Accepting such love would mean parting with the usual life forever; Odintsova could not do this.
To love passionately, but to step aside when your love is not accepted is an Act that not everyone can do. Bazarov managed this, but still something broke in him, faded away forever.
Test of loneliness. Bazarov managed to overcome the despair of unrequited love, but still possible happiness was forever lost for him. Fewer and fewer people remain around him: a duel with Pavel Petrovich forever closes the road to Maryino, parting with Arkady forces Bazarov to admit that the relationship with this “soft liberal barich,” as he called him, still made his life richer; Sitnikov and Kukshina can hardly be called Bazarov’s students, much less his friends.
Bazarov’s discord with himself deepens, something oppresses him, and even his parents, who love him but cannot understand his mental turmoil, are unable to help. “The fever of work disappeared from him and was replaced by dreary boredom and dull anxiety. A strange fatigue was noticeable in all his movements, even his gait, firm and swiftly bold, changed.” Bazarov, who at the beginning of the novel proudly said: “My grandfather plowed the land,” suddenly realizes that not only for Pavel Petrovich, but also for him, Bazarov, peasant Russia is a great secret (“Well, tell me your views on life, brother, after all, they say, all the strength and future of Russia is in you, it will begin from you new era in history,” with these words Bazarov meets men on a village street, not suspecting that in their eyes he is something like a “clown of a fool”).
The last refuge for Bazarov was his parents' house. The parents love their son, but they are unable to understand his mental tossing; the amulet, put on by the loving hand of the mother, cannot protect Bazarov from himself.
“Does Russia need me? No, apparently it’s not needed,” Bazarov will bitterly express his most secret things, already half-delirious. This is the tragedy of Bazarov, that he does not find the job for which he was preparing himself, that he, like the “fathers,” does not have an answer to the question of who Russia needs.
Trial by death. Death is the last test that Turgenev’s hero withstands with amazing courage. To know for sure that the end is already near, to face the truth and at the same time not to become embittered towards the whole world - this again reveals in Bazarov the strength of his character. It is before Bazarov’s death that we see his tender love for his parents, all his thoughts are about them. Before his death, Bazarov no longer considers it necessary to restrain his love for Odintsova. This love turned out to be so strong that death itself retreated for a while: only after Bazarov said goodbye to Odintsova did he “allow” himself to fall into delirium, into unconsciousness.
The last pages of the novel are a requiem for Bazarov’s “passionate, sinful, rebellious heart,” with whose departure, it would seem, all the heroes of Turgenev’s work became orphans.
Kirsanov family
Turgenev said that he showed the best of the nobles in the Kirsanov family. It is no coincidence that the novel describes in detail the history of the Kirsanov family; we see that significant dates in the history of this family coincide with stages in the history of Russia, that the personal fate of the Kirsanovs is intertwined with the fate of the country. The Kirsanovs are representatives of the Russian noble intelligentsia, for whom the rules of honor and decency have always been above all, who did not separate the fate of their “noble nests” from the fate of Russia.
Nikolai Petrovich. Despite the fact that life did not spoil Nikolai Petrovich (he did not enlist in military service, he lost his beloved wife early), he still did not turn away from people, did not withdraw into loneliness. Moreover, he managed to become happy and give happiness to others. Nikolai Petrovich's nature is soft, delicate, any rudeness or tactlessness causes him pain. Nikolai Petrovich saw how Arkady had changed, how a swagger that was previously unusual for him appeared in him, and “something stabbed” Nikolai Petrovich in his heart, but he immediately “accused himself” of being too demanding. It was thanks to the talent of kindness and delicacy that Nikolai Petrovich was endowed with that the crack of misunderstanding between father and son did not turn into an abyss.
Without aiming to improve the whole of Russia, Nikolai Petrovich tried to “cultivate his own garden”: “he separated himself from the peasants, built a house, services and a farm, dug a pond and two wells.” The purpose of these reforms was to introduce new, more progressive and at the same time fairer relations with the peasants. However, "started on new way the farm creaked like an unoiled wheel,” “poor Nikolai Petrovich had a bad time. The chores on the farm grew every day - joyless, senseless chores. The fuss with hired workers became unbearable. The men who were put on quitrent did not pay the money on time and stole the forest.” The fact that the transformations are not accepted by the peasants, that they unlovingly nicknamed Maryino “bean farm”, is not so much Nikolai Petrovich’s fault as his misfortune, and not only his: by the sixties the abyss of mistrust and misunderstanding between the nobles and peasants became too deep . Nikolai Petrovich feels that life goes on past the fact that he no longer understands much about it, but he has no resentment towards life, he tries to wisely accept the inevitable.
Pavel Petrovich. Pavel Petrovich was given a lot: intelligence, beauty, luck. However, he was unable to realize in life what he received from nature and upbringing. Life turned out to be wasted in an aimless pursuit of happiness that was gone forever, spent in inaction either in Maryino or abroad. Pavel Petrovich can be respected for his ability to love passionately, sacrificing everything in the name of love, but respect dissipates when he tries to beg love from Princess R., does not find the strength to step aside when his love is no longer needed. The fate of Pavel Petrovich is as tragic as the fate of Bazarov: he also dies, but he dies spiritually: “His beautiful, emaciated head lay on a white pillow, like the head of a dead man... Yes, he was a dead man.”
Last splash vital energy Pavel Petrovich is connected, paradoxically, with the appearance of Bazarov, who interested Pavel Petrovich, otherwise he would hardly have argued with this “doctor” so passionately and ardently. Perhaps in Bazarov, Pavel Petrovich saw what he did not have or had lost himself: strength of will and character, confidence in his abilities and that pride, without which you will not achieve high life goals.
It was in a dispute with Bazarov that Pavel Petrovich had the opportunity to express his views, many of which are difficult to disagree with: “ human personality must be as strong as a rock, for everything is built on it,” “listen to you, we are outside of humanity, outside of its laws,” “how can we break this without even knowing why.” Respecting authorities and traditions, Russian nobles saw their purpose in preservation and enhancement, not destruction.
The last days of Pavel Petrovich are the burden of an existence not illuminated by purpose, love, he has nothing and no reason to live. He leaves Russia forever, the only thing that reminds him of his homeland is an ashtray in the shape of a peasant's bast shoe. “But life is hard for him, harder than he himself suspects. It’s worth looking at him in a Russian church, when, leaning aside against the wall, he thinks and does not move for a long time, bitterly clenching his lips.”
Arkady. Arkady's nihilism was shallow, external: he was attracted by Bazarov's strength of character, the desire to overthrow authorities, and the desire to assert himself. Arkady is an artistic person, he has a keen sense of nature, art, he is not a rebel, he is simply different, not like Bazarov. Arkady tried to suppress his sensitivity and receptivity, but it constantly broke through against his will. It was these qualities that allowed Arkady to understand Bazarov’s state after Odintsova’s refusal: “Getting into the carriage with Bazarov, Arkady squeezed his hand tightly and did not say anything for a long time. It seemed that Bazarov understood and appreciated both this squeeze and this silence.” With his characteristic delicacy, Arkady realized that what Bazarov needed at that moment was not words, but rather silence, sympathetic and understanding. About What what Arkady meant to Bazarov, say the last words he said to Arkady: “I have other words for you, but I just won’t say them, because it means losing my temper.”
Love and trust in each other are the foundations on which the Kirsanov House rests. At the end of the novel, we learn that “Nikolai Petrovich has already managed to fall in love with Katya without memory”, that everyone is “essentially very good”, that the affairs of father and son Kirsanov “are beginning to get better, the farm is already generating income.”
Sitnikov and Kukshina as imaginary followers of Bazarov
Emphasizing the colossal nature of Bazarov, his unlikeness from everyone else, the truth of his views, Turgenev, on the principle of antithesis, brings out the images of Sitnikov and Kukshina, whose nihilism is external, feigned, parody. Similar relationships between “hero and parody” are reflected in Griboyedov’s play “Woe from Wit” in the confrontation between Chatsky and Repetilov: Repetilov considers himself to belong to the progressive noble youth, not understanding the essence of progressive ideas.
Sitnikov sees in nihilism only an opportunity to deny authorities (“When Evgeniy Vasilyevich said for the first time in front of me that he should not recognize authorities, I felt such delight, as if I had seen the light!”). Sitnikov’s personal smallness is emphasized already in his first appearance: “ Jumped out Human small height”, in the details of his portrait: “An alarming and dull expression was reflected in the small, however pleasant, features of his sleek face; his small, sunken eyes looked intently and restlessly, and he laughed restlessly: with a kind of short, wooden laugh.” Sitnikov, ashamed of his non-noble origins (his father, a merchant, runs a tavern), feeling personal insignificance, tries to embellish himself with progressive views, but his fussiness and anxiety reveal that he feels like a stranger among people like Bazarov.
The same anxiety and feeling of instability can be felt in Kukshina, the “advanced woman,” as Sitnikov calls her. Nihilism in her understanding is forgetting about traditional decency, the ability to communicate cheekily, appear in unkempt clothes, emphasizing her “progressive” disdain for beauty. “There was nothing ugly in the small and inconspicuous figure of the emancipated woman; but the expression on her face had an unpleasant effect on the viewer. I couldn’t help but want to ask her: “Are you hungry? Or are you bored? Or are you timid? Why are you jumping?” And like Sitnikov, her soul was always scratching. Everything she did was not easy, not natural.” Kukshina uses nihilism to cover up her female disorder and unhappiness: she separated from her husband, she has no children and family (“Thank God, I’m free, I don’t have children... What did I say: God bless! However, it’s all the same”).
Turgenev's attitude towards Bazarov
« I don't know if I love him or hate him » , Turgenev said about Bazarov, a hero who is absolutely alien to him both socially and spiritually. The writer had a sensitivity to what had just appeared in life, had not yet been formed (Dobrolyubov called it “a sense of the present moment”), and therefore, paradoxically, he was a liberal by his convictions, an aristocrat by personality type and position in society, a sophisticated esthete , Turgenev was the first in Russian literature to portray a democratic revolutionary. Bazarov was so interesting to his creator that Turgenev kept a diary on his behalf, where he recorded the hero’s possible judgments about the events taking place.
Turgenev had a complex attitude towards people of Bazarov's type. The writer could not accept the radicalism of these people’s views, the categorical judgments and assessments, the recognition of not so much an evolutionary as a revolutionary, and therefore, in Turgenev’s opinion, a destructive path of development of Russia. It was this rejection that caused the writer to leave the editorial office of the Sovremennik magazine, although Turgenev had many years of creative and friendly relations with this publication and its editor Nekrasov (the appearance of Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov in the editorial office, Dobrolyubov’s article “When will the real one will come day?”, written about Turgenev’s novel “On the Eve” and clearly showing the different ideas of liberals and democratic revolutionaries about the transformation of Russia, became the reason for Turgenev’s break with the magazine and the writer’s next departure abroad. The novel “Fathers and Sons” was no longer published in “Sovremennik”, but in the magazine “Russian Word”).
“To make Bazarov a wolf and still justify him - that was difficult,” - admits Turgenev. At the beginning of the novel, Bazarov is precisely a “wolf”: he feels inner strength, conviction in his materialistic views, and condescending contempt for those who think differently.
Gradually, the “author-hero” relationship in the novel becomes different, especially when Turgenev shows Bazarov in love. The author sincerely empathizes with his hero, who is capable of not only loving deeply, but also maintaining dignity and nobility in the bitterness of an unrequited feeling. Life turned out to be much richer, more complex, more contradictory than Bazarov expected; not everything in life is subject to reason and will, not everything can be explained by materialistic ideas. Life does not fit into ready-made schemes and theories - Turgenev always knew this, and the author brings his hero to this. Turgenev managed to create not a caricature of a democratic revolutionary, but a living personality, strong and passionate, confronted with the great mysteries of human life and soul. “If the reader does not fall in love with Bazarov, then I have not achieved my goal,” - said Turgenev, for whom it was really important that the reader fall in love with his daring, “inconvenient” hero.
The second part of the novel reveals another author’s task, which Turgenev formulated as follows: “I wanted to make a tragic face out of Bazarov.” “I saw a strong, gloomy figure, half grown from the soil of the people and yet premature,” - Turgenev said.
The author's attitude towards Bazarov can be felt at the end of the novel. It is noteworthy that the novel does not end with a description of the death of the main character: there is also an epilogue that talks about the Kirsanov brothers, Arkady and his happy life with Katya, about Odintsova, Bazarov’s parents, sadly and touchingly sadly coming to their son’s grave.
The final paragraph is likened to a prose poem - both in its melody, and in the rhythmic organization of the line, and in the author’s feeling of light sadness reflected in it. “Are their prayers, their tears, fruitless? Isn’t love, holy, devoted love, omnipotent? Oh no! No matter how passionate, sinful, rebellious the heart may be hiding in the grave, the flowers growing on it serenely look at us with their innocent eyes: they tell us more than just eternal peace. They also talk about eternal reconciliation and endless life.” “Prayers”, “tears”, “love”, “reconciliation”, “endless life” - these are the key words of the final lines of Turgenev’s novel. They contain the author’s deep and wise acceptance of life in all its tragic and bright manifestations, recognition of the eternal truths of love, goodness and harmony. Bazarov left, but eternal nature, eternal love, and the eternal renewal of life itself remained in the world. All misunderstandings are temporary, while love is eternal. Thus, with the hero “disagreeing,” Turgenev affirms agreement.
For low natures there is nothing more pleasant than
take revenge for your insignificance by throwing mud at
their views on the sacred and great.
V.G. Belinsky
In the 10-20s of the 19th century, when Decembrist ideas and beliefs were taking shape, secret societies began to emerge, and among noble youth there was a fashion for “secret unions,” the members of which had no political convictions. And therefore Griboyedov’s Chatsky, a man of strong convictions that led him, as Herzen believed, “on the straight road to hard labor,” sharply says to Repetilov: “Are you making noise, that’s all?” Yes, people went through difficult trials and even death for their beliefs. Convictions led to selfless actions of such heroes as Insarov, Rakhmetov, Bazarov.
Against the background of the noble environment depicted in the novel by V.G. Belinsky's "Fathers and Sons", the figure of Bazarov acquires special relief. Turgenev's hero is convinced of the need to radically break the existing system. “In these times, denial is the most useful thing,” he says, and he follows this conviction to the end. The all-destructive force of negation of Turgenev’s hero, imbued with maximalist pathos, directed beyond all and any limits, cannot be imagined separately from his inner freedom, from his inability to somehow limit, console or deceive himself. Having fallen in love with Odintsova, but realizing that there is an abyss between them, Bazarov leaves her, although he retains the feeling of love until his death. He will show loyalty to his convictions as an atheist scientist even before his death, when he renounces religious rituals. Pisarev was right in asserting that to die the way Bazarov died is the same as accomplishing a great feat. Yes, it’s true: a person dies without sacrificing his convictions, his principles.
In love, friendship, life, Bazarov is tragically alone. And this loneliness is emphasized by the images of his “disciples,” for whom Bazarov’s hard-won beliefs become simply fashion. As natural as Bazarov is with his merciless harshness and directness, so unnatural are Sitnikov and Kukshina. Sitnikov really wants to be known as a person close to Bazarov, he flaunts the harshness of his views, but he is a man without convictions, ready, succumbing to fashion, to become a “nihilist.” Turgenev portrays Kukshina sharply as a caricature, showing in her example the ugly forms of female emancipation. This is an insignificant woman who is confused in her head and has no convictions of her own.
In Chapter XIII, arguing about women’s emancipation, Kukshina, in response to Sitnikov’s words: “Are you standing up for these little women?”, replies this way: “But for the little women, but for the rights of women, which I vowed to defend to the last drop of blood.” The comic importance of behavior, posture, love for crackling phrases, combined with the vulgarization of the views of the true and consistent denier of Bazarov, in principle, equally characterize both Arkady and the caricatured Kukshina and Sitnikov. Turgenev achieves this goal sometimes by indicating a gesture, a movement of the character, more often by individual words and expressions of the character (Kukshina vowed to defend the rights of women not just in any way, but “to the last drop of blood”).
The scene in the novel, which depicts a “feast” in Kuk-shina’s house, is an evil caricature of people who dress up in fashionable clothes in order to be known as “progressives.” In the images of Sitnikov and Kukshina, Turgenev captured those who blindly imitate fashion trends and are recklessly carried away by them. Bazarov easily endures being in the neighborhood with Sitnikov, just like Chatsky next to the caricature of new people - Repetilov. Sitnikov and Kukshina seem to emphasize Bazarov’s originality, greatness, loyalty to his convictions, and his tragic loneliness more strongly.
Bazarov did not leave followers, did not complete the enormous task set for himself. But this does not mean that Russia did not need him. Heroes do not die without a trace: their lives, their aspirations and failures, and their death itself have historical significance.
Yes, people who have their own convictions, faithful to them to the end, are the “engines of history,” and perhaps our tragic troubles recent years happened because for some, unfortunately for many, reforming society, democracy, openness became fashion, and not hard-won convictions, and we did not immediately recognize the danger posed by evil, dressed in clean, white clothes. The future well-being of our country and its people depends on leaders of a new type, those for whom beliefs will not become fashionable, who will go to the chopping block for them, but will not stop, will not give up, and will fulfill their duty as a person and citizen to the end.
Having shown in his novel “Fathers and Sons” the type of a new hero - commoner, democrat, materialist and nihilist Bazarov, I.S. Turgenev had to reflect in his work the extent to which this phenomenon in life is isolated, accidental or natural. To do this, it was necessary to show whether Bazarov had like-minded people. One of them, his friend Arkady Kirsanov, completely shares the hero’s beliefs, but, as it turns out, not for long. Noble origins and upbringing, the inability to give up kindred feelings, and then Katya’s influence force the hero to return to traditional values your circle. Are Sitnikov and Kukshina followers of Bazarov - people who consider themselves “progressives”? Sitnikov is the son of a wine farmer, a man who became rich running taverns. This is not respected in society, and Sitnikov is ashamed of his father. In his portrait, the author emphasized the unnaturalness of the hero’s behavior: an anxious and restless expression on his face, “and he laughed restlessly: with some kind of short, wooden laugh.” He considers himself a “student” of Bazarov and says that he owes him his “rebirth,” not noticing either the pomposity of his words or logical contradictions: after hearing from Bazarov that “one should not recognize authorities,” he felt “delight” in relation to to Bazarov himself: “Finally I found a man!” Progressive views for Sitnikov are a path to self-affirmation at the expense of others, just like for Mrs. Evdoksia Kukshina. Her personal life did not work out, she separated from her husband, she is not beautiful in appearance, she has no children. In her behavior, too, everything was, as the author says, “not simple, not natural.” To attract attention, she joined the progressive movement, but for her this is only a reason to show herself, to demonstrate to others the breadth of her interests. Worldwide famous writer She calls Georges Sand a “backward woman” for her alleged ignorance of embryology, but unknown to anyone, Eliseevich is a “brilliant” gentleman who wrote some article. Kukshina is interested in everything at once: chemistry, women's issues, schools - but what worries her most is not the problems themselves, but the desire to demonstrate their knowledge to her interlocutors. She “drops” her questions one after another, without waiting for answers to them, and they have no place in Kukshina’s self-satisfied monologue. She criticizes all women for being “badly brought up,” and Odintsova for not having “any freedom of opinion,” but, most likely, she is simply jealous of her beauty, independence and wealth. This is especially noticeable at the ball, where Kukshina appeared “in dirty gloves, but with a bird of paradise in her hair”: she was “deeply wounded” that they were not paying attention to her. Of course, Bazarov does not take conversations over a bottle of another champagne seriously, and treats such people purely as a consumer: “We need the Sitnikovs... I need such idiots. It’s not really for the gods to burn pots.” Feeling disdain for himself, Sitnikov discusses Bazarov and Kirsanov with Kukshina, considering them “Nasty, proud and ignorant.” However, after Bazarov’s death, Sitnikov in St. Petersburg continues, according to his assurances, Bazarov’s “work.” The author describes with irony how, together with the “great” Eliseevich, Sitnikov is also preparing to “be great.” They beat him, but “he did not remain in debt: in one dark article, squeezed into one dark magazine, he hinted that the one who beat him was a coward.” With the same irony, Turgenev says that Kukshina, who finally got to Heidelberg, is now studying architecture, “in which, according to her, she discovered new laws.” Bazarov died, and militant, self-righteous ignorance flourishes, vulgarizing progressive ideas for which true fighters were ready to give their lives.
The novel “Fathers and Sons” is the pinnacle artistic creativity Turgenev. He was one of the first Russian writers who realized “the need for consciously heroic natures in order for things to move forward,” and artistically recreated these natures in the image of the commoner - democrat Yevgeny Bazarov. This, a man strong in mind and character, forms the center of the entire novel. Turgenev endowed Bazarov with outwardly not very attractive features: “long and thin face with a wide forehead, his dark-blond hair, long and thick, did not hide the large bulges of his spacious skull,” the author wrote with admiration that “his whole appearance shone with intelligence and spiritual strength.”
Bazarov was distinguished by a remarkable mind, he has a strong analytical and critical mind, somewhat dry and cold, not alien to irony and skepticism. If not in all spheres, then at least in the field of ideas, ideals, social aspirations, such a mind will always protect a person from narrowness, one-sidedness, fanaticism, and will not allow him to become a slave to an idea, a monomaniac.
In Bazarov's relationship with to the common people One must notice first of all the absence of any pretentiousness and any sweetness. The people like it, and therefore the servants love Bazarov, the children love him, despite the fact that he does not make almonds with them and does not cajole them with money or gingerbread. The men have a heart for Bazarov, because they see him as simple and smart person, but at the same time this person is a stranger to them, because he does not know their way of life, their needs, their hopes and fears, their concepts, beliefs and prejudices.
Bazarov is an internally free person, and it is this internal freedom that he so jealously guards, and for the sake of it he so rebels against his feelings for Odintsova. But, however, Bazarov - as we see him throughout the novel - these actions, all his words, serious or playful, are equally a true expression of his personality.
Bazarov is a nihilist, denier, destroyer. He stops at nothing in his denial. But what has been verified by experience, the practice of life, Bazarov does not deny. Thus, he is firmly convinced that work is the basis of life and a person’s calling, that chemistry is a useful science, that the main thing in a person’s worldview is a natural-scientific approach to everything. Bazarov does not at all intend to limit his life to pure empiricism, not inspired by any goal. He says that he is preparing himself to do “a lot of things,” but what kind of things they are and what specific Bazarov is striving for remains unclear. He doesn’t even think about it, the time hasn’t come. “At the present time, the most useful thing is to deny - we deny,” says Bazarov.
Main character one expresses new social forces, the other characters are either his enemies or unworthy imitators. The “imaginary” followers of Bazarov include Sitnikov and Kukshina. These individuals represent a superbly executed caricature of a “brainless progressive and a Russian-style emancipated woman.” To call Sitnikov and Kukshina creatures of time would be high degree ridiculous. Both of them borrowed only the upper drapery from their era, and this drapery is still better than the rest of their mental property. Sitnikov and Kukshina will always remain funny personalities. Bazarov treats Sitnikov with disdainful irony; his merchant's rollickingness is just as disgusting to him as the sloppiness of "emancipe" Kukshina.
Bazarov, at Sitnikov’s invitation, comes to Kukshina to see people, has breakfast, drinks champagne, does not pay any attention to Sitnikov’s efforts to show off his courage of thought and to Kukshina’s efforts to challenge him to smart conversation and finally leaves without even saying goodbye to the hostess.
“Sitnikov jumped up after them.
- Well, so what? - he asked, obsequiously running first to the right, then to the left. - After all, I told you: a wonderful person. We wish we had more women! She's kind of high moral phenomenon!
- - Is this establishment of your father also a moral phenomenon? - said Bazarov, pointing his finger at the tavern, past which they were passing at that moment.
- Sitnikov laughed again with a squeal. He was very ashamed of his origin and did not know whether to feel flattered or offended by Bazarov’s unexpected ticking!
There are countless people like Sitnikov, who can easily and profitably pick up other people’s phrases, distort someone else’s thoughts and dress up as a progressive. There are few true progressives, that is, truly smart, educated and conscientious people; there are even fewer decent and developed women, but there are many sycophants who meddle with progressive people, amuse themselves with progressive phrases, like a fashionable thing, or drape themselves in them to cover up your sneaky deeds.
Against the background of Sitnikov and Kukshina, certain personality traits of Bazarov are more sharply and brightly pushed aside, his superiority, intelligence, and spiritual strength are emphasized, which testify to his loneliness among the district aristocrats. He differs from them in his heroism, self-confidence, in his rightness of “nihilism,” the power of analysis and social temperament, and the indomitability of protest. Bazarov's end is tragic; he dies alone, leaving no followers.
I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” and its main character, commoner-democrat Bazarov, were, according to the author’s own definition, “an expression of modernity”
The novel was created during the preparation and implementation of the peasant reform, in the context of an intensification of the struggle between the two forces of society - liberals and revolutionary democrats. The clash of these two forces was reflected in Turgenev’s work
All those problems around which disagreements arose between liberals and democrats (attitudes to reform, issues of science, art, philosophy, history, etc.) were the subject of heated debate in the novel Turgenev sought to show not only the struggle of the main directions of social thought of the 60s XIX century, but also the characteristic features of its expression
The main character of the novel is a democrat commoner who acts as a principled opponent of the entire nobility, all the concepts of noble society, especially liberal, romantic idealism. It seemed to the writer that people who deny these concepts thereby recognize nothing and deserve the name “nihilists.” But this the idea of the worldview of the democrats did not prevent Turgenev from very thoroughly and thoughtfully comprehending the character of his main character. He wanted to find something attractive in him, so the writer emphasized the sobriety, utilitarian orientation of thinking and the peculiar skepticism of Bazarov - the skepticism of a practical figure who trusts only his work.
Portraying Bazarov, Turgenev made a slight hint at some revolutionary possibilities hidden in people of his type: “Moscow burned down from a penny candle,” “there are not as few of us as you think.” But there are still no hints of the active activity of the hero himself in the novel.
Political Views Bazarov boil down to sharp criticism of the existing situation in the country. He is sure that liberal denouncers are “no good”, that aristocrats are “rubbish”, that the reform “will hardly benefit us”, that the people are full of gross superstitions, that Russian men are prone to drunkenness. Not seeing creative power either in the government or in the nobility, he does not see it in the people's, peasant environment. In a word, Bazarov does not have a consistent socio-political theory or clearly expressed ideals. He strives to crush the stronghold of noble idealism with the help of a utilitarian, materialistic worldview, and therefore does not recognize any authorities, any principles taken for granted. He does not believe in anything except practical experience and scientific experiment, which is why he is so calm, cold, sober, sometimes even cynical.
Bazarov's materialistic views are revealed very clearly in the novel. His materialism is natural scientific, physiological, experimental, seeking in its own way to explain even that which goes far beyond the limits of physiology. But Bazarov’s materialism is not armchair, not academic. He has a very active social orientation: materialistic beliefs force Bazarov to declare himself the sworn enemy of all noble culture and a champion of democratic culture. It is here that he acts as an active preacher of a new democratic ideology, which is based on natural scientific knowledge. Its meaning is the ideological and moral emancipation of Russian society.
With caustic irony, Bazarov exposes the illusions of noble society. He denies admiration for the beauty of nature and does not want to see a “temple” in it; he does not recognize art as a service to beauty and belittles brilliant artists and poets. He directly mocks romantic love, which deifies a woman. But in his denial, Bazarov is not a skeptic, not a “nihilist.” He contrasts real knowledge and scientific experiment with eternal principles taken on faith. He understands nature as a “workshop” in which man is a “worker”.
Seeing in the commoner-democrat a representative of a world alien to himself, Turgenev nevertheless showed in him such sobriety and conviction of thought, directness of feelings, composure of will, which made him an extraordinary phenomenon in the world depicted. social environment.
Condemning the utilitarian beliefs of a democrat in the novel and contrasting them with the romantic-idealistic beliefs of liberals, Turgenev still did not find anyone among them who could confidently and successfully argue with the “nihilist” and defeat him in ideological clashes. In the Kirsanov family, Bazarov immediately finds his fans and ideological opponents. But these are unstable fans and weak opponents.
The eldest of the Kirsanovs was essentially a loser and was getting along. Turgenev emphasized the comic nature of his aristocratic manners and pretensions. But nevertheless, it was him who the writer made Bazarov’s main opponent in quarrels, and then in duels.
Nikolai Kirsanov is also unable to seriously resist Bazarov. He is a liberal landowner who started a “farm” on his land, an economy based on free, hired labor. He demands agronomic improvements, for this he studies and tries to “get up to date with modern requirements.” However, in reality, Nikolai Petrovich turns out to be a narrow-minded person. The most that can be expected from him is that the farm will not go bankrupt and will begin to generate income. Otherwise, he is quite satisfied with Pushkin, the cello and Fenichka.
Such are the “fathers” of the nobility of the 60s, but the “children” are in no way stronger than them. The author portrayed the young nobleman Arkady as a timid student of a militant democrat commoner, a man as narrow-minded as his father, capable of exchanging his advanced ideas for love for a girl and a happy existence in the family circle. And Bazarov treats Arkady condescendingly, ironically. Thus, among the nobles, Bazarov has neither worthy opponents nor real like-minded people. The latter, undoubtedly, should have been among the democratic youth of various ranks. The author, of course, understood this possibility, but did not consider it necessary to reveal it in the plot of the novel. He wanted to show Bazarov alone. After all, even when arriving in a provincial town, he does not meet people of his level and circle. Here people fawn on him, distorting the progressive ideas of the era, trying to cover up their spiritual emptiness the latest concepts, fashionable words. And Bazarov turns away from them with contempt. By comparing Bazarov with Sitnikov and Kukshina, the writer thereby highlighted the full significance of his character, the seriousness of his ideological demands. But with the subsequent development of the plot, Turgenev tried to prove the inconsistency of the materialistic views of his hero. The test of his character and his convictions was his relationship with Odintsova, thanks to which he had to own experience make sure that romantic feelings exist and that they are very deep and strong.
However, a heroine who was unlike Turgenev’s previous heroines, young girls with naivety and spontaneity of experiences, could bring Bazarov on a love date. The writer portrayed Odintsova as an extraordinary, intelligent, inquisitive person and at the same time as an attractive, beautiful woman with aristocratic manners. Such a woman turned out to be capable of captivating the “nihilist”, arousing previously unknown feelings in his soul, which is why Anna Sergeevna’s refusal was so painful and tragic for him. The culmination of this storyline is Bazarov's declaration of love. But there is no authorial irony here, since for Turgenev love has always been a manifestation highest qualities a person, the criterion of his morality, honor, virtue. Bazarov not only suffers from love failure, not only loses his former optimism and confidence, but also thinks in a new way, has a new attitude towards life. He tells Arkady that the human personality now seems to him like something insignificant in infinite space and time. Bazarov mopes for a long time in his parents’ house, then frivolously flirts with Fenichka and accepts Pavel Petrovich’s challenge to a duel, the absurdity of which he himself well understands. Soon, gloomy skepticism and depression lead to negligence during the autopsy of the corpse, he gets blood poisoning and dies in the prime of his life, calling himself before his death a person unnecessary for Russia.
This end of the main character is deeply symbolic. The writer did not connect the renewal of Russia with people like Bazarov, but how wonderful artist anticipated the emergence of people capable of great things and noble deeds. In the duel, Bazarov's moral superiority over Kirsanov was revealed even more clearly than in their disputes. And Bazarov accepted his accidental and absurd death with such fortitude that his ideological opponents were not capable of and which turned the death of the hero into his apotheosis.
And if he is called a nihilist, then it should be read: revolutionary.
I.S. Turgenev.
Ivan Sergeevich’s novel “Fathers and Sons” was published in 1862. He entered the treasury of Russian literature. The novel has neither a denouement, nor a plot, nor a strictly thought-out plan; there are only types and characters, scenes and pictures, and throughout the whole novel
The author’s personal attitude to the phenomena of life comes through. These phenomena are close to us, in them we seem to see ourselves as actors.
Turgenev managed to capture in “Fathers and Sons” the severity of the ideological struggle between the main social forces of Russia at the end of the fifties of the nineteenth century. On the one hand, the liberal nobles (Pavel Petrovich, Nikolai Petrovich and Arkady Kirsanov), on the other, the democrat commoner Evgeny Bazarov, a representative of that new emerging force that was soon destined to play a huge political role in the social development of Russia.
Turgenev endowed his hero with a materialistic outlook, enormous power will, love for exact sciences, respect for work, showed his hatred of fasting and routine. All these positive traits The writer took Bazarov from real life.
In the novel, Eugene expresses thoughts about the structure of society, criticizes superstitions and prejudices, and the slavish obedience of the people. All this gives reason to talk about Bazarov’s true democracy.
However, Turgenev's hero does not remain like this throughout the entire novel. The writer in the second half of “Fathers and Sons” changes the appearance of Bazarov, deprives him of faith in the people, in the future of Russia, that is, makes him unlike true revolutionary democrats.
Turgenev was a moderate liberal; he could not pin his hopes on the revolutionary democrats. He perceived them as a great force and believed that they would very soon leave the historical arena and give way to new social forces. Therefore, the democratic revolutionaries seemed to the writer to be tragic loners. He made Bazarov tragic hero and caused him to die from an accidental cut on his finger.
Turgenev is attracted to his hero by his passionate desire to fight against ignorance and superstition, for genuine science, built on experiment.
Therefore, when creating the image of a commoner democrat, he drew attention to such real and characteristic features as his passion for the natural sciences.
Bazarov advocates applied science, for specific crafts that could be learned by the people, he loves his profession, does not know any other life other than the homeless, working, sometimes wildly riotous life of a poor student.
Bazarov’s haters are people who pay attention to Evgeniy’s baggy, harshness, and reproach these traits general type. Such people can be reminded of the words from the poem by A.S. Pushkin: “You can be a practical person and think about the beauty of your nails.” These words mean that you can be an extreme materialist and at the same time take care of your toilet, be a kind interlocutor.
In the novel Turgenev gives great value love affair. He tests his hero in love, in relation to a woman.
The beginning of the relationship between Bazarov and Odintsova is preceded by scenes that are very important for clarifying the character of the hero: the hero’s clash with his main antagonist Pavel Petrovich, with Kukshina and Sitnikov. Bazarov is a man of a sharp and strong mind, an extraordinary, strong, strong-willed, honest nature. His hatred and love are sincere and deep. When heavy and strong passion, he managed to defeat her, and turned out to be taller and more humane than that woman for whom “peace of mind” is more valuable.
From people like Bazarov, under certain circumstances, great historical figures are developed, such people remain strong and fit for any work for a long time, they are always ready to exchange one area of \u200b\u200bactivity for another, more entertaining and broader. Their life is connected with the life of the surrounding world. They engage in useful science in order to give work to their brains or in order to drink from it direct benefits for themselves and for others. Bazarov is a man of action, life, he has great strength and independence. Energy. He dies... But his death is an accident. And even in the moments of death, Evgeny Bazarov remains true to his convictions, his ideals. He wants to live, it’s a pity to say goodbye to self-consciousness, to his personality, but this pain of parting with his young life is expressed not in soft sadness, but in a contemptuous attitude towards himself, as a powerless being, and towards this rough, absurd chance that crushed and crushed his. Love for a woman, sons love for their father and
mother merges with love in the mind of the dying man for the Motherland, for mysterious Russia, which remains an incompletely solved mystery for Bazarov.
Pisarev said about Bazarov: “to die the way Bazarov died is the same as accomplishing a great feat.”
Evgeny Bazarov denied music and poetry, but modern readers are attracted to him by the fact that he was faithful to the people, principled, loved to work, mastered the exact sciences, was true to his ideals and beliefs, and was courageous before his death.
I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” reflects the socio-political struggle between the nobles and commoners. The author sets himself the task of revealing the image of the “new man” - the nihilist Evgeny Vasilyevich Bazarov. The system of images is subordinated to this goal. The ideological opponent of the main character, Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, debunking the inconsistency of the views of the “nasty proud man,” declares: “Finally, remember, gentlemen, mighty, that you are only four and a half people...” But the future doctor calmly and calmly objects: “There are not so few of us, "What do you think?"
Who are they, these so-called followers of Bazarov, his ideological brothers? Except young Arkady Kirsanov, who first idolizes his “teacher”, and then, under the influence of Odintsova’s younger sister Katya, changes his views, then Viktor Sitnikov and Avdotya Nikitichna Kukshina are represented as “associates” of the main characters. Can they be considered real followers of Bazarov? Let's see how the author presents these characters in the novel.
After a heated ideological duel between the aristocrat Pavel Petrovich and the “plebeian” Bazarov, the situation in the Kirsanovs’ house became tense. To defuse the atmosphere, the son of the regimental doctor invites his friend to accept the offer of his “noble relative” Matvey Ilyich Kolyazin and “take a ride into the city.”
Returning from the governor, the friends meet Sitnikov, who introduces himself as Bazarov’s “student”. The portrait of “Herr” Sitnikov emphasizes his unnaturalness: “an anxious and dull expression... of his slick face,” “like sunken eyes,” “a short wooden laugh.” The epithet “restless” is repeated twice: “the eyes looked intently and restlessly. What bothers the “student” Bazarov so much, why does he behave so unnaturally?
Sitnikov is embarrassed by his father, of whom the self-confident nihilist reminds him with caustic, caustic irony, and then, following his “first” friend, Arkady. Sitnikov’s father is a tax farmer, that is, he bought from the government the right to collect income from the sale of alcoholic beverages for his benefit. It is no coincidence that the author does not indicate the patronymic name of this “follower” of Bazarov. He mentally renounces his father, ashamed of his origins and his father's activities. The writer gives this minor character speaking name. Victor is the “winner”. If Bazarov’s fate is tragic - he dies from an accidental cut - then Sitnikov is “blessed in the world.” From the epilogue we learn that Sitnikov is “hanging around in St. Petersburg,” assuring everyone that he is continuing Bazarov’s “business.” This hero, personifying triumphant vulgarity, is unfamiliar with world sorrow. The author reports that someone “beat” Sitnikov, but in revenge he “pressed” “in one dark magazine” “that the one who beat him is a coward.”
His last name can tell a lot about the hero. “Sitnik” is a colloquial word for sieve bread made from flour sifted through a sieve. There is a playful and familiar address “my friend Sitny”, which perfectly conveys Bazarov’s mockingly ironic, unceremonious and even contemptuous attitude towards his “student”.
There are two very important details with the help of which the author conveys the concept of “imaginary” Sitnikov’s nihilism. There is a Slavophile Hungarian on it, but in a conversation with Kukshina he renounces his Slavophilism. Business card, which this “advanced” person leaves in the room of Bazarov and Arkady, is filled on one side with an entry on French, and on the other hand – in Slavophil script. Like a weather vane, he can turn into a Westerner, a Slavophile, and a nihilist, depending on which way the political wind blows.
Thus, “Herr” Sitnikov does not have any firm convictions. He's just pretending to be advanced person in society, strives to become significant, to become famous. But our “nihilist” is petty and insignificant. Adhering to some business or idea, he immediately vulgarizes and caricatures both the “business” and the idea.
The same can be said about the “progressive” and “emancipated” woman Avdotya Nikitichna Kukshina, about whom the narrow-minded and stupid Sitnikov speaks with such delight and excitement. And she, like Sitnikov, “was always scratching her soul.” Ashamed of his origin, the imaginary follower of Bazarov seeks to compensate for the feeling of his inferiority and inferiority with the role of an advanced person. Kukshina, under the guise of “emancipation,” seeks to hide her unsettledness as a woman: she separated from her husband and has no children. It’s interesting that this heroine’s middle name also translates as “winner.” In the epilogue we learn that the “advanced” woman also went abroad and is no longer studying natural sciences, but architecture; in essence, she, like Sitnikov, “prospers.”
In the “speaking” surname of the heroine, three meanings shine through. Firstly, the word “fig” suggests itself. This word emphasizes the emptiness and insignificance of Avdotya Nikitichna, as well as her parodic affiliation with nihilism. The word "nihil" means "nothing", like the colloquial word "kukish". Secondly, “kuksha” can be rethought as a common noun from the verb “kuksha”, which means “to be in bad mood" The author notes that Kukshina’s facial expression “had an unpleasant effect on the viewer.” “I couldn’t help but want to ask her: “Are you hungry? Or are you timid? Why are you jumping?” In the “emancipated woman,” as in a distorting mirror, many of Bazarov’s qualities are parodically reflected. For example, sloppiness in clothing, interior design, casualness in communication. We see her “somewhat disheveled, in a silk, but not entirely neat dress.” In her room there are “dusty tables” and “cigarette butts scattered everywhere.” “Thick numbers of Russian magazines, mostly uncut,” indicate that the hostess pretends to be educated, but does not read anything. Kukshina’s manners emphasize her unnaturalness: “she spoke and moved very casually and at the same time awkwardly.” Avdotya Nikitichna, not without pride and self-satisfaction, declares herself: “I’m also practical” - and says that “I came up with a mastic”, “to make dolls, to make heads so that they don’t break.” The manner of communication of an “advanced and developed woman” testifies to both her insincerity and narrow-mindedness. “Mrs. Kukshina dropped her questions one after another with pampered carelessness, without waiting for answers; spoiled children talk to their nannies like that.”
How does the “teacher” himself relate to his “students”? It would seem that he should be interested in having followers. He goes to Kukshina only because Sitnikov promised champagne. Having reached “the last drop” of champagne, he leaves the “highly moral phenomenon” without saying goodbye to this “wonderful personality.” At the provincial ball, neither Bazarov nor Arkady paid any attention to Kukshina, deeply hurting her pride. Bazarov’s attitude towards Sitnikov is no better. A self-confident nihilist explains to his friend the “usefulness” of the Sitnikovs: “...We need the Sitnikovs... I need such idiots. It’s really not for the gods to burn pots!” At that moment, Arkady discovered for himself “the whole bottomless abyss of Bazarov’s pride.”