Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Children is about the partition between the two generations conflicting in Russia in the 17th century. It follows the opposing divisions involving the liberals and the nihilists. The liberals believed in freedom and equality in terms of views and authority. The nihilists refused all moral values, thinking that there was no purpose to life. One of these values being known as “love”. Love is the feeling of affection or attraction for another person or thing. Since nihilists are known for rejecting everything and seeing no true purpose to anything, they wouldn’t see any principle to the concept of love.
Two of the main characters in the story, Yevgeny Vasil’evich Bazarov, otherwise known as Bazarov, and Arkady Nikolaevich Kirsanov, better known as Arkady, follow this philosophy. By being nihilists, they do not believe in love nor do they want to love. However, both men fall in love with women that they meet when Arkady visits his father’s residence in Russia, after graduating from college. While staying there, the two visit another estate of a woman who invited them over. The woman’s name is Anna Sergeevna Odintsova. Both men begin to like her until Arkady finds his true interest in her younger sister, Katya Sergeevna Lokteva.
Towards the end of the book, Arkady and Katya discover that they both love each other and Arkady rejects his nihilistic views to be with her. For Bazarov, he tried to express his love for Anna, but he did not receive a clear answer from her, leaving him very confused about how he feels. In the end, Bazarov is so conflicted with his feelings and beliefs that he allows himself to die from blood poisoning. These feelings originated from his turmoil with his nihilistic views, struggling with the one thing he could not contain within himself—love.
On the other hand, it is possible that Bazarov could have still been a nihilist. Perhaps he did not “fall” in love with Madame Odintsova, but still managed to love her. This would mean someone could show love to someone without actually loving them, even a nihilist like Bazarov. The theory that can be derived from all this is that Bazarov’s intent to control his emotions resulted in his conscience being overpowered by these emotions. After he meets Anna, he tries to hide his emotions, but it becomes increasingly difficult for him to suppress his feelings which leads to a modified nihilistic Bazarov at the end of the story.
Bazarov’s struggle to cope with his feelings is why he ends up adhering to some of these feelings, thus giving up on his life in the end. One instance where this idea can be seen is when Bazarov is scorning Pavel Petrovich, Arkady’s uncle, for being in a relationship and allowing a woman to restrain him. “Still I say that a man who stakes his whole life on a woman’s love and, when that one card gets beaten, turns sour and sinks to the point where he’s incapable of doing anything at all, then that person is no longer a man, not even a male of the species. (Turgenev 27). Bazarov makes his view of love very clear in this scene and also seems to foreshadow his demise. He says that someone who gives up everything after failing in the game of love, is weak. This would be an obvious notion from Bazarov since a nihilist has no respect for anyone or anything. Ironically, Bazarov clearly explains exactly what ends up happening to him in the story. He is the card that is beaten by Anna Sergeevna when she does not tell him whether or not she shares the same feelings as him, when he expresses his love for her.
He tries to hide his sadness and frustration by engaging in a romantic manner with Fenichka Nikolayevna, the servant who becomes Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov’s wife at the end. When this fails as well, Bazarov knows he can no longer hide his feelings and need to love and appears to be a changed man. Another example is when Bazarov realizes how he really feels about Anna. In chapter 17, Turgenev says, “In conversations with Anna Sergeevna he expressed even more strongly than before his careless contempt of everything romantic; but when left alone he acknowledged with indignation the romantic in himself. (Turgenev 74).
At this point, Bazarov has taken an even greater opposition to the idea of love and romantics, but only when he is talking to Madame Odintsova. Bazarov shows disdain for romance and love in her presence, to disguise his feelings for her. He doesn’t want to face the fact that he loves her, and has gone against his nihilistic beliefs. However, Turgenev tells the reader that when Bazarov is alone to think, he is tearing himself apart, forcing the truth inside of him to be disclosed. He manages to control his emotions around Anna and releases them when she isn’t around, or anyone else for that matter.
He knows that he loves her but tries to hide it, leading him to finally reveal his painful truth to her and himself. His truth shows that it is possible for a nihilist to love, or that Bazarov isn’t a nihilist at all. The truth comes out in chapter 18, where Bazarov and Madame Odintsova are alone in one of the rooms in the estate; Bazarov’s confession changes all of their lives. Bazarov says, “Then you should know that I love you, stupidly, madly… Now see what you’ve extracted. ” (Turgenev 83). Bazarov has finally given in and shown a flaw, contradicting everything he believed to be true. This flaw is the driving force for his downfall.
He has let his love for a woman overpower him, something that he chastised Pavel for near the beginning of the story. This revelation shows that Bazarov’s attempts to repress all of his emotions increased the chance for his outburst to Anna Sergeevna. There were two reasons Bazarov told Anna he loved her in this chapter. The first reason, he could not retain his love for her any longer and the second, Anna forced it out of him by questioning him. After his confession, Anna didn’t tell him whether or not she loved him, which could clarify her true feelings. Bazarov’s disclosure and the aftermath, led to an outburst with Madame Odintsova.
Her rejection would explain why he felt the need to hide his emotions and his desire to adhere to his nihilistic belief. Lastly, this could mean that this is the same case with other characters in the story. When Arkady tries to show his nihilistic culture to Katya to show himself that he doesn’t love her, he ends up expressing more of his true untainted self and ends up marrying Katya in the end. Another example is when Pavel’s girlfriend left him and he went and followed her to get her back. Pavel might’ve known that it wouldn’t work out anyway, but he was so overcome with love, tha ne just went along with it.
Bazarov’s character is the most complex one in the story due to the changes that we can observe in his behaviors throughout the events that take place in the story. At one point he believes in nothing, seeing no significance in the lives of anyone, including himself. But in the end, Bazarov at least sees that there is a sense to all their is in life, and he makes this realization right before his death. This recognition was only possible through the other thing Bazarov realized in the story: that there is nothing wrong with love, and that veiling your ability to love, will only make you love more.