Roman I. S. Turgenev's “Fathers and Sons” is a controversial, interesting work that has not lost its relevance today. Intergenerational relations, innovation and continuity, the struggle of the old with the best, respect for life experience, following authorities and the ability to find one's life path - these and many other problems are considered in the work thoroughly and comprehensively. As living, we are confronted by the "old Kirsanovs", symbolizing the older generation, and the "youth" - Arkady and his friend Evgeny Bazarov.
Special person
Being the central figure of the novel, it was Bazarov that bears the main ideological and semantic load of the work. This is quite true, because he is an outstanding personality, a strong and deep nature. Turgenev calls him "self-propelled", emphasizing that the hero formed and educated himself in himself the lion's share of his outstanding qualities. Bazarov’s aphorisms, of which there are many in the text of the work, help the writer to reveal more clearly, and for us, readers, to understand the paradoxical, peculiar personality of Yevgeny Vasilyevich, to trace the stages of his mental and spiritual development, the formation of his worldview.
Views on nature and art
If you try to group all of Bazarov’s aphorisms according to semantic features, then you can notice such a pattern. The hero speaks about things that lively excite the author himself. And Turgenev, who by no means always agrees with his brainchild, argues with Bazarov, citing “ironic” arguments. This concerns, first of all, the views of the young market man on nature and art. Bazarov's aphorisms of this subject are given in him by a materialist to the tips of nails, in all spheres of life striving to find only practical benefit. He categorically argues that nature is not a temple of divine beauty and harmony, but only a workshop, and a person in it does not just receive aesthetic pleasure and joy from communicating with the beautiful, but must work. Also utilitarian character refers to art. In his opinion, Raphael is not worth a penny, and a good chemist is much more useful than all poets and writers combined.
Author and hero
Naturally, Turgenev, a subtle connoisseur of the beauty of the world around him, who enthusiastically sang it in his works, does not accept such aphorisms of Bazarov, cannot agree with them. Using the technique of contrast, he answers his hero with the fact that in the next scene he describes the unique charm of a summer evening, the sweetness of the air filled with the aromas of the blooming nature, the high transparency of the twilight sky in the sparkling sparkle of stars.
The landscape sketch is conveyed by the author through Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov, who is largely close to Turgenev in his way of thinking, character, and spiritual values. And the poems that were recalled by the hero correspond to the poetic picture of the evening nature. So Turgenev refutes the functional-consumer attitude to everything beautiful, preached by Bazarov. A person devoid of an aesthetic principle cannot be a full-fledged personality, cannot be the spiritual being that the Lord created him. Turgenev is convinced of this. And therefore once again he very firmly debunks these aphorisms of Bazarov. “Fathers and Sons” is a novel not only about the socio-political situation in Russia in the 2nd half of the 19th century. This is a psychological novel about inner storms and the evolution of the soul. In the scene of Bazarov's declaration of love for Odintsova, in order to more clearly convey the storm of feelings and emotions in the hero’s soul, the writer again paints a night landscape. And Eugene perceives it in a completely different way, without any ostentatious skepticism. After all, the state of nature was extremely akin to his own!
Philosophical Views
But far from all of Yevgeny Bazarov’s aphorisms are perceived by the author “with hostility”, although they sometimes seem too categorical. For example, with stoicism, a real fighting will, his words are fulfilled: “He who is angry at his pain will certainly defeat it.” And we remember how courageously Bazarov was dying, how steadfastly stood in the face of physical and moral suffering. No wonder Pisarev called the last minutes of the hero’s life a feat. Another statement that shows pride and self-confidence, great self-esteem, but also the highest degree of human dignity, independence, we find in the text of the novel: “As for time, why will I depend on it? Let it better depend on me. ” Indeed, only a self-sufficient person could say so!
The language of Bazarov - vivid and figurative - is not limited to the above statements, which have long become winged. To better know and understand the hero - read the text of the novel! Fathers and Sons are worth your time!