The image of Odintsova in the novel "Fathers and Sons" plays an openly supporting role. He appears in the plot in order to overshadow the spiritual qualities of the protagonist. Bazarov, faced with her cold beauty and sharp mind, multiplied by education, is struck by such a combination. Eugene sees in her an example of impeccable female beauty and recklessly falls in love. However, for Odintsova herself, the main character of the novel is just a person who is able to “occupy” her and help her not to be bored.
Generally speaking, secondary images in classical literature have one generic feature: their personality does not evolve throughout the book. It was this role that Turgenev assigned to this heroine.
Biography
We learn about a rather rich biography of this self-sufficient rich 29-year-old widow, identifying her as a static character. The formation of her character is similar to how it happened with Mrs. O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind." Fortunately, Anna did not survive the war, however, she got enough trials. Perhaps that is why the image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” and is distinguished from other ladies presented in the book, he blinds with female beauty and cold male reason.
When she was a very young girl, she and her sister Katya were orphaned. Anna had to learn early how to manage the household of her estate. She, an early-growing daughter, was also able to pay off her father's debts. For her lesser sister, Katie Anna replaced her parents. However, she raised her without sentiment.
Further, the young girl married by calculation to an old hypochondriac, who left her after the death of a rich widow.
Appearance and character of Anna Odintsova
The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” absorbed the bright, but unspiritualized female beauty (photos of art reproductions confirm this).
Turgenev in the description of the heroine does not spare colors: the lady is tall, with a wonderful posture and the appearance of a socialite, beautiful intelligent bright eyes. She knows her worth. In the conversation, Anna shows insight and a natural mind, being interested in the interlocutor and making up an opinion about him.
The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons”, which is conspicuous and memorable, is only a beautiful wrapper of her gaping spiritual emptiness. The reader is convinced: she really paid dearly for her current well-being. Her heart will never beat faster with love, she is completely devoid of emotions, her feelings are dulled.
Even such a charismatic personality as Yevgeny Bazarov, with his ardent passion and recognition, according to Turgenev's apt observation, only occupied her a little. To his marriage proposal, the lady only vaguely answered that Eugene understood her incorrectly. What was her attitude towards him? This is obvious: although this sounds cynical, Eugene for this lady was just another toy. No more.
Reason and Thrift
Housekeeping and quickness differs in the image of Odintsova in the novel Fathers and Sons. A brief description of her residence on the estate does not at all remind us of Oblomovka. A smart, educated woman is seriously engaged in both organization and innovation, for which she writes metropolitan scientific journals.
She loves order, she has the rigidity to hold tightly her courtyards in check. Idleness is boring to her.
The novel refers to an episode when a young Swedish nobleman who fell in love with Odintsov offered her a hand and a heart. The woman did not hesitate briefly before announcing the refusal. For Anna, the adjusted life is of great importance, that is, the estate equipped by herself for her own needs. It is more expensive for this rich widow than romance and suspense, even with certain prospects. In a word, she prefers "a tit in her hand."
Odintsova and her spiritual vacuum
To some extent, the image of Odintsova in the novel Fathers and Sons, a self-sufficient lady, is truly typical in our time. A woman is beautiful, smart, knows how to present herself with dignity ...
But something internal, inherent in the ladies, she lost. The idea lies precisely in the instinct of a woman - to rely on the male shoulder, in turn, helping with warmth. The image of Odintsova in the novel Fathers and Sons is completely deprived of that quality. With quotes from this work of Turgenev, characterizing Anna Odintsova, we introduce the readers of the article, discussing at first the logic of her actions, based on the psychology of the heroine.
Character Feature
A characteristic feature of the heroine is her preliminary calculation of her upcoming actions and the selection of those that carry a minimum of emotional unrest.
The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is characterized by the heroine staying in her own special individual comfort zone, the main component of which is a spiritual vacuum. Given its education, tenacious logical and economic mind, the analogy with the robot suggests itself. A person who is consciously depriving himself of feelings (killing a person in himself), it deserves, rather, compassion.
Quote Characteristic
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev with his characteristic talent presents readers with the image of Odintsova in the novel Fathers and Sons. The table below will introduce a quote characterization of this heroine.
Irony of Turgenev
Nevertheless, the author of the novel is true to himself. He gradually demonstrates his attitude to heroine, introducing a slight irony into the image of Odintsova in the novel Fathers and Sons. In reducing the frequency of attention to this heroine, in the slipping irony of the author when characterizing Anna, this is manifested in a change in the tone of his comments to frankly mocking.
Let us recall the episode when Odintsov arrives at the main character with a typhoid. The characteristic detail is how she gave Bazarov, who says goodbye to her, a glass of water - without taking off her gloves (although what should she just wash her hands then?). Does the image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” become like “The Man in the Case”? Chekhov's work is most appropriate here for analogy.
The last time mentioning heroin, the author is also mocking. The ironic hope expressed in the epilogue that, perhaps, love will nevertheless wake up in her heart (he previously informs about her marriage from the calculation), can cause only a smile from the reader.
Conclusion
Turgenev-classic is known in literature for his amazing female images. Well-known even his beloved type of the fair sex, which is called Turgenev girls. Among them - Natalia Lasunskaya, Lisa Kalitina. These images are considered one of the most elegant in world literature.
The image of Odintsova Anna is not at all like that in the novel Fathers and Sons. For all its beauty, it is empty from the inside, and therefore does not apply to them. This heroine of Turgenev’s novel appears as an illustration of a person losing a human. However, it is no secret that such ladies do exist. And their nihilism of the soul, unlike Bazarovsky, does not at all carry a creative principle.