Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev in February 1862 publishes his novel entitled "Fathers and Sons". In it, he tried to show the reader of that time the tragic character of growing social conflicts.
In this article we will analyze the work “Fathers and Sons”, find out what problems are touched on in this novel, what is the author’s thought.
We are faced with economic troubles, the decomposition of traditional life, the impoverishment of the people, the destruction of ties with the land of the peasant. The helplessness and stupidity of all classes threatens to escalate into chaos and confusion. Against this background, a debate is unfolding on how to save Russia, which is carried out by the heroes representing the two main groups of the Russian intelligentsia.
Family conflict
Domestic literature has always tested the strength and sustainability of society by family relations, which should be noted when analyzing the work “Fathers and Sons”. The novel begins with an image of the conflict in the Kirsanov family between the son and father. Turgenev goes even further toward a clash of a political, social nature.
The main conflict situations, the relationship of the characters are revealed mainly from the point of view of ideas. This is reflected in the way the novel is built, in which the debates of the main characters, their painful thoughts, and passionate speeches play a large role. Ivan Sergeyevich did not turn the characters of the work into spokesmen of the author's ideas. The achievement of this writer is the ability to organically connect the movement of even the most abstract representations of heroes with their life positions.
The attitude to the present of the main characters
The analysis of the work “Fathers and Sons” should include the attitude of his various characters to modernity. One of the main criteria in determining a human personality for a writer was how she relates to her life, current events. The first thing that catches our eye, if we pay attention to the "fathers" - Nikolai Petrovich and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanovs, is that, in essence, they are not such old people, but at the same time they do not accept and do not understand what is happening around. Analysis of the novel by I.S. Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" confirms this idea.
Pavel Petrovich believes that the principles adopted by him in his youth distinguish him from those who listen to modernity. But Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev shows that in such a stubborn desire to express contempt for the present, this hero is simply comical. He plays a role that looks ridiculous from the side.
Nikolai Petrovich, unlike his older brother, is not so consistent. He even notes that he likes youth. But, as it turns out, he understands in modernity only that which interferes with his peace. For example, he decided to sell the forest for logging only because he had to go to the peasants in a few months.
The position of a large personality in relation to modernity
Ivan Sergeevich believed that any major person is always in a natural relationship to his time. That is Bazarov. Independent, small people live in an eternal sense of discord with their time. Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov accepts this disharmony as the wrongness of modernity, that is, he denies the very course of time, thereby freezing himself in his conservatism, and people of a different type (we will write about them separately below) are trying to catch up with him.
Sitnikov and Kukshina
In his novel, Turgenev deduced several such images that seek to rush behind the rapidly changing course of time, which must be noted without fail when analyzing the work “Fathers and Sons”. This is Sitnikov and Kukshina. In them, this feature is expressed unambiguously and very clearly. Bazarov usually speaks with them scornfully. With Arkady it is more difficult for him.
He is not so petty and stupid as Sitnikov. Talking with his uncle and father, Arkady explained to them quite precisely such a complex concept as "nihilist." This character is already interesting in that he does not recognize Bazarov as "his brother." This attitude brought him close to him, made him feel softer, more condescending than Sitnikov and Kukshina. Arkady, however, still has a desire to catch something in nihilism, to get closer to him somehow, and he clings only to external signs.
The irony in the work
It should be noted the most important quality of the style of Ivan Sergeyevich, present in the novel "Fathers and Sons". The analysis of the work shows that in it, as well as from the very beginning of its literary activity, this writer made extensive use of the method of irony.
In the novel “Fathers and Sons”, he awarded this quality to Bazarov, who uses it in a variety of ways: the irony for this hero is a means of separating himself from another, whom he does not respect, or serves to “correct” a person who is not yet indifferent. Such are his ironic tricks in dealing with Arkady.
Eugene also owns another type of irony - self-irony. He refers ironically to both his behavior and his actions. Recall, for example, the scene of a duel between Pavel Petrovich and Bazarov. In it, he ironizes over his adversary, but no less evil and bitterly over himself. An analysis of the duel scene in Turgenev’s work “Fathers and Sons” allows a better understanding of Bazarov’s character. At such moments, the charm of this character is fully revealed. No narcissism, no complacency.
Nihilism of Bazarov
Turgenev conducts this young man in circles of difficult life tests, which with real objectivity and fullness reveal the degree of rightness and wrongness of this hero of the novel "Fathers and Sons". An analysis of the work shows that denial, "complete and merciless," can be justified as the only possible attempt to change the world, while ending the contradictions. But it is also indisputable for the creator of the novel that the logic present in nihilism inevitably leads to freedom without any obligations, to searches without faith, to action without love. The writer cannot find in this movement a creative, creative force: the changes that the nihilist provides for real people are essentially equivalent to their destruction, as the analysis by the writer shows. Fathers and Sons reveals these contradictions by the very nature of the hero representing this movement.
Having survived the love and suffering of Bazarov, it can no longer be a consistent and integral destroyer, unshakably self-confident, ruthless, simply breaking the strengths of other people. But this hero is also incapable of subjugating his life to self-denial, reconciling, seeking solace in a sense of duty, in art, in love for a woman - he is too proud, angry, unbridledly free for this. Death is the only way out.
Conclusion
Concluding our analysis of “Fathers and Sons,” we note that this novel caused a fierce polemic in 19th century literature. Turgenev believed that his creation would contribute to the rallying of various social forces, that society would heed the writer's warnings. But the dream of a friendly and united cultural layer of Russian society never came true.
This concludes our analysis of the work Fathers and Sons. It can be continued, noting other points. We give the reader the opportunity to reflect on this novel on their own.