Fathers And Sons

Term Paper Title	Fathers And Sons
# of Words	1440
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.76

Fathers and Sons

The American Heritage Dictionary defines nihilism as an extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence and
that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist. Nihilism was a revolutionary movement of mid 19th-
century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society
and government. Ivan Turgenev writes Fathers and Sons which contains characters who are proclaimed nihilists who
represent the new and young generation of Russia in the 1860¹s. The character of Evgeny Vasilich Bazarov is and
established nihilist who denies love and despises all romantic ideas. These ideas provide much conflict between
Bazarov and other characters in Fathers and Sons who are representatives from the older generation of romantics.
Turgenev uses nihilism as the groundwork of characters and as a foundation for conflicts among characters in
Fathers and Sons.
In the beginning of the novel, Bazarov is a strict nihilist, a person who believes in nothing, and ". . . examines
everything from a critical point of view and doesn¹t accept even one principle on faith, no matter how much respect
surrounds that principle.²1 Bazarov views every aspect of life through a scientific outlook, maintaining that human
emotions are rubbish. "I've already informed you that I don't believe in anything. . . . science in general simply
doesn't exist.²2 . Bazarov believes that art and thought are senseless traditions which arouse dormant energy and
emotion. Bazarov regards science as the greatest nonsense and labels it a religion in itself. Bazaar¹s nihilistic
approach specifically denies emotion. He mocks and criticizes Pavel Petrovich for attempting to find love.
³I maintain that a person who stakes his whole life on the card of a woman's love, then withers and sinks to the point
of becoming incapable of anything when that card is trumped- a person like that isn't a man, isn't a male.²3
Later in the novel, Turgenev begins to lead Bazarov through a series of contradictions that provide reasonable doubt
toward Bazaar¹s earlier proclaimed nihilistic beliefs. The first hint of Bazaar¹s emotional side takes place during his
handling of Fedosya Nikolayevna Savishna's, or Fenechka's, child. "'How quiet he was with you,'. . . . 'All children
are quiet with me, ' Bazarov answered. 'I understand this sort of thing.' 'Children know who loves them,' Dunyasha
remarked.²4
Bazarov¹s philosophical and emotional breakdown occurs when he meets Anna Sergeevna Odintsova. Before his
encounters with Odintsova, Bazarov regarded women as sex objects without any substance to offers. However,
Bazarov found quite the contrary when with Odintsova. "'If a woman pleases you,' he used to say, 'try to get to the
point; if that's impossible, well- too bad; turn your back- your not at the end of your rope.' Odintsova pleased him. . .
. but soon he understood that he would not 'get to the point' with her, and to his amazement, he lacked the strength to
turn his back on her. His blood caught fire at just the thought of her; he could have easily subdued his blood, but
something else was taking root inside him.²5 The !
emotion and romantic side of Bazarov now takes over as he is ³stupidly and madly²6 in love with Odintsov. Bazarov
acknowledges that his falling in love with Odintsova directly challenges his philosophy of nihilism. This conflict
causes much contemplation within Bazarov as he is quite disturbed at the contrast of his feeling and his views. ³His
whole body was trembling. But it was not the trembling of youthful timidity or the sweet fretting over a first
declaration of love that overcame him: it was passion struggling within him- powerful and painful-passion that
resembled malice.²7 In an attempt to cling to his philosophy of nihilism he leaves Odintsova. During Bazaar¹s trip
home, he belittles women as he had done before. He surrounds himself in his nihilism and his experiments. Bazarov
went into complete isolation; he was overc...

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