One of the lines of general conflict in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is the relationship between Evgeny Vasilyevich Bazarov and Anna Sergeevna Odintsova. In two chapters (16 and 17), a conversation takes place between these characters, helping to reveal not only their characters, but also those differences in life attitudes that led to the sad ending.
From the very first days of living in Nikolskoye, Bazarov changed: “... he was easily irritated, spoke reluctantly, looked angrily and could not sit still.” The reason was a new feeling for him, which the hero had never experienced before for any of the women, although “there was a great hunter” before them. To his chagrin, he immediately realized that with Odintsova “you wouldn’t get anywhere,” but he could no longer help but think about her, for which he despised himself.
The author, describing the hero, immediately emphasizes that initially there is nothing in common between Bazarov and Odintsova: “duchess” and “doctor.” She is calm and cold as ice, and he is bold and passionate. However, we are not surprised that Bazarov “struck Odintsova’s imagination,” because she had never met such extraordinary people. And in order to “test him and test himself,” he starts a strange conversation that instills false hope in the hero.
Anna Sergeevna tells Bazarov that she will be bored after his departure. Then she allows him to stay in his office after ten in the evening to continue the conversation, breaking the order she had established, and asks him to talk about his family, about his father. Bazarov is perplexed. Why does she need this? Of course, he, smart and insightful, guesses that Odintsova is driven not by a feeling for him, but by curiosity, but, noticing her unexpected excitement, he is imbued with it too. After Odintsova’s complaints about her “unhappy” life and the fact that “there are many memories, but nothing to remember,” Bazarov insightfully remarks: “You want to love, but you cannot love: that is your misfortune.”
Odintsova, it seems, is deliberately trying to provoke Bazarov into a frank confession, but he does not agree to this, even though “his heart was breaking.” How difficult it is for Bazarov to feel for this woman! He loves and dreams of tenderness! But we understand that this is unrealistic, that the hero is on the verge of a personal drama: Odintsova cannot be seriously carried away by him. The basis of her life is tranquility, and Bazarov’s invasion would mean the end of this tranquility.
The next day, in the same office, the conversation of the heroes continued again, during which the woman seeks confession. After which the author writes: “Odintsova felt both scared and sorry for him.” It was passion, strong and heavy, similar to anger, that frightened Anna Sergeevna so much. When reading this episode, you involuntarily wonder if she could enter into Bazarov’s “bitter, tart, free life.” But, knowing about Odintsova’s habits, who loves comfort and order, you understand that she will not become the wife of a nihilist.
Turgenev often tests the main characters of his stories and novels with love. This feeling not only changes them, but also enriches them, opening up a new world of experiences and sensations. In the loving Bazarov, a sensitive soul awakens, concealing an abyss of passions, and therefore attracting to itself and becoming, as it were, a continuation of that night element that stood outside the window during his conversation with Odintsova.
Bazarov and Odintsova.
1. First appearance of Anna Odintsova.
2. Visits to Anna and confession of Evgeniy.
3. What does this relationship mean for Bazarov and Anna?
Evgeny Bazarov, the hero of I. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons,” a nihilist who does not recognize anything, much less love, nevertheless recognized this feeling. Anna became the object of his love Odintsova. The first time he saw Anna at the governor's ball, she made an impression on him. “What kind of figure is this? - he said. “She’s not like other women.” She also struck Arkady with the “dignity of her posture,” he noticed that her eyes looked “calm and intelligent,” her face exuded “affectionate and soft strength,” everything about her was beautiful. The nose, according to Arkady, is a little thick, but he has never met such a lovely woman. He talks to Anna, tells her about Bazarov, Odintsova invites them to her place in Nikolskoye. She is curious to meet a man who does not believe in anything.
Bazarov is told that “this lady is oh-oh-oh!” Evgeny is attracted by her beauty, but he denies the intelligence of beautiful women, thinking that “only freaks think freely between women.”
Anna is twenty-nine years old, “her character was free and quite decisive.” She is the daughter of a swindler-gambler and an impoverished princess, received a brilliant upbringing, married for convenience to an elderly man in love with her, who died six years later and left her a fortune. Now she is an independent, powerful, independent and intelligent woman.
Friends come to Anna. The visit lasts three hours, during which Bazarov talks about botany, medicine and homeopathy, Anna keeps the conversation going and finally invites her friends to come again. She now gave Bazarov the impression of a frozen duchess, a “ruling personage.” Her appearance does not go unnoticed. “What a rich body! - Bazarov said on the way. “At least now to the anatomical theater.” On the next visit, Evgeniy characterizes her as a “grated kalach”, “a woman with a brain.” She liked him “for his lack of coquetry and the very sharpness of his judgments.”
After marriage Odintsova considered men “untidy, annoying creatures,” but Bazarov struck her imagination. When he is about to leave to see his parents, Anna suddenly turns pale, “as if something had pierced her heart,” and persuades her not to leave.
Bazarov spent fifteen days in Nikolskoye next to this woman and felt that he loved her. With a decisive confession, he answers Odintsova’s question why he is tense and restrained. This is not youthful love, but a strong passion. Odintsova, from this confession, “felt both scared and sorry for him.” Eugene takes her outburst of pity as a reciprocal feeling, but she gets scared and says that he did not understand her. Bazarov leaves and Odintsova She decides for herself that what is most valuable to her is peace of mind, so when Evgeniy says before leaving that she does not love him and will never love him, she remains silent and thinks to herself that she is afraid of Bazarov. When, saying goodbye, Anna asked if they would see each other again. Evgeny replied: “As you order. In that case, we'll see you."
The reader understands that Bazarov’s rude phrases about Odintsova were caused by his embarrassment in front of her, his aversion to beautiful words, and not cynicism. There is an intense internal struggle in the hero: “ Odintsova he liked: the widespread rumors about her, the freedom and independence of her thoughts, her undoubted disposition towards him - everything seemed to speak in his favor; but he soon realized that with her “you won’t get anywhere,” and, to his amazement, he did not have the strength to turn away from her.” This seems to be his first feeling. Despite the gossip that circulated in the “world”, Bazarov I saw an extraordinary woman in front of me. Odintsova was flattered by his attention and respect, “the vulgarity alone repelled her, but no one would blame Bazarov for vulgarity.”
Bazarov in his unrequited love he shows his best qualities; he appears before the reader as a deep, strong character. This is a different love than Arkady Odintsova’s sentimental infatuation, Arkady’s feeling for Katya, Kirsanov Sr.’s feeling for Fenechka. Someone considers Bazarov’s attitude towards women cynical, but this is not so.
Odintsova worthy of Bazarov. She notices their similarity, and this captivates her, but she is afraid of the feeling. Bazarov sees in her an equal interlocutor: understanding, intelligent. He avoids anger and sarcasm in conversations with her. Bazarov is captured by a romantic feeling, still unfamiliar to him, a materialist. And nature, an ordinary summer night, is illuminated by this poetic feeling. Having fallen in love, Bazarov does not at all change his convictions, he only becomes spiritually richer. In a conversation with Anna, he does not show off, calling her an aristocrat. These are the sober thoughts of an honest man. He condemns in Anna what is alien to him, and when she asks whether he can completely surrender to a feeling, he honestly answers that he doesn’t know. However, we see that he is capable of this. But Odintsova fully understands that Bazarov will not sacrifice his beliefs in the name of love. For him, convictions were more valuable than love, for her - peace and comfort, a measured, familiar order of life.
The author argues with Bazarov's beliefs and shows the inconsistency of his disbelief in love. In this story, Bazarov is taller than the “aristocrat” Odintsova, she is too cold and selfish for love. Odintsova tries to charm Evgeny, pushes him to confess. But a change occurs in Bazarov, he sees how his beliefs are crumbling, and looks for a reciprocal feeling in Anna. The loss of his beloved becomes a blow for him. Anna breaks up with him because she believes that they do not need each other and there is too much of the same thing in them.
Bazarov he forgets himself in his work, but he is destined to have another meeting with his beloved. While dissecting a man, Evgeniy cut himself and cadaveric poison got into the wound. Odintsova She came to him with a doctor, but only to pay her last debt to the dying man. Evgeny expected words of love, but Anna “was simply frightened with some kind of cold and languid fear.” Nazarov dies in the arms of his beloved, rejected by her: “Well, thank you. It's royal. They say that kings also visit the dying.” On his deathbed, he regrets that he did not kiss Anna then, and she kisses him on the forehead. For Bazarov, love was a test of his life values, and he passed it with honor, without compromising his convictions. But he also kept his love for Anna in his heart for the rest of his life.
-You call a friendly conversation chatter... Or maybe you, as a woman, don’t consider me worthy of your trust? After all, you despise us all.
“I don’t despise you, Anna Sergeevna, and you know it.”
– No, I don’t know anything... but let’s put it this way: I understand your reluctance to talk about your future activities; but what is happening in you now...
- It's happening! - repeated Bazarov, - as if I were some kind of state or society! In any case, this is not at all curious; And besides, can a person always say loudly everything that “happens” in him?
“But I don’t see why you can’t express everything that’s in your heart.”
- You can? - asked Bazarov.
“I can,” answered Anna Sergeevna after a slight hesitation.
Bazarov bowed his head.
– You are happier than me.
Anna Sergeevna looked at him questioningly.
“As you wish,” she continued, “but still something tells me that it was not for nothing that we got together, that we will be good friends.” I am sure that your, how should I say, your tension and restraint will finally disappear?
– Have you noticed in me restraint... as you also put it... tension?
Bazarov stood up and went to the window.
“And you would like to know the reason for this restraint, you would like to know what is happening inside me?”
“Yes,” Odintsova repeated with some kind of fear that was still incomprehensible to her.
- And you won’t be angry?
- No? - Bazarov stood with his back to her. - So know that I love you, stupidly, madly... This is what you have achieved.
Odintsova extended both hands forward, and Bazarov rested his forehead against the glass of the window. He was out of breath; his whole body was apparently trembling. But it was not the trembling of youthful timidity, it was not the sweet horror of the first confession that took possession of him: it was passion that beat within him, strong and heavy - a passion similar to anger and, perhaps, akin to it... Madame Odintsova felt both afraid and sorry for him.
Look how the scene of the love explanation between Bazarov and Odintsova is built. The one who initiates the explanation of another, with his frankness, provokes him to frankness. This phase one. After all, everyone can afford to be frank, to talk “about themselves”, about “happiness”. It is adequate, correct, decent to respond with frankness to frankness. Especially if the provocateur asks: what do you think about happiness, love, and so on? And now the conversation moves into phase two and becomes a frank conversation.
Phase two. This is usually a duel of fascination and disappointment. The provoker shows the naivety of his soul so that the provoked person will argue with him. It’s good where we are not, Bazarov retorts. The provoking explanation assumes that the other one is in love and therefore will become defensive and not want sincerity. And now it turns out that the one who is hunting for his explanation looks much more naive and unprotected than the one defending himself. And, pretending to be so naive, the hunter or huntress innocently asks, almost asks: “I would like to know what you are thinking about?” Phase two is an attempt to get into the soul of another through imitation of one’s own naivety and purity.
Phase three. He resists. Then the huntress (or hunter) distorts, as in cards. Do you think I want to know how you feel? How stupid, I just want to know your plans for the future, professional, not personal. The lover is a little upset. He was already ready that he would be pushed to confess, because, having fallen in love, he wants (and at the same time is afraid) to open his feelings. But no! Who do you want to work with, asks the hunter.
Phase four: What stupid questions! What a future! The lover is annoyed. Are we really arguing about this here? Then, having come to his senses, the lover falls into a trap and answers about the doctor. Was he actually asked about this? Of course not. But with such a hunt for recognition, the lover has no way out of this trap.
Phase five: the huntress claims that her lover underestimates her (does not believe, does not respect, does not consider her equal), and insults her in his heart. That's why the lover is not sincere. Why can’t you say everything about yourself immediately, since you respect me, the huntress wonders. This is a provocation for the hero to say: what are you talking about, you are everything to me, it’s only you that I respect, and adore, and...
But then it comes phase six: the hero is caught. In order not to hurt the tremulous soul hovering in the clouds (phase one), in order to smooth out one’s callousness and not be a self-loving beech (phase two), in accordance with the emerging taste for recognition (phase three), so as not to be small, but to be bold and large-scale (phase five), the hero confesses.
Phase seven: But in vain. It was a game.The center of attention in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is the image of the nihilist Bazarov. He finds himself opposed to everyone around him, but at the same time, up to a certain point, the nihilist’s position seems stronger than that of the representatives of the liberal nobility. The writer himself admitted this, but noted that in relation to nature, art, and especially love, he did not share the opinion of his hero. It is love for the aristocrat, socialite, and beauty Anna Sergeevna Odintsova that changes everything in Bazarov’s life, preparing a change in his position. The analyzed episode is from chapter 18 and represents a key scene in which the relationship of these characters and, in general, the further development of the plot, leading to the death of Bazarov, are determined.
The explanation with Odintsova shows both the strength, the ability to deeply and sincerely love inherent in Bazarov, and the deep contradictions of his nature. After all, before meeting Anna Sergeevna, he “denied” love as a romantic feeling. And now it “takes revenge” on him: the point is not only that he fell in love, but the internal struggle in the hero’s soul that accompanies this feeling is much more important. In the scene of explanation with deep psychologism, the author shows how Bazarov’s feigned coldness is replaced by painful, heavy passion, “similar to malice.” Who is he so angry with that he even “chokes”? At Anna Sergeevna, who, like a cat and a mouse, plays with him, remaining internally cold? Her vain, proud nature forces the heroine to make a very dangerous explanation, but she stops in time. “No, ... you can’t joke about this, calmness is still better than anything in the world,” she thinks after an explanation with Bazarov.
But it was not for nothing that this strong, original, extraordinary person fell in love with her. A deep, independent nature, endowed with a developed mind, Odintsova was the only one in the novel who correctly understood the complex and contradictory character of Bazarov and appreciated him. She speaks about this in the scene of their explanation: “Is it possible for you to be satisfied with such a modest activity... You, with your pride, are a county doctor!” Like Bazarov, she despises the opinions of the people around her and determines her own destiny. Perhaps some kind of feeling for Bazarov even arises in her. But he frightens her precisely because his feeling is disharmonious, crippled by his own invented framework. “And what is this mysterious relationship between a man and a woman? ... This is all nonsense, romanticism, rottenness, art,” this is how Bazarov previously spoke about such a feeling. Now the struggle between his previous views and what he himself was able to experience in relation to Odintsova seems to be tearing him apart. This is where the anger that sounds in Bazarov’s voice in the confession scene comes from and so frightens Odintsova. Instead of a busy, unpredictable, but extremely difficult life with this extraordinary man, she prefers a somewhat boring, but very comfortable existence in the familiar conditions of a wealthy aristocratic circle. At the end of the novel, we learn that Anna Sergeevna married very successfully and is quite satisfied with her life.
And it’s as if life itself is taking revenge on Bazarov: for pride, selfishness, denial of everything tender and bright in the human soul, he paid with loneliness, separation from a deeply beloved woman, and at the end of the novel - with life itself.
The center of attention in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is the image of the nihilist Bazarov. He finds himself opposed to everyone around him, but at the same time, up to a certain point, the nihilist’s position seems stronger than that of the representatives of the liberal nobility. The writer himself admitted this, but noted that in relation to nature, art, and especially love, he did not share the opinion of his hero. It is love for the aristocrat, socialite, and beauty Anna Sergeevna Odintsova that changes everything in Bazarov’s life, preparing a change in his position.
The analyzed episode is from chapter 18 and represents a key scene in which the relationship of these characters and, in general, the further development of the plot, leading to the death of Bazarov, are determined.
The explanation with Odintsova shows both the strength, the ability to deeply and sincerely love inherent in Bazarov, and the deep contradictions of his nature. After all, before meeting Anna Sergeevna, he “denied” love as a romantic feeling. And now it “takes revenge” on him: the point is not only that he fell in love, but the internal struggle in the hero’s soul that accompanies this feeling is much more important. In the scene of explanation with deep psychologism, the author shows
How Bazarov’s feigned coldness is replaced by a painful, heavy passion, “similar to malice.” Who is he so angry with that he even “chokes”? At Anna Sergeevna, who, like a cat and a mouse, plays with him, remaining internally cold? Her vain, proud nature forces the heroine to make a very dangerous explanation, but she stops in time. “No, ... you can’t joke about this, calmness is still better than anything in the world,” she thinks after an explanation with Bazarov.
But it was not for nothing that this strong, original, extraordinary person fell in love with her. A deep, independent nature, endowed with a developed mind, Odintsova was the only one in the novel who correctly understood the complex and contradictory character of Bazarov and appreciated him. She speaks about this in the scene of their explanation: “Is it possible for you to be satisfied with such a modest activity... You, with your pride, are a county doctor!” Like Bazarov, she despises the opinions of the people around her and determines her own destiny. Perhaps some kind of feeling for Bazarov even arises in her. But he frightens her precisely because his feeling is disharmonious, crippled by his own invented framework. “And what is this mysterious relationship between a man and a woman? ... This is all nonsense, romanticism, rottenness, art,” this is how Bazarov previously spoke about such a feeling. Now the struggle between his previous views and what he himself was able to experience in relation to Odintsova seems to be tearing him apart. This is where the anger that sounds in Bazarov’s voice in the confession scene comes from and so frightens Odintsova. Instead of a busy, unpredictable, but extremely difficult life with this extraordinary man, she prefers a somewhat boring, but very comfortable existence in the familiar conditions of a wealthy aristocratic circle. At the end of the novel, we learn that Anna Sergeevna married very successfully and is quite satisfied with her life.
And it’s as if life itself is taking revenge on Bazarov: for pride, selfishness, denial of everything tender and bright in the human soul, he paid with loneliness, separation from a deeply beloved woman, and at the end of the novel - with life itself.