Fathers and Sons Study Guide

Fathers and Sons

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

Fathers and Sons is a novel about two young men, Arkady and Bazarov, who have recently graduated from the University of Petersburg and travel to the countryside to visit their families. The two men quarrel over several women they fall in love with and, in the end, Bazarov dies of typhus and Arkady marries one of these women, Katya. The novel examines the generational differences in Russia at the time, between the old generation and a younger generation of nihilists. The novel presents love as a redemptive force.

Fathers and Sons Characters

Table of Contents
  • Yevgeny Vasil'evich Bazarov – A nihilist and medical student. As a nihilist he is a mentor to Arkady, and a challenger to the liberal ideas of the Kirsanov brothers and the traditional Russian Orthodox feelings of his own parents.
  • Arkady Nikolaevich Kirsanov – A recent graduate of St. Petersburg University and friend of Bazarov. He is also a nihilist, although his nihilism has a lot to do with Bazarov's influence.
  • Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov – A landlord, a liberal democrat, Arkady’s father.
  • Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov – Nikolai’s brother and a bourgeois with aristocratic pretensions, who prides himself on his refinement but, like his brother, is reform-minded. He cannot help hating Bazarov.
  • Vasily Ivanovich Bazarov – Bazarov’s father, a retired army surgeon, and a small countryside land/serf holder. Educated and enlightened, he nonetheless feels, like many of the characters, that rural isolation has left him out of touch with modern ideas. He thus retains a loyalty to traditionalist ways, manifested particularly in devotion to God and to his son Yevgeny.
  • Arina Vlas'evna Bazarova – Bazarov’s mother. A very traditional woman of the 15th-century Moscovy style aristocracy: a pious follower of Orthodox Christianity, woven with folk tales and falsehoods. She loves her son deeply, but is also terrified of him and his rejection of all beliefs.
  • Anna Sergeevna Odintsova – A wealthy widow who entertains the nihilist friends at her estate.
  • Katerina (Katya) Sergeevna Lokteva – The younger sister of Anna. She lives comfortably with her sister but lacks confidence, finding it hard to escape Anna Sergeevna's shadow. This shyness makes her and Arkady’s love slow to realize itself.
  • Feodosya (Fenichka) Nikolayevna – The daughter of Nikolai’s late housekeeper, with whom he has fallen in love and fathered a child out of wedlock. The implied obstacles to their marriage are difference in class, and perhaps Nikolai's previous marriage – the burden of 'traditionalist' values.
  • Viktor Sitnikov – A pompous and foolhardy friend of Bazarov who joins populist ideals and groups. Like Arkady, he is heavily influenced by Bazarov in his ideals.
  • Avdotya (Evdoksia) Nikitishna Kukshina – An emancipated woman who lives in the town of X. Kukshina is independent but rather eccentric and incapable as a proto-feminist, despite her potential.

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