A Review of Fathers and Sons.
Fathers and Sons, is a Russian novel written by Ivan Turgenev in 1862. This novel of Turgenev is now considered his masterpiece and also one of the most influential pieces of Russian literature, but at the time of publishment this work was highly criticized. In this novel Turgenev used fictional characters to express his ideas on Materialism and Nihilism which has later been seen to have greatly influenced many revolutionary ideas of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. To truly understand this novel and the influences it has on the Russian peoples one must first become familiar with the characters in it. This includes the four main characters Nikolai, Pavel, Arkady, and Bazarov. .
These main characters can be broken down in two different groups; the father's generation and the son's generation. The father's generation is represented by Pavel and Nikolai and the sons generation are represented by Arkady and Bazarov. Pavel is the brother of Nikolai and the uncle of Arkady, he is a member of the Aristocrats and he looks down on young people and their new views on things. Pavel can be described as part of the Old Nobility, a Slavophile , and Conservative. Nikolai is the father of Arkady. He is an old, contended gentleman, with few accomplishments and a deep love for his son. Nikolai can be thought as a Westernizer and a Romantic. Arkady is the son of Nikolai and at the beginning of the book he had just return to visit his father from the University in St. Petersburg. One of the most important and interesting characters in Fathers and Sons is Bazarov. He is a friend of Arkady who is a medical student and comes with Arkady to visit Nikolai Petrovich. Bazarov is also found to be a Nihilist and a Materialist. .
Fathers and Sons is a novel, which revolves around the complex relationship between the father and the son. Bazarov and Arkady are close friends.
