Fathers And Sons

“In 1847 Kirsanov’s wife died. He hardly survived the blow and his hair turned gray in the course of a few weeks; he was hoping to go abroad to distract himself a bit […] but then came the events of 1848. He returned to the country against his will and after a long period of inactivity, occupied himself with the reorganization of his estate. In 1855 he brought his son to the university; he spent three winters there with him in Petersburg, going almost nowhere and trying to make the acquaintance of Arkady’s young companions. The last winter he was unable to come—and now we see him in May 1859, gray, stout, and somewhat stooped. He’s waiting for his son, who just received his candidate’s degree, as he himself had sometime before.”

Nikolai’s life reflects the micro and macro changes happening in Russia. On the macro scale, Nikolai is a typical member of the nobility, whose mourning stay in Europe ended with the anti-monarchy uprisings of 1848. Though Russia was untouched by these events, its defeat in the Crimean War in 1856 would bring about the huge upheaval of the end of serfdom. On a micro level, Nikolai is a devoted family man—he is grief-stricken at the loss of his wife, and the novel opens with him impatiently waiting for his son, whom he trailed to university. Nikolai’s vain attempts to remain relevant in the world of young students and his aging body underline that generational and political change are intertwined in the novel.

“‘What’s there to apologize for?’ he thought, and a feeling of indulgent tenderness toward his gentle father, combined with a sensation of secret superiority, filled his soul. ‘Stop it please’ he repeated, involuntarily enjoying an awareness of his own maturity and freedom.”

Though Arkady is filled with pride, confidence, and a growing sense of superiority over his father, he is overcome with “tenderness” after his father discloses his nontraditional domestic arrangement with Fenechka. Arkady’s dueling emotions are in conflict: He loves the opportunity to magnanimously forgive his father and assert his radicalism at the same time. Arkady loves his father, but also values his newfound political opinions and association with Bazarov. This tension between emotional ties and intellectual arrogance proves key to Arkady’s character development throughout the novel.