Gender Relationships in Turgenevs Fathers and Sons - Book Report/Review Example

Gender Relationships in Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons Fathers and Sons was published in 1862, at a crucial time in the history of politics and thought. The 1848 revolutions had swept through Western Europe and taken many of the monarchies with them. The United States was embroiled in a bloody civil war that had as one of its principal causes the question of whether or not slavery should continue. Russia was still under a stable tsar, but Alexander II, who took the throne the year before Fathers and Sons was published, was much more reform-minded than his predecessor, Nicholas I. Serfdom would be abolished throughout Russia in 1863. Much like Alexander II was the first modern tsar, Fathers and Sons was in many ways the first modern Russian novel. It is the first instance in Russian literature where a novel carries out a dual character study, as on the one hand Bazarov and Arkady explore their nihilistic opposition to the open display of emotion, and, on the other hand, Bazarov feels a deep love for both Madame Odintsova and Fenichka. The psychological insights found in this novel served as inspiration for such major novels as those of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. There is a great deal of criticism regarding the generational tensions in Fathers and Sons. The elder generation represents the liberal movement that swelled in Russia during the 1830’s and 1840’s, seeking governmental changes mirroring those going on in Western Europe and North America, while the younger generation is a far more cynical one, embracing nihilism as its ideology. A third group that adds tension to this debate is the Slavophiles, who urged a return to traditional Orthodox religion as a cure for the evils that plagued Russian society. The struggles between generations and among classes had three causes in Russian society that differ from our own time and society: the Russian class system was highly rigid; there were few women in the middle-class who had the leisure to write and provide their own perspective; and the Russian government, even under the more liberal Alexander II, still exercised tight control and censorship over any writings considered to be dissident in nature (Greene, p. 271). However, there are tensions in the novel beyond the intergenerational. The interactions between male and female characters, particularly with regard to romantic relationships, are particularly instructive, and they show both the underlying assumptions that tend to govern all of those sorts of relationships, as well as the particular social restrictions that limited women’s choices during the middle of the nineteenth century. Additionally, there are also tensions between those who are able to find satisfaction in marriage, and those who cannot (Goldberg, p. 89). Early on, Bazarov is too dedicated to nihilism to even think of believing in the foolishness of love. “And what about those mysterious relations between a man and a woman? We physiologists understand all that. You just study the anatomy of the eye: where does that enigmatic gaze come from that you talk about? It’s all romanticism, nonsense, rubbish, artifice” (26). As a medical student, Bazarov at this stage feels that any depth to relationships is much less real than the anatomy lessons he is learning. This all changes, though, when he meets the young widow Anna Odintsova. She is drawn to Bazarov’s extreme intelligence and unorthodox thought, as well as his blunt way of communicating. She baits him into confessing his love for her, pleading with him for a “strong attachment” that is “all or nothing. A life for a life. You take mine, you give up yours, without regrets, without turning back”(75-76). This leads Bazarov to confess his love to her: “Then you should know that I love you, stupidly, madly…Now see what you’ve extracted”(80). He is angry at himself for revealing his emotion to her, because his nihilist thought emphasizes a stoicism, even a cynicism about the durability of such ephemeral things as emotion. This revelation was a difficult one for him to make, and afterward he is literally shaking, as a result of the “passion struggling within him – powerful and painful – passion that resembled malice and was perhaps even related to it”(80). It appears that, at least on some level, even Bazarov’s expression of love cannot appear untainted by some form of doubt or negativity. Anna Odintsova has no need for Bazarov, from a material level. Although she had grown up poor, she married a rich man who died, leaving her a luxurious estate and a comfortable income. As a result, she can remain single and not have any financial concerns. This freedom, in part, leads her to reject the declaration of love that she just lured out of Bazarov. While she does go through some soul-searching after rejecting Bazarov, she ultimately determines that “No. God knows where it might have led; one mustn’t fool around with this kind of thing”(80). It does not take Bazarov long to return to his cynicism; when he tells Arkady what happened, he concludes that the two of them “fell into the society of women and found it very pleasant; forsaking society of that sort is just like splashing yourself with cold water on a hot day. Men have no time to waste on such trifles”(85). This rejection of the idea of love permits him, later on, to make fun of Arkady’s love for Katya, the younger sister of Anna Odintsova, calling it “sugary”(98). Arkady, of course, finds satisfaction with his marriage to Katya, while Bazarov can find no such satisfaction. The other relationship in the story that is loaded with social baggage is that between Arkady’s father, Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov, and his servant Fenichka. The two of them fell in love, and Nikolai even had a daughter with her. However, the strict social class lines of the day made this relationship a virtually impossible one, leading to Nikolai apologizing fervently to his son, who is embarrassed by his father’s gesture. Clearly, things are changing in Russian society, and the empowerment of the individual was on the rise when this novel was published. In 1862, the woman who had the means to refuse a doctor’s hand in marriage was very fortunate; Anna Odintsova is such a woman. She chooses the single, unattached life, even if it means throwing away true love in order to maintain her individuality. Some things, however, were not ready to change, as the frustrations that Nikolai and Fenichka experience would demonstrate. This novel shows the debates that were beginning to brew in the area of gender relationships, and which still brew in our own time. Works Cited Goldberg, David. “Ten Books.” The British Journal of Psychiatry 178: 88-91. Greene, Diana. “Karolina Pavlova’s ‘At the Tea Table’ and the Politics of Class and Gender.” Russian Review 53/2: 271-284. Lepschy, Wolfgang. Of Fathers and Sons: Generational Conflicts and Literary Lineage – The Case of Ernest Hemingway and Ernest Gaines. Dissertation. 2003. Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons. New York: Signet, c2005. Read More