Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fathers and Sons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Tradition and Progress
Nature vs. Materialism
Love vs. Nihilism
Generational Conflict
Summary
Analysis
Arriving at Anna’s imposing country house, Arkady and Bazarov are met by two footmen in livery and a butler in a black tail-coat; right away they’re led to well-appointed guest quarters. Both feel “a certain constraint” in the grand atmosphere. Soon Anna appears and welcomes them rather formally, but once she and Arkady begin talking, Arkady feels more comfortable; it happens that Anna’s mother had been a friend and confidant of Arkady’s mother. Soon Anna’s 18-year-old sister, Katya, joins them with her dog, a large white borzoi named Fifi. Katya is innocent-looking and somewhat shy.
The traditional atmosphere at Anna’s estate is more aristocratic than that found at Arkady’s estate; the young men, with their rejection of traditional class structures, are ill at ease here. Despite her status, Anna is good at welcoming guests and making them feel at home.
Themes
Anna suggests to Bazarov that they should begin an argument about something, and Bazarov responds gamely. They begin discussing art, a subject for which Bazarov sees no purpose. Anna thinks that art helps one understand people. Bazarov replies that one needs only life experience for that; but, more to the point, studying separate individuals is not worthwhile, because all people are basically similar, in both body and soul. Even moral variations are very slight. One needs to study only a single human specimen, therefore, in order to understand the whole of humanity.
Bazarov’s conversation with Anna clearly displays his nihilistic, materialistic views. He applies the principles of scientific investigation to human beings, basically arguing that individual differences are insignificant; there’s no need to study human distinctions any more than one needs to account for separate trees, beetles, etc. Bazarov’s stance appears rather inhumane to say the least.
Themes
Anna presses Bazarov regarding the difference between good people and bad. Bazarov maintains that, much as we understand what causes physical ailments, we can see that “moral diseases” are caused by improper education, or by “the disordered state of society.” If society is reformed, therefore, the diseases will disappear. In any case, if a society is “properly organized,” “stupid” or “bad” people will be easily managed. Arkady agrees.
Bazarov believes that the proper structuring of society will take care of societal ills. If people are just taught properly, moral problems will fade away of their own accord. This view fits with Bazarov’s reduction of human characteristics to mechanistic processes. Arkady, as usual, doesn’t add much of his own thoughts to the conversation, just hastens to agree with his mentor.
Themes
Anna’s shriveled, glaring aunt comes in for tea, and the discussion ceases. After tea, Bazarov and Anna play cards with a neighbor who’s dropped by, and Anna encourages Katya to play the piano for Arkady. Feeling dismissed and already experiencing “the foretaste of love” for Anna, Arkady joins Katya at the piano and listens indifferently as she plays a Mozart sonata. Afterward, he tries to chat with Katya about Mozart, but she replies in monosyllables. She soon busies herself with a flower arrangement while Arkady pets Fifi.
Arkady feels superfluous to the conversation, as Anna clearly views him as too young to be of interest. Meanwhile, Katya doesn’t seem to be interested in him, either. He is more attracted to Anna than ever but is left trying to appear occupied while Anna and Bazarov enjoy themselves.
Themes
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That night, in private, the friends both rave about Anna Sergeyevna. But Bazarov says that Katya is really the more “wonderful” of the two—“one could make something of her.”
Both men admit to their feelings for Anna, setting up the potential for conflict. Bazarov appears to be trying to redirect Arkady to the younger sister, on the grounds that she’s more pliable.
Themes
Anna, meanwhile, thinks about Bazarov. She likes his lack of affectation and is curious about him. Anna herself is “rather a strange person” who has no clear goal in life and thus is never satisfied. Her life is easy, and she seldom dreams of anything beyond her conventional routine. She has never “succeeded in falling in love” and thus “[hankers] after something without knowing what it was.”
On the surface, Anna is a more conventional character than the others, but she appears to resort to convention out of a lack of ambition.
Themes
The next day Anna and Bazarov set off on a botany expedition. Arkady enjoys spending an hour with Katya, but feels a pang when Anna returns and he sees the tender expression on Bazarov’s face.
Though Katya is a suitable friend for Arkady, he continues to pine for the unattainable Anna and is pained by her growing bond with Bazarov. This suggests that Arkady has a habit of failing to recognize what’s good for him.
Themes
