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
Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov had always been good-looking, confident, and appealing. An army officer and “darling of society,” he indulged in various “whims” and “follies.” Women fell in love with him, and men envied him. He had a brilliant career ahead of him, but in his late 20s, everything changed. He fell in love with a married woman of Petersburg society named Princess R. Princess R. was known as an eccentric, frivolous partier, but she spent her nights weeping and praying in private. She had extraordinary, enigmatic eyes. Pavel danced with her at a ball and promptly fell in love.
Arkady tells Bazarov about Pavel’s story, wanting him to understand that there’s more to his uncle than meets the eye. Like his brother, Pavel comes from a fairly privileged, cultured, background. He is also more inclined to romance than Bazarov’s gruff, argumentative exchanges with him would suggest.
Themes
Though Pavel soon “triumphed” with Princess R., his obsession with her only increased, since her soul remained so reserved and hidden, her behavior “a maze of inconsistencies.” One day Pavel had given her a ring with a sphinx engraved on it, explaining that the sphinx symbolized her. Soon, Princess R. tired of Pavel and went abroad to avoid him, but Pavel resigned his military commission to follow her around the continent. They had a brief romantic rendezvous at Baden, but then Princess R.’s passion subsided. Pavel repeatedly tried and failed to regain interest in his life, becoming a bitter bachelor.
Pavel’s life has been dominated by an ill-fated love affair, at the expense of his career and happiness. By expounding his uncle’s background in this way, Arkady demonstrates that people’s experiences with romance defy the materialistic categories to which Bazarov prefers to assign them.
Themes
One day Pavel learned that Princess R. had died in a state of near insanity. A few weeks later, he received a package containing the ring he’d given her; Princess R. had scratched a cross over the sphinx. This occurred in 1848, just after Nikolai had been widowed. Pavel finally settled down with his brother at Maryino for good. He began reading English books and rarely ventured out, though he continued to dress and style himself impeccably.
Pavel’s personality and current situation look a bit different against the backdrop of his personal heartbreak. Joining his brother’s rural provincial lifestyle and adopting his “foppish” gentleman persona seem to be ways of making a break with his wasted youth.
Themes
Arkady concludes his account by telling Bazarov that he’s been unfair to Pavel, who has given Nikolai all his money and always stands up for the peasants. Anyway, he’s “profoundly unhappy,” and it’s not right to despise him. Bazarov replies that someone who’s ruined his life over a failed love affair is “not a man,” and he mocks Pavel’s old-fashioned liberalism. When Arkady says that Pavel must be viewed in light of the times in which he grew up, Bazarov retorts, “[W]hy should I depend upon [the times]? Much better they should depend upon me.” He goes on to scoff that relations between men and women are not romantic but physiological; to say otherwise is “romantic rot.” They should go and inspect Bazarov’s beetle specimen instead.
Pavel is a generous and liberal-minded man. Arkady is compassionate toward his uncle and wants Bazarov to show a little sensitivity as well. But Bazarov continues to classify and reject Pavel, on the grounds that romance isn’t real; it’s merely physical, and it shouldn’t overthrow someone’s life to this degree. Moreover, Bazarov’s nihilism is clear in his refusal to grant any credence to “the times”; someone’s historical context isn’t a justification in his eyes. He returns to the beetle specimen just as if Arkady had never interjected—suggesting that Bazarov’s nihilism lacks a certain humanity.
Themes
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