Bazarov's parents - a characteristic and their role in the life of the main character

Eugene Bazarov - the main character in Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons." Bazarov's character is a young man, a convinced nihilist, contemptuous of art and respecting only the natural sciences, a typical representative of the new Generation of thinking youth. The main plot of the novel is the conflict between fathers and children, the philistine way of life and the desire for change.

In literary criticism, much attention is paid to the confrontation between Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich, the relations between Bazarov and Odintsov, the personality of Arkady Nikolayevich (Bazarov's friend), but very little is said about the main character's relationship with his parents. This approach is very unfounded, because without studying its relationship with parents it is impossible to fully understand its nature.

Bazarov's parents are simple good-natured old men, very fond of their son. Vasily Bazarov (father) is an old district doctor who leads a boring, colorless life of a poor landowner, who at one time did not regret anything for the good upbringing of his son. Arina Vlasyevna (mother) - a noblewoman, who "needed to be born in the Petrine era," is a very kind and superstitious woman, who knows how to do only one thing - to cook dishes perfectly. The image of Bazarov's parents, a symbol of stagnant conservatism, is opposed to the protagonist - inquisitive, intelligent, sharp in his judgments. However, despite such a different worldview, Bazarov's parents really love their son, in the absence of Eugene, all their free time passes in thinking about him.

Bazarov, on the other hand, treats his parents externally dryly, he certainly loves them, but he is not accustomed to open outpourings of feelings, he is obsessed with constant obsessive attention. With neither his father nor his mother, he can not find a common language, with them he can not even lead discussions, as with the family of Arcadia. Bazarov is hard from this, but he can not help himself. To live with his parents under one roof, he agrees only on condition that he will not be interfered with in the natural sciences in his office. Bazarov's parents understand this perfectly and try to please the only child in every way, but of course this attitude is extremely difficult for them to endure.

Perhaps the main trouble Bazarov was in that he was not understood by his parents, because of the great difference in intellectual development and educational level, and did not receive moral support from them, that's why he was such a harsh and emotionally cold man that often repulsed From him people. However, in the parental home we are shown another Eugene Bazarov - softer, understanding, full of tender feelings, which he will never externally manifest due to internal barriers.

The characteristics of Bazarov's parents confound us: how could such a forward-looking man grow up in such a patriarchal situation? Turgenev once again shows us that a person can create himself. However, he also shows Bazarov's main mistake - his alienation from his parents, because they loved their child the way he is, and suffered greatly from his relationship. Bazarov's parents survived their son, but with his death the meaning of their existence ended.