Is Bazarov right? Is Bazarov right to break with Arkady? based on the novel Fathers and Sons (I. S. Turgenev). Does Russia need Bazarov?

Sections: Literature

Goals:

Get acquainted with the concept of “nihilism”.
Compare the concept of “nihilism” and Bazarov’s views.
Development of comparison skills, critical thinking, creative writing
Introduce students into the learning process.
Create an atmosphere of openness, goodwill, co-creation in communication, and develop the ability to defend your position.
Include the child’s emotional sphere, appeal to his feelings, awaken everyone’s interest in studying this work.

Equipment:

novel text
table “Bazarov’s views (the table is filled out by students in previous lessons)
presentation for the lesson.
computer, projector.
stone, grain, sprouts of sprouted wheat or other grains, mirror.

Lesson structure

Opening speech by the Master. (Building relationships with the class)
"Induction".
“Gap.”
“Self-construction.”
“Socioconstruction”.
“Advertising.”
"Reflection".

Work during the workshop is carried out in groups.

Progress of the lesson

1. Establishing relationships with the class.

Teacher: Today we have not an ordinary lesson, but a Workshop. Our work may not be very easy, but I hope it will be interesting.

Let's simulate a situation: you ask me for something, and I answer you: “no.” Why am I doing this? (students’ answers: “the teacher wants it that way; due to certain rules and principles that the teacher adheres to”). I answer this way due to certain rules and principles that guide me. So today we will look at the rules and principles of Yevgeny Bazarov, the main character of I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons.” And the topic of today’s workshop is “Bazarov – a nihilist!?” Please note that at the end of the phrase there is not one sign, but two; that is, we have to decide for everyone what kind of nihilism Bazarov was?

2. Induction.

A) . Construction of the tree concept of the word NIHILISM.

Teacher: Who did Bazarov consider himself to be?

Student response: a nihilist, considered himself a nihilist, which he directly says to Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov.

Teacher: Let's consider the tree concept of this word. Here are four definitions of this word from different sources. Read and underline in each word or phrase that you think is most important in these definitions. Discuss your work results in a group.

Nihilism is...

(from Latin nihil - nothing) denial of generally accepted values: ideals, moral norms, forms public life. (Large encyclopedic dictionary)
“an ugly and immoral doctrine that rejects everything that cannot be touched” ( Dictionary V.Dal)
“naked denial of everything, logically unjustified skepticism” (Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language)
“a philosophy of skepticism that arose in Russia in the 19th century at the beginning of the reign of Alexander!... the term was previously applied to certain heresies in the Middle Ages. In Russian literature, the term nihilism was first used by N. Nadezhdin in an article in “Bulletin of Europe”... Nadezhdin equated nihilism with skepticism” (M. Katkov)

Reading and explanation of underlined words and phrases.

Teacher: Let's try to combine them. What will we get from this?

B) Construction of associative series for the concept of nihilism. (Slide 3. Appendix 1.)

Teacher: The central concept of our workshop is nihilism. Let's try to find associations for it. What natural phenomenon, sound, color do you associate this concept with and why?

Students write down their associations, name them, and the teacher writes them on the board.

(Natural phenomena: storm, wind, blizzard, hurricane - all these natural phenomena destroy and destroy, so Bazarov in his theory says that everything must be destroyed, and others will build.

Sounds: grinding, creaking, thunder.

Color: black, gray, cherry).

Teacher: Now let’s try to find associations for the image of Bazarov.

Reading and explaining associations. Students complete their notes. In parallel, associative series are written on the board.

(Bazarov - stone, abyss, flying bird.)

C) Working with the table “Bazarov’s Views” (the table was compiled in previous lessons).

Teacher: Open the table “Views of Bazarov, which we compiled in the previous lesson, look at all the views of Evgeny Bazarov and answer the question, is the author right in classifying Bazarov as a nihilist?

Student answers.

Teacher: In the same table, opposite each opinion and position of the hero, mark your position with signs:

+ agree with the author’s position
- I do not agree with the author’s opinion
! I admire the author's thoughts
? I don't understand the author.

Students make notes in the table and discuss what they have marked in the group. Voice their point of view.

(At this stage of the lesson, a small dispute may arise between the students, since the position and point of view on Bazarov’s views is different among the students. Almost all the guys disagreed with the denial of the hero of love and art. The students gave their arguments to prove their position. Main of which “The denial of love and art contradicts the development of all human life, the relationships of people, since the basis of life is the love of people for each other.”)

Teacher: Bazarov is a nihilist, a person who does not bow to any authorities, who does not accept a single principle on faith, no matter how respectful this principle may be. But, like every theory, nihilism has its “pros” and “cons.”

Assignment for students: try to classify the strengths and weaknesses of nihilism as a theory into two columns and explain your position.

(At this stage of the workshop, generalizations and conclusions are made by students regarding the entire theory of Bazarov. Students note the following weaknesses: nihilism leads to the destruction of the world; it is impossible to deny everything and everyone, etc. The guys highlight strengths: nihilism, like any other belief system, has the right to exist; this was a new direction in the social views of Russia in the 19th century, etc.)

Teacher: Of course, it is impossible to unequivocally assess Bazarov’s nihilism. When considering Bazarov's views, many questions arise. What question would you ask the hero?

Students write down, discuss the questions, then speak out.

3. Conflict.

Teacher: I have several objects in my hands: a stone and sprouted grains of wheat. (The teacher crushes grain sprouts with a stone) In these objects and actions, in my opinion, Bazarov’s entire worldview lies. If we add a mirror to these objects, we will see the whole essence of Bazarov’s nihilism, and the problems of I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons.” Try to explain my choices and actions regarding Bazarov’s worldview and the entire novel as a whole.

( Students are given the diagram “Creative concept of I.S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” to help. Slide 6. Appendix 1)

Here is how students explained the use of objects and the actions performed with them:

The stone is Bazarov himself, who with his theory of nihilism destroys his life (wheat sprouts), but not all the grain is crushed, which means that his theory gives new sprouts in the social life of society. The mirror is a reflection of the hero’s entire life; having gone through the trials set before him by life and love, at the end of the novel he is completely different, renewed.
The stone is Bazarov's nihilism, which is broken by life and love (grains and sprouts), the mirror is a reflection in the novel of the era of the 60s of the 19th century.
The stone is the “fathers” in the novel who are trying to crush the new and progressive direction of “nihilism”; these are the old principles of the fathers, which seemed to them unshakable and solid, like a stone rock. The grain sprouts are the nihilism of the hero who crashed, but not his entire theory, but only its individual provisions about human love. A mirror is reflection and refraction, changes in the characters in the novel. We look in the mirror, we want to see one thing, but as a result - a completely different reflection of reality.

4. Writing a syncwine NIHILISM. (Slide 7. Appendix 1)

(Using this technique allows the teacher to check the level of understanding of the material being studied.)

Reading syncwines.

Examples of syncwines written by students.

Nihilism.
Denying, rejecting, low.
Denies, destroys, cripples souls.
How will a person with nihilism live?
This is a utopia.

Nihilism.
Contradictory, breaking, testing.
Rejects, tests, verifies.
And this is called nihilism?
Stone.

5. Socioconstruction. The teacher writes down the topic of the workshop on the board and the students in their notebooks. “Is Bazarov a nihilist?!”

Teacher: try to write a mini-essay using the workshop topic for the title, and everyone decides for themselves what sign to put at the end of the phrase.

Essay writing.

6. Advertising.

Students read their work aloud.

7. Reflection.

Teacher: Answer the questions: what did you do today, what tasks did you like and why?

(Students' answers).

The final word of the teacher, who sums up the lesson, speaks about the role of self-determination of life position.

An example of a mini-essay written in class.

Is Bazarov a nihilist?

Is Bazarov a nihilist? At the end of this phrase I put a question mark. From the very beginning he denied everything, and even such a bright feeling as love. Evgeny Bazarov meets Odintsova. He loved her dearly. He fell in love and violated his principles, and then can one say that he is a nihilist? The hero finds himself in a very difficult situation, but you can’t order your heart.
At first Bazarov denied everything,
Didn't believe it, didn't admit it.
There was one against all, like a hunted animal,
He never realized the losses.

Alimova Meruet.

All of Russia and Russian literature lived for a long time in anticipation of a fundamentally new hero, figure, transformer, “Russian Insarov.” He wrote with conviction about its imminent appearance at the end of his article “When will the real day come?” critic N.A. Dobrolyubov. And such a hero appeared in the person of Evgeny Bazarov, the main character of the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". Its novelty lay in the fact that, unlike the Pechorins and Rudins, in it, according to another critic, D.I. Pisarev, “knowledge and will, thought and deeds merge into one solid whole.”

Evgeny Bazarov had several life prototypes: the “young provincial doctor” Dmitriev who amazed Turgenev; met by the writer on railway a man later exiled to Siberia; Turgenev's neighbor on the estate of V.I. Yakushkin, doctor and researcher, democrat and, possibly, member of illegal organizations. Certain traits of Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, and Bakunin were also reflected in Bazarov. As a result, from the pen of Turgenev came a collective image, a true hero of the new time.

A new hero has appeared, but does Russia need him?

In Bazarov’s appearance, what is striking is his thin face “with a wide forehead”, “hanging sideburns” sand color", a face that was "enlivened by a calm smile and expressed self-confidence and intelligence." His long thick hair "did not hide the large bulges of a spacious skull." This description of appearance is complemented by the mention of a "naked red arm" and a long robe with tassels. A wide forehead and a spacious skull - evidence of a remarkable mind, hoodie, long hair and sideburns are an expression of the tastes of people from Bazarov’s circle, a challenge to the fashion followed by the owners of the house, and the red hand is evidence of the hero’s involvement in physical labor.

Bazarov's manners are eloquent and original. He calls himself Evgeniy Vasilyev in a peasant manner, deliberately demonstrates tactlessness, rudeness and vulgarity of manners, and expresses gloomy distrust of Maryino’s owners. There are notes of categoricalness in his speech, self-confidence is heard, but it is completely devoid of grandiloquence, foreign words, is distinguished by accuracy, simplicity and laconism.

Bazarov is proud of his “roots” (one of his grandfathers was “Second Major So-and-so,” but the other “plowed the land”). The author repeatedly emphasized the democracy of his hero. So, for example, he wrote in a letter to K.K. Slechevsky about Bazarov: “He is honest, truthful and a democrat to the end of his nails.”

Evgeny Bazarov is a nihilist - “a person who does not bow to any authorities, who does not accept a single principle on faith, no matter how respected this principle is,” as Arkady characterizes his friend. It is quite natural that the “fathers” - the Kirsanov brothers - received such an unusual guest with caution. Nikolai Petrovich was openly “afraid” of the young nihilist, and Pavel Petrovich just as openly “hated him with all the strength of his soul.” He considers Bazarov "proud, impudent, cynic, plebeian."

The heated debates and polemics that flared up between Bazarov and Pavel Kirsanov reflect the ideological battles of the era captured in the work. Bazarov, criticizing the conservatism of his opponent, the lordly effeminacy, the idle talk of domestic liberals, showing contempt for the loud and beautiful phrase, often wins these fights. But he not only argues, talks about the matter, but is also immersed in it. While Pavel Petrovich spent his days in sad idleness, the “stranger” he despised worked. When "Arkady was sybaritizing, Bazarov was working." He conducts physical experiments, studies beetles, dissects frogs. And all this is subordinated mainly to a practical goal - the treatment of patients. Being a typical natural scientist of the 60s of the 19th century, Evgeniy S. respects biology, chemistry, and medicine, resolutely rejecting the pseudoscientific, from his point of view, phrenology, vitalism, and humoral pathology.

The hero of the novel generally places the main emphasis on utilitarianism, the usefulness of life phenomena. He views nature as a workshop, and man as a worker in it. He completely denies that nature is also a temple. Bazarov is also careless about art, both Russian and foreign, literature, music, calling all this unforgivable nonsense.

The hero of the novel is often characterized as a nihilist, a denier. And this is its main essence. He is a supporter of the decisive destruction of the old foundations of existence. He denies petty, absurd accusations in literature, inflated authorities, serfdom and its remnants, the unshakable foundations of the autocratic state. Such consistent denial is revolutionary in nature, and the author himself emphasized this in the letter: “... if he is called a nihilist, then it should be read: revolutionary.” But denial is denial, and what in return?

Bazarov does not offer anything; he refuses to formulate his positive program, noting only: “building is not our business.” Unfortunately, “breaking” the hero also presupposes the rejection of all historical and cultural values, the denial of such moral categories as duty and honor.

Bazarov’s vulnerable spot also becomes his attitude towards women. He considers love for a woman to be “nonsense,” “promiscuity,” reducing it only to physiology and declaring this feeling “nonsense” and “unforgivable foolishness.” But the more painful and bitter was the disappointment that befell him. Love for Anna Sergeevna became perhaps the most difficult life test for Bazarov. Feeling the collapse of his love and his previous ideas about it, the hero gives in to failure in life, for which he is largely to blame.

Another contradiction of the hero is his attitude towards his parents. On the one hand, he tries to suppress the filial feeling in himself, is ashamed of its manifestations, on the other hand, he experiences great human tenderness for his father and mother, realizing that “people like them cannot be found in... the big world during the day.” . In these judgments, Turgenev's hero is especially contradictory.

Evgeniy’s comments about the people are even more contradictory. He despises the backwardness of ordinary men, patriarchy, and ignorance of the peasantry. But at the same time, his nihilism is determined by the interests of these simple men, caused by the “national spirit.” Bazarov's harsh judgments about the people are born not so much from a sober attitude towards the downtroddenness of the peasantry, but from the author's desire to reduce the image of his hero, to endow him with an anti-democratic essence.

The plot of the novel is structured in such a way that by the end of his life, Evgeniy breaks all former ties with people close to him, as well as “followers” and “fellow travelers.” Bazarov's young friend Arkady Kirsanov is not suitable for the “bitter, tart, boggy” life that his chosen path requires. He is just a “soft, liberal barich”, who in the epilogue is shown to have already completely transferred to the camp of the “fathers”. The emancipated landowner Avdotya Nikitichna Kukshina is actually interested in only one topic - “talking about love.”

The epilogue says about her that she is now studying natural sciences and architecture in Heidelberg, “still hobnobbing with students ... who, at first surprising naive German professors with their sober view of things, subsequently surprise the same professors with their perfect inaction and absolute laziness."

Viktor Sitnikov, who calls himself an “old acquaintance” of Bazarov and his student, has no independent convictions. His “progressiveness” is manifested primarily in denial and contempt for everything that catches his eye. In the epilogue of the novel, Turgenev reports: “...With the great Elisevich, Sitnikov, also preparing to be great, hangs around in St. Petersburg and, according to his assurances, continues the “work” of Bazarov. They say that someone beat him, but he did not remain in debt: in one dark article, squeezed into one dark magazine, he hinted that the one who beat him was a coward..."

As we see, Bazarov has neither sincere and devoted friends, nor a lover, nor real comrades-in-arms and continuers of his work.

The state of depression after the collapse of love, mental depression led him to absent-mindedness during the autopsy of the man’s corpse, infection and subsequent death. But this is only a reason, an indirect reason for Bazarov’s death. Another reason is the hero’s careless attitude towards life, which has largely lost its meaning for him. The main reason for the death of Turgenev’s hero can be called socio-historical. Shortly before his death, Evgeniy assesses his moral values: “Russia needs me... No, apparently I don’t need me...”

The circumstances of Russian life in the 60s did not yet provide opportunities for fundamental democratic changes, for the implementation of the plans of Bazarov and others like him. By that time, the conditions were not yet ripe for them to achieve victory over the reigning evil. And therefore the hero’s work and he himself appear tragically doomed, and this is precisely what Bazarov felt when reflecting on “his own insignificance” before eternity, on the inevitability of death.

To understand the character and position of Bazarov, the characteristics that others give him are important. characters. Arkady considers Bazarov "one of the most wonderful people" he has ever met; father - that "...people like him should not be measured by an ordinary yardstick...". Sitnikov calls himself Bazarov's "student"; Odintsova first finds him “strange,” and then comes to the conclusion that he is “not one of the ordinary” and that he will not be content with “modest activities.” Katya sees something “predatory” in Evgenia. And Pavel Petrovich, in his statements, actually points to the main reason for the “uselessness of Bazarov”: “You imagine yourself to be advanced people, but you only have to sit in a Kalmyk tent! Strength! Yes, remember, finally, gentlemen, strong, that you are only four and a half people, and there are millions of those who will not allow you to trample under your feet their most sacred beliefs, who will crush you!” It is significant that in the epilogue of the novel Turgenev mentions that the only successor to Bazarov’s work was precisely the pathetic and worthless Sitnikov, “also preparing to be great.”

The novel ends with a magnificent musical chord - a lyrical ending, depicting the old Bazarovs at the grave of their son. They “pray and cannot leave this place, from where they seem to be closer to their son, to the memories of him... Are their prayers, their tears, fruitless? Is holy love, devoted love not omnipotent? Oh no! No matter how passionate, the sinful, rebellious heart did not hide in the grave, the flowers growing on it serenely look at us with their innocent eyes: they are not talking to us about eternal peace alone; they are also talking about eternal reconciliation and endless life..." This ending sounds like a requiem and as a prose poem, where the landscape, mournfully frozen figures and silence, questions and exclamations convey the depth of the author’s experiences.

>Essays based on the work Fathers and Sons

Does Russia need Bazarov?

I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” touches on many aspects of society. The author raises eternal problems fathers and children, pits the old generation against the new, shows fashionable social trends typical of the mid-19th century, and examines in detail the lives of several characters. In particular, the work addresses the question of the benefits of people like Bazarov. He is a key figure in the novel, a representative of modern youth and a preacher of “nihilism” - a movement that denies everything generally accepted. Turgenev describes this character with particular skill. He himself created him, he himself gave him life, but he could not change his fate.

Does Russia need Bazarov? This is a complex and controversial issue. Of course, he, like any other person, is needed in society. He brings some benefit by doing medical research and helping the sick. Being a nihilist, he introduces new ideas into society that seem progressive and fair to many. He even finds followers and students in the persons of Arkady Kirsanov and Sitnikov. Although they are not completely sincere in their “nihilism,” they try to imitate Bazarov in behavior and judgment. They are the so-called pseudo-nihilists.

Despite the obvious benefits that Evgeniy Vasilyevich brings to society, he cannot find himself in it. By denying everything that is dear to others, he becomes “superfluous.” As a result, he has nothing to strive for. Social activities do not become the main goal. He is also unhappy in love. For this reason, on the scale of a huge state, he feels unnecessary. At some point, the hero even compares himself to a worm that crawls on the ground and no one likes. Before dying, he admits his uselessness and is ready to die. After all, a person lives as long as someone needs him.

It would seem that during his short life Bazarov did not do anything outstanding, but he always helped those around him. Behind the hero's gloomy appearance hid a kind heart. In my opinion, people like him are needed, perhaps not by the whole country, but by individual people. For example, he was very dear to his parents, but he brought only benefits to his patients. Therefore, we can conclude that Bazarov was needed by his family, friends, acquaintances and patients. And by bringing benefit to at least a small part of society, a person brings positive changes throughout the country.

In his novel “Fathers and Sons,” Turgenev brought several interesting images to the stage before the readers. The most memorable of them are Evgeny Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov. It is between them that the eternal dispute between fathers and children begins and opens up. But the most important thing is that the author of the novel shows us not so much opponents in age, but opponents in their views on life. And, above all, its aesthetic side.
It is Bazarov who declares that Raphael’s work is worthless, since it does not serve any vital purpose.

An important goal. The hero does not understand the value of art. He is sure that if the picture does not cover the hole in the wall, then it is of no use, of no use.
And although I support many of Bazarov’s views, I do not understand his opinion about art at all. If you follow his words, then it is necessary to refute music, all music... But if there were no music, then over time the silence would be simply unbearable!
Therefore, I myself was interested in looking at the work of someone whom Bazarov does not value at all.
I learned that Raphael painted many icons. And mostly he depicted Mary and the baby - Jesus Christ. The most famous painting from this, so to speak, cycle is the “Sistine Madonna”. They say that this work received its name from the fact that the Madonna is depicted with six fingers on one of her hands. And on Latin The sixth stands for the number six.
But I would like to consider another painting - “Madonna Conestabile”. When Raphael wrote it, he was about seventeen years old. Therefore, it does not yet have either classical beauty or the brilliance of pictorial execution that distinguished the master’s later works. The artist was almost the same age as I am now... This interesting fact.
The Hermitage painting (which is where it hangs at the present time) is also not distinguished, as critics say, by that special compositional structure that forced many generations of artists to study Raphael’s works as unattainable examples.
But it is unlikely that such issues should be touched upon. And it’s not my business to analyze the painting like an art critic. I can't do this. But one thing I can say for sure is that Bazarov also did not have the appropriate education to professionally declare that no one needed Raphael, and neither did his paintings. So, it's a matter of taste.
And yet there are other qualities in this supposedly imperfect and modest “Madonna Conestabile” that make it remarkable in its own way. And I personally liked this picture, because it is very simple, without pretensions to anything. And at the same time very beautiful.
In my opinion, its main feature is the slight sadness that fills the whole picture. She is present in the image of Madonna, a very young and naive girl, and in the simple, discreet landscape that softly spreads out behind her.
Nature plays the role of a background for the central image. The background against which the characters are so clearly visible. Spring reigns in the picture; low, gentle hills stretching into the distance are covered with light greenery. The leaves are just beginning to bloom on the slender, thin trees.
The main feature of Madonna’s appearance is thoughtfulness, and at the same time I have the feeling that everything is clear to her. Her figure is placed strictly in the center of the work. The child is in her arms, Madonna is looking at him. This achieves the extraordinary harmony of the painting “Madonna Conestabile”.
The picture was drawn specifically for a small format. It is even difficult to imagine a larger size. By its nature it resembles a book illustration. And this is another quality of hers that I like. The whole picture is immediately before your eyes, everything is visible. It is easy to remember, and the author does not need to think anything out.
Also, the picture is not square or rectangular, as usual, but round. She fits perfectly into this form and is all designed in soft lines: a bowed head in a blanket, a baby figure.
I really liked the painting by the Italian artist Raphael “Madonna Conestabile”. And it’s completely incomprehensible to me how Bazarov could protest against this artist in particular and against art in general?! Is it possible not to understand and not see the beauty of creativity? The hero's life, in this case, was simply poor and uninteresting. It is not surprising that the author kills him at the end of the novel.
The creativity of artists, musicians, writers deserves to be understood and continued. You can’t just brush aside what a person can do with his own hands!

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Is Bazarov right when he says that “Raphael is not worth a penny”?

The novel “Fathers and Sons,” according to the definition of the Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, is “not only Turgenev’s best novel, but also one of the most brilliant works of the 19th century.” The central place here is occupied by long disputes between the young raznochinsky nihilist Yevgeny Bazarov and the aging aristocrat Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov.

These characters differ from each other in everything: age, social status, beliefs, appearance. Here is a portrait of Bazarov: “tall in a long robe with tassels,” his face is “long and thin

With a wide forehead, a flat upward, pointed downward nose, large greenish eyes and drooping sand-colored sideburns, it was enlivened by a calm smile and expressed self-confidence and intelligence”; the hero has thin lips, and “his dark-blond hair, long and thick, did not hide the large bulges of his spacious skull.” And here is a portrait of Bazarov’s main opponent: “...a man of average height, dressed in a dark English suit, a fashionable low tie and patent leather ankle boots, Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, entered the living room. He looked about forty-five years old; his short-cropped gray hair shone with a dark shine, like new silver; his face, bilious, but without wrinkles, unusually regular and clean, as if carved with a thin and light chisel, showed traces of remarkable beauty; The light, black, oblong eyes were especially beautiful. The whole appearance... graceful and thoroughbred, retained youthful harmony and that desire upward, away from the earth, which for the most part disappears after the twenties.”

Pavel Petrovich is twenty years older than Bazarov, but, perhaps even more than he, retains the signs of youth in his appearance. The elder Kirsanov is a man who is extremely concerned about his appearance in order to look as young as possible for his age. So befits a socialite, an old heartthrob. Bazarov, on the contrary, appearance doesn't care at all. In the portrait of Pavel Petrovich, the writer highlights the correct features and strict order, the sophistication of the costume and the desire for light, unearthly materials. This hero will defend order in the dispute against Bazarov’s transformative pathos. And everything in his appearance indicates adherence to the norm. Even Pavel Petrovich’s height is average, so to speak, normal, while Bazarov’s tall height symbolizes his superiority over those around him. And Evgeniy’s facial features are distinctly irregular, his hair is unkempt, instead of Pavel Petrovich’s expensive English suit, he has some kind of strange robe, his hand is red, rough, while Kirsanov’s - beautiful hand“with long pink nails.” But Bazarov’s wide forehead and convex skull reveal his intelligence and self-confidence. And Pavel Petrovich has a bilious face, and increased attention to the toilet reveals in him a carefully hidden lack of confidence in his own abilities. We can say that this is Pushkin’s Onegin, twenty years older, living in a different era, in which this type of people will soon have no place.

What position does Bazarov defend in the dispute? He claims that “nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man is a worker in it.” Evgeniy is deeply convinced that the achievements of modern natural science will in the future make it possible to solve all the problems of social life. He denies beauty - art, poetry - in love he sees only the physiological, but does not see the spiritual principle. Bazarov “treats everything from a critical point of view”, “does not accept a single principle on faith, no matter how much respect this principle is surrounded.” Pavel Petrovich proclaims that “aristocratism is a principle, and in our time only immoral or empty people can live without principles.” However, the impression of an inspired ode to principles is noticeably weakened by the fact that Bazarov’s opponent puts in first place the “principle” of aristocracy that is closest to himself. It is no coincidence that Pavel Petrovich, brought up in an atmosphere of comfortable estate existence and accustomed to the St. Petersburg secular society, puts poetry, music, and love in first place. He had never been involved in any practical activity in his life, with the exception of a short and easy service in the guards regiment, was never interested in the natural sciences and had little in the way of

understood them. Bazarov, the son of a poor military doctor, accustomed from childhood to work and not to idleness, graduated from university, interested in natural sciences, experimental knowledge, had very little to do with poetry or music in his short life, maybe even Pushkin really do not read. Hence the harsh and unfair judgment of Evgeniy Vasilyevich about the great Russian poet: “... He must be in military service served... on every page: To the battle, to the battle! for the honor of Russia!”, by the way, almost verbatim repeating the opinion about Pushkin expressed in a conversation with Turgenev by the raznochinsky writer N.V. Uspensky (the author of “Fathers and Sons” called him “a man-hater”).

Bazarov does not have as much experience in love as Pavel Petrovich, and therefore is inclined to treat this feeling too simplistically. The elder Kirsanov had already experienced the suffering of love; it was an unsuccessful romance with Princess R. that prompted him to settle in the village with his brother for many years, and the death of his beloved aggravated him even more state of mind. Bazarov's love pangs - an equally unsuccessful romance with Anna Sergeevna Odintsova is yet to come. That is why, at the beginning of the novel, he so confidently reduces love to certain physiological relationships, and calls the spiritual in love “romantic nonsense.”

Bazarov is a realist, and Pavel Petrovich is a romantic, focused on the cultural values of romanticism of the first third of the 19th century, on the cult of beauty. And he, of course, is offended by Bazarov’s statements about the fact that “a decent chemist is twenty times more useful than any poet” or that “Raphael is not worth a penny.” Here Turgenev certainly disagrees with Bazarov’s point of view. However, he does not give victory on this point of the dispute to Pavel Petrovich. The trouble is that the refined Anglomaniac aristocrat does not have not only Raphael’s abilities, but no creative abilities at all. His discussions about art and poetry, as well as about society, are empty and trivial, often comical. Pavel Petrovich cannot possibly be a worthy opponent for Bazarov. And when they part, the eldest of the Kirsanov brothers “was a dead man,” of course, in a figurative sense. Disputes with a nihilist at least somehow justified the meaning of his existence, introduced a certain “fermentation”, awakened thoughts. Now Pavel Petrovich is doomed to a stagnant existence. This is how we see him abroad at the end of the novel.

Turgenev's plan was fully consistent with Bazarov's victory over the aristocrat Kirsanov. In 1862, in one of his letters regarding “Fathers and Sons,” Ivan Sergeevich especially emphasized that “my entire story is directed against the nobility, as an advanced class... An aesthetic feeling forced me to take precisely good representatives of the nobility in order to prove my theme all the more accurately: if cream is bad, what about milk?.. if the reader does not fall in love with Bazarov with all his rudeness, heartlessness, ruthless dryness and harshness - if he does not fall in love, I repeat, - I am guilty and have not achieved my goal. But I didn’t want to “become scattered,” to use his words, although through this I would probably immediately have young people on my side. I didn’t want to buy into popularity with this kind of concession. It's better to lose a battle... than to win it with a trick. I dreamed of a gloomy, wild, large figure, half grown out of the soil, strong, evil, honest and yet doomed to death - because she still stands on the threshold of the future...” Turgenev himself was a representative of the same generation, like Pavel Petrovich, but of the heroes of his novel he felt the greatest sympathy for the young nihilist Bazarov. In 1869, in a special article dedicated to “Fathers and Sons,” the writer directly stated: “I honestly, and not only without prejudice, but even with sympathy, reacted to the type I had drawn... When drawing the figure of Bazarov, I excluded from the circle of his sympathies all artistic, I gave it a harsh and unceremonious tone - not out of an absurd desire to offend the younger generation (!!!)... “This life turned out this way,” experience again told me, “perhaps erroneous, but, I repeat, conscientious... My personal inclinations mean nothing here; but, probably, many of my readers will be surprised if I tell them that, with the exception of Bazarov’s views on art, I share almost all of his beliefs. And they assure me that I am on the side of the “Fathers”... I, who in the figure of Pavel Kirsanov even sinned against artistic truth and overdid it, brought his shortcomings to the point of caricature, made him funny!” Turgenev was honest as an artist to the same extent that he was honest as a person, a character created by his imagination. The writer did not want to idealize Bazarov and endowed his hero with all those shortcomings that his prototypes from the radical heterodox youth possessed in abundance. However, Turgenev did not deprive Eugene of his Russian roots, emphasizing that half the hero grows from Russian soil, the fundamental conditions of Russian life, and half is formed under the influence of new ideas brought from Europe. And in a dispute with Pavel Petrovich, Bazarov, according to the conviction of the writer, and any thoughtful reader, is right in his main positions: the need to question established dogmas, work tirelessly for the good of society, and be critical of the surrounding reality. Where Bazarov is wrong, in utilitarian views on the nature of beauty, on literature, on art, victory still does not remain on the side of Pavel Petrovich.