A comparison of Arkady and Bazarov, from Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons

... Turgenev opens the novel with the first comparison of many, setting the pace for the rest of the text, where Arkady and Bazarov are ceaselessly contrasted and compared. Turgenev initially portrays Arkady as a youth and Bazarov as a man. Arkady is described frequently as being boyish, whereas words such as 'virile' help the reader to understand Bazarov's manliness. His physical description is more thorough than that of Arkady's ('a face so bright and boyish') and we can infer from the bulging temples and broad forehead, phrenology being at its peak, that he is a deep thinker and an intelligent man. Arkady is initially relatively unself-conscious within his joy at seeing his father and is described as having a 'genuine, almost childish delight', but quickly becomes less relaxed and more conscious of his movements as he attempts to be treated and viewed as a man in front of his

want to read more? →