How does Ivan Turgenev in Fathers and Sons display more remorse for women than the woman in Chekhov’s Short Stories?

by Regina Kauzlarich, May 2015

900 words

3 pages

essay

Literary works of Chekhov and Turgenev occupy the central part of the classical Russian literature and that speaks for their great value for readers of all times. Their books are significant not only as a source of esthetic satisfaction but they also provide us with great ideologies and behavioral examples and inspire us to be better people. This could be achieved by analyzing the characters and understanding the author’s attitude towards them. In one of his most famous works, “Fathers and Sons” Turgenev describes in a great detail three female characters. There are also quite a number of short stories in which Chekhov familiarizes us with some unique women characters. In this work I will research the difference in the expression of remorse towards women using Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons” and Chekhov’s short stories as an evidence.

A gallery of women in “Fathers and Sons” is represented by a simple peasant woman Fenechka, Madame Odintsova, a high society woman with whom Bazarov falls in love, and Evdoksiya Kukshyna, an example of an emancipated woman. From the very beginning one could feel Turgenev’s appreciation of Fenechka as he talks warmly and tenderly about her: “This was a young woman about twenty three, all white and soft, with dark hair and eyes, with red, childish lips and tender hands”. Turgenev reveals us her low level of education, simplicity of character and shyness in a nice, approving and even supporting manner: “It seemed she felt ashamed that she came, and at the same time it was if she felt that she had a right to come”. One could infer that Fenechka is a happy person without any type of internal conflicts. Unfortunately this can’t be said about Odintsova and Kukshyna. Turgenev describes Kukshyna in a satirical manner. She belongs to a new class of emancipated women and the author does not hide his critical stance towards her. That is why he describes her everyday life with a touch of skepticism and pointlessness (“Papers, letters, thick volumes of Russian magazines, mostly uncut, were scattered across the dusty tables; thrown about cigarette butts showed up white everywhere”). Turgenev demonstrates his dislike of the woman when he describes her appearance: “Her facial expression would make an unpleasant impression to a spectator.” The author clearly expresses his critical attitude towards her tastelessness, material attitude of life, wish to become comparable with the high end of the society. As a result a reader feels regret when identifying with Kukshyna.

The most central female character in “Fathers and Sons”, Madame Odintsova, leads a very ordered life and actually belongs to higher class, the never-ending social dream of Kukshyna. She has excellent manners, lives very comfortable life and has no worries. Turgenev has a contradictory attitude towards Odintsova – on one hand she does not pretend to be who she is (as Kukshyna) but on the other hand her life is so under control that she fails to have feelings, to get social and to have purpose in life. We could …

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