There Are No Small Parts
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Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev is not a plot driven novel but a “realistic” novel that revolved around the development of characters. This development is formed mainly through relationships among and between several of the male and female characters. The growth of the prominent male characters is driven by less present female characters, who manipulate the men into changing while remaining unchanged themselves. In the novel, Turgenev creates an irony between how women are discounted by the characters and the narrator and how they drive the entire evolution of the men, showing that women, in reality, have great power in their influence; ultimately Turgenev takes a dark view of the womans ability to wield power.
Bazarov’s attitude toward women makes the effect that they have on him even more ironic; specifically, Odintsova orchestrates total change within Bazarov to meet her own ends. Before his encounter with her, Bazarov is a commensurate nihilist, rejecting all aspects of romanticism as well as all ideologies in general. Women, in his perspective, serve little purpose and are not worth spending time with other than to “try and get what you want”(Turgenev 90) and if that were to fail to “just go away” (90). This illustrates the limited function that women play from Bazarov’s perspective: they have but one role: to serve the needs of men. If that role cannot be fulfilled then they are useless in his eyes. Additionally, his nihilistic views also steer him against any emotion, such as love. For example he even “consider[s] chivalrous love a kind of deformity or disease”(89), which further exaggerates how he himself rejects any sort of love or devotion. However, this perspective of Bazarov’s is altered as a result of his relationship with Odintsova, for he realized that in her case “[he] wouldn’t ‘get what [he] want[ed]’, but to his amazement, he hadn’t the strength to run away from her”(90). It was then that he realized “with indignation that he had become a romantic” (90). This shows how his perspective drastically changes, and not by his own accord, but hers. It is not until after he has spent time with Odintsova that he helplessly falls under her spell, contradicting his own ideologies. He loses some of himself, or rather, who he saw himself to be and the strength to remain that way, solely from the influence of this woman. In fact, he becomes what he saw previously as a “deformity or disease”, later when he says to Odintsova,“I love you, foolishly, madly… That’s what you’ve got out of me” (101), showing that he has failed to resist her power and has reversed from nihilism completely and is now loving despite himself and his brazen sexism because he was manipulated by Odintsova’s influence.
The irony is not only found in how little Bazarov thinks of a womans presence contrasted with Odintsova’s effect on him, but also with her immutable character. Before meeting Odintsova, Bazarov clearly has no interest in any substance of a woman’s character; for example, before meeting Odintsova, he wonders aloud: “[l]et’s see what species of mammal this person belongs to,” revealing the extent of his objectification. In a previous scene, Bazarov says,“I’ve observed that women who think freely are hideous”(73), showing ironically how he assigns little significance to women in his life while, ultimately, women have the greatest effect upon him. Even though she ignites change in Bazarov’s character, her character remains unaffected. Richard Freeborn describes her as a “passive participant” (293 Freeborn) in her relationship with Bazarov. As he falls in love with her and reevaluates himself completely, she remains indifferent. Unlike Bazarov, she does not allow herself to struggle with interference from her emotions which in return allows her to not feel anything. Thus, she organizes her life to be of the utmost practicality. Although it is Bazarov who initially boasts of his nihilist ideology, it is ultimately Odintsova who remains independent of any ensuing emotions. According to Bazarov, Odintsova has “organized [her] life with such faultless regularity that there can be no room in it for boredom or distress… for any painful feeling.” (93), which indicates just how in control of her emotions she actually is. Additionally, she herself expresses her opinion that “peace of mind is the best thing in the world” (102), illustrating that everything else in her life is secondary to her own peace of mind. Because of this, it is not in Odintsova’s nature to change and develop as a character in a way that would be comparable to that of Bazarov. Thus, she simply observes his change from the sidelines. This point is furthered in the novel after Bazarov confesses his love to her and yet “[h]er peace of mind was not disturbed”(102), creating a deep contrast between the two characters. Bazarov does a total about-face, from discrediting women and emotion, to embracing a combination of the two when he falls in love with Odintsova,