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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fathers and Sons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Tradition and Progress
Nature vs. Materialism
Love vs. Nihilism
Generational Conflict
Summary
Analysis
Arkady shakes the dust off himself, happily greeting his father. Nikolai appears more excited than Arkady, “flurried and overcome with shyness.” Arkady stops his father’s bustling and introduces his “great friend,” Bazarov, of whom he has often spoken in his letters. Bazarov, a tall man in a long coat, “somewhat tardily” offers his “ungloved” hand to Nikolai. When Nikolai asks his name, Bazarov says it is Yevgeny Vassilyich.
Nikolai’s much-anticipated reunion with his son is immediately interrupted by the presence of Bazarov, whose slowness to greet Nikolai properly hints at a difference in outlook. Bazarov’s use of his first and middle name, or patronymic (family name) is the standard Russian form of address, although Arkady calls him by his surname, suggesting that Bazarov takes an independent, non-traditional stance relative to his culture.
Themes
Bazarov has “a long thin face with a broad forehead,” greenish eyes, and sandy whiskers, as well as “a tranquil smile betokening self-assurance and intelligence.” Nikolai says that he hopes Bazarov won’t find his visit dull. Bazarov does not reply. Arkady wants to start for home right away, so Piotr, bowing from a distance rather than kissing Arkady’s hand, goes to bring around the horses. Nikolai fusses about, making arrangements for the journey, and Arkady urges his father not to stand on ceremony, since Bazarov is “not a bit pretentious.” Soon Nikolai and Arkady are seated in Nikolai’s barouche and Bazarov in the tarantass, and the vehicles start for home.
Bazarov is established as a rather aloof figure who doesn’t fit neatly into the patterns of Nikolai’s life and Arkady’s upbringing. This also means that Arkady’s friendship with him might have a disruptive influence on his own ties with his father. Piotr’s refusal to kiss Arkady’s hand is an additional sign of shifts in class structure, as past generations of servants would have been more submissive in their behavior. So on the cusp of Arkady’s homecoming, multiple generational and class-based fault lines have been exposed.
Themes
