At Bazarov's Home:
Bazarov's parents could be described as land owners, a little dis-shevled, but love Bazarov a lot. His father's name is Vassilly Ivanovich and his Mother's, Arisha. Vassily actually served in Arkady's Grandpa's military brigade as an army doctor.
Nothing of much importance happens at Bazarovs home, but there is an apparent wall that Bazarov puts up between himself and his parents. Arkady notices the desperation that his parents exhibit in trying to relate to their son. Though they are much like Arkady's parents in that they are traditional and "old fashioned," they make an effort to understand and respect Bazarov's Nihilist views. Vassily goes to great pains to make his son comfortable and to impress him.

"Vassily Ivanovich did not even mention that every morning almost at dawn he took counsel with Timofeich (a servant), standing with his bare feet in his slippers, and pulling out one dog's-eared ruble note after another, with trembling fingers, charged him with various purchases, with special reference to good things to eat, and to red wine, which as far aws he could observe, the young men like very much." (page 110).

 Bazarov himself knows what he is doing to his parents, but he is depressed and isolated. "I was goint to say that they now - my parents, I mean - are absorbed and don't trouble themselves about their own insignificance, its stench doesn't sicken them... while I... I feel nothing by weariness and malice." (page 102). Turgenev describes Bazarov's loneliness as being attributed to his pondering youth,

"He was feeling, too, that causeless melancholy which is only known to very young people," (page 111).

Bazarov announces that he is leaving and returning to Arkady's home due to the fact that he left some of his belongings there. His parents are absolutely heart broken.

Bazarov's indifference, his nonchalance, and not-caring attitude toward his parents is extremely upsetting to me. Sure, he feels like his parents don't understand him. I'm sure he uses the excuse that they are "from two different generations, two different worlds," but I don't understand why there is no sense of respect for the older generation, no sense of appreciation for raising him, giving him all that they could. Bazarov's Nihilism, his consciously strict practice of it, is getting in the way of his relationships with the people that matter most. 

Goal: Finish blogging about "Fathers and Sons" by the end of this week.

At the Odinstov Manor

Anna Sergeyevna Odinstov lives in a manor in the country with her younger sister, Katya, and her elder, miserly aunt who everyone refers to as "the princess". Anna and Katya grew up with their parents in the country, but sadly both parents died. Their father, being a gambler, left his children in ruins. Anna kept her head though and married a rich, older man. She did not marry for love, but to secure herself, and when her hub died half a dozen years after their marriage, she traveled Europe with Katya, and then settle back in the provinces of Russia taking on her aunt as well.

To me, it is unclear why Odinstova asked her aunt to live with her. "The Princess" took all of the best rooms in the house for herself and was grouchy. It may have had something to do with the fact that the Odinstovs were not well liked by the villagers and peasants in town, probably because their Father left a bad name for them, and because they thought Odinstov "traveled Europe" because she got pregnant and was trying to cover it up.

It is apparent that Odinstov likes extreme order and regularity in her home. She is not a woman of many interests or passions, except to be punctual and orderly. Despite her keen intelligence and openness to liberal ideas, Odinstov is very cold and passionless. She does not like having adventurous or wandering thoughts, and she is not a motivated person:

"Dreams sometimes danced in rainbow colors before her eyes even, but she breathed more freely when they died away, and did not regret them" (page 70).

and later:

"Sometimes coming out her her fragrant bath all warm and languorous, she would fall to musing on the insignificance of life, the sorrow, the labor, the malice of it... Her soul would be filled with sudden daring, and would flow with generous ardor, but a draft would blow from a half-closed window, and Anna Sergeyevna would shrink into herself, and feel plaintive and almost angry, and there was only one thing she cared for at that instant - to get away from that horrid wind" (page 70).

I think Odinstov is the most tragic character in this book! More so even than then cynical Bazarov and the lonely Pavel! To not have passions! To not love! To let your mind wander on both things sad and lovely, and then deprive yourself completely of any emotion! As humans, we are always trying to search for the meaning of life, and I think Odinstov is doing the same thing, but she does not allow herself to feel. By inviting Bazarov over to question him about his Nihilism shows she is interested in the answers of life and his philosophy, a philosophy that would sound appealing to a person who does not like to believe in anything like she does. She also doesn't seem very close to her only sister, Katya. 

Katya is described as, "not exactly shy, but diffident, and rather overawed by her sister, who had educated her, and who, or course, did not even suspect it," (page 69). Katya wants to live her own life, spread her wings, be free of the shackles of 'orderliness', and Odinstov doesn't even realize that her younger sister is sick of her. 

A line that I thought was interesting was:

Like all women who have not succeeded in loving, she wanted something, without herself knowing what. Strictly speaking, she wanted nothing; but it seemed to her that she wanted everything" (page 70). 

What does Turgenev mean by, "Like all women who have not succeeded in loving..."? What? Is that a woman's only chance at happiness? Do women have to love to get meaning out of their life? I'm not trying to be an overbearing feminist, but why did he say, "Like all women who have not succeeded in loving" ? Does this not apply to men?

This is a Romantic-era notion that annoys me. 

Despite the fact that this annoys me, the line does apply. I do not know what I am going to do with my life. I want to do everything. All of it. But I can't seem to put my finger down on one thing that I can commit to.

ANYWAYS:

Basically what happens is Bazarov falls in love with Odinstov. They have many evening talks about Nihilism, life, and orderliness. They challenge each other, and if Odinstov wasn't a robot, she would have fallen in love with Bazarov also. Sadly, when Bazarov proclaims his feelings, she basically rejects him. She doesn't say "No," but she doesn't say "Yes" either. The whole visit at the Odinstov's, Arkady was put on the back burner, pushed to hang out with the quiet Katya, and his and Bazarov's relationship starts to experience jealousy and friction. 

Bazarov and Arkady leave the Odinstovs and head for Bazarov's home.

TRAVEL

After Pavel and Bazarov have their fight, Bazarov presumably feels uncomfortable, unwelcome, and sick of the company he is with. He proposes to Arkady to travel to a ball that is being held by a family friend of Arkady's, Matvey Ilyich Kolyazin. Ilyich is a noblemen who tries to publicly appear as a liberal and sympathetic to the needs of the people of inferior classes. In reality, he is condescending and makes all inferiors in close contact feel on edge.

When Arkady and Bazarov reach the city that the ball is taking place in, they stop in to say hello to Ilyich and then decide to walk around the town for a bit. While walking, a man named Sitnikov runs up and heartily greets Bazarov. It is apparent that he somehow knows Bazarov from the past, but is a relation that Bazarov is annoyed by. 

Sitnikov is described by the narrator as a Slavophile, a Russian who believes that Russia should reject all Western ideas and go back to its own cultural roots. He dresses in "native" Russian clothes, and the distinction of the old clothes is sure to make people turn up their noses at him. He is a social pariah I am sure, but it appears that he likes the effect he has on people and the movement he is working toward. He clearly considers himself a disciple of Bazarov and was heavily influenced by him, but Bazarov is annoyed by him, and each time Bazarov tries to push him away, Sitnikov clings all the more.

Sitnikov reels the two in though, when he offers them free champagne. He says that he knows a very progressive and rich woman, Avdotya Nikitishna Kukshin, who would love to have a discussion with them and would gladly offer them food and drink. The three walk to Kukshins house and are indeed offered food and champagne, but Kukshin is eccentric to a point that annoys Bazarov, and Bazarov at one points stands up and walks out without any thank-you or good-bye. 

Bazarov and Arkady go to the ball, where they see Sitnikov and Kukshin, though they don't feel embarrassed or averted from them. After the experience with Kukshin, it is apparent that Bazarov does not think very highly of women's intellect. That all changes when Arkady and Bazarov meet the young widow, Odinstov. Odinstov is a great female thinker who is highly regarded by Kukshin, which doesn't say much seeing as how Bazarov does not think highly of Kukshin, and neither do I. But upon talking to her, both Bazarov and Arkady both hold great conversations with her and both become attracted to her, and by attracted, I mean love!

Odinstov looks at the two and sees Bazarov as an interesting intellectual and Arkady as a younger, adorable brother (poor Arkady), and she invites them both to her home, which is a few towns away. 

The two accept and travel there after the ball.

The highly regarded and highly proclaimed:

IVAN TURGENEV

I know. I know. I've been slacking.

Bazarov stays with the Kirsanov family for about a fortnight (which I learned is relative to two weeks), and while there, Bazarov continues to annoy the elder Kirsanovs, especially Pavel, but he begins making a weird relationship with the servants in the household. He is condescending but playful, yet the help love to be around him. Bazarov later makes the claim that he is "more Russian" than Pavel because he is of the people. His grandfather plowed the land like the majority of the Russian serfs. He says that money, culture, and following the status quo do not make a man more ethnically tied to their homeland. A rather good argument, though when looking back on Russian culture and history, people do stereotypically think of the Romanovs and the well-adorned, high class society.

THE FIGHT

What brings the visit to the Kirsanov home to an end, is a fight that Pavel and Bazarov have one evening at dinner.
They discuss the current English Patriarch system. Pavel and Nikolai revere the English for their organized government. They find it brilliantly practical that the British expect their peasants to behave a certain way, but the aristocrats also hold themselves to the same standard.
 Says Pavel:

"They do not abate one iota of their rights, and for that reason they respect the rights of others; they demand the fulfillment of obligations in dealing with them, and for that reason they fulfill their own obligations" (37).

Pavel associates himself with words like, "Aristocracy," "Liberalism," "Progress," and "Principles".

The essence of Nihilism really comes out in this scene. When Bazarov continues to disagree and counter Pavel, Pavel asks, "What do you do, then"?
What do Nihilists do? Because so far, it seems that they do nothing.
Bazarov describes exactly that.
Nihilists take no action. They take no action because there aren't enough honest men. Why work for peasants when the peasants are fools who believe in superstition and who spend all their extra earnings, not to better themselves, but to get drunk at the local "pot-house".
Nihilism is interesting then, at least from how Bazarov depicts it. This whole time he has been looking down on the Kirsanovs for being wealthy land owners and he made it seem like he wanted equality for all men, but now he is accusing peasants of being lazy and not worth working toward reform for.

It is ironic that Peter the Great worked for advancements in his country, advancements that Nikolai and Pavel obviously support and have been influenced by (they regularly speak French), yet, the youth now are working toward "improvements" that go against Peter's ideas of advancements.
Bazarov at one point denounces all government agencies. He basically says:
 Take a good hard look at our current political standing. Try and find one institution that does not call for a complete repudiation, rejection, or disownment.
When Bazarov says this, it sounds like he is calling for reform, but really, on Nihilist principle, he wants no action at all.

Personally, I just don't understand Nihilism. How can a country run without officials? How can a company run without CEO's organizing the workers? Bazarov claims that any hierarchy is unjust, but in reality, that is what life requires. There is always going to be a working class and there is always going to be an elite group, but that is because these groups are necessary.  
Someone has to do the organizing and administrating while someone else has to follow orders and complete tasks. How else would things get done? If there were no laws or order, some superior rule to govern, there would be chaos.
Bazarov claims to denounce all notions toward Romanticism, but it is a romantic thought in itself to believe that a country could go on supporting itself civilly without some sort of hierarchy. Wishful thinking Bazarov, wishful thinking.

The discussion between Pavel and Bazarov goes on further, and it really deserves a good reading for those of you following me. The chapter (X) goes into great length, reasoning through topics that I have not touched on here. If you find any points that you think deserve more discussion, please, post your thoughts! I would love to know what other people think of this.
Essentially, the fight ends with Pavel saying that Nihlism will never succeed, that there are too few of supporters for it to be a large, ground-breaking movement. Bazarov responds:

"All Moscow was burnt down, you know, by a penny candle," (42).

A magnificent quote I think. One of empowerment and inspiration. It reminds me of my favorite quote from the Disney movie Mulan, "A single grain of rice can tip the scale." So wise.

After the dinner ends, Nikolai ponders the evenings events.
To be honest, Arkady was kind of a dunce the entire argument, only interjecting once or twice and blindly supporting Bazarov on no grounds except for the fact that he idolizes him (and for what reasons, we do not know!). He didn't really do anything grand to make a parent proud. Still, Nikolai is despondent over the fact that his dear son his growing up and taking a course very different in life from his own. The innocent and blind love that Father and Son have for each other is beginning to wane. The strong connection and relationship that the two used to have is eroding.
Nikolai sums it up when he says to Pavel:

"Do you know what I was reminded of, brother? I once had a dispute with our late mother; she shouted, and wouldn't listen to me. At last I said to her, 'Of course, you can't understane me; we belong,' I said, 'to two different generations.' She was dereadfully offended, while I thought, 'It can't be helped. It's a bitter pill, but she has to swallow it.' You see, now, our turn has come, and our successors can say to us, 'You are not of our generation; swallow your pill' " (42).

How sad, but how true? I'm sure close to everyone has experienced this universal reality. That the parent or relation you once glorified, labeled as your one true confidant who understood you inside and out, has aged drastically in a matter of weeks. Their views seem so aged, their habits and manners archaic. And now when you have conversations, you are distracted by just how old they have become, or possibly, by how you never noticed their stale and flaked mannerisms before. 
I'm a ways away from it now, but how forlorn for the parent to find that they are at that point, that their children now look at them how they once also looked at their parents when they reached the terrible epiphany, the awareness of the difference in decades, and the differences in culture. 

The first scene in, "Fathers and Sons," starts with the character Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov waiting in a carriage for his son to return from what is the equivalent of college. Throughout the first few chapters, Nikolai comes off as very naive. He is a liberal landowner, allowing his serf's to pay him a fixed sum of money each year (which turns out to be more convenient for them) and divides his property so that the serfs can farm on some of his plots to provide their own food and money. He even plans to clear away part of his forest to make even more room for them to farm.

Sounds like a pretty reasonable guy.

But it is apparent that the serfs are no longer content with their current situation. Though Nikolai initially seems like a generous landowner, the peasants homes are described as dark hovels with thatched roofs, gaping doorways, and slanting barns.  The serfs seem pretty agitated and have not yet paid Nikolai their due rent.The peasants even call his estate Lackland Farm.  Despite all of this apparent rising disonance within his serf population, Nikolai brushes it off and still plans to clear away his forest for their use.

What is interesting about Nikolai is that he is considered a Liberal Landowner, yet he refuses to keep freed serf's as house servants, for whatever reason (Serfdom kind of reminds me of American slavery and how southern whites associated to freed slaves), and he seems particularly interested in people's social status when meeting them.  In Russia at the time, people held several different names: their first name given by their parents, a pet name for at-home use, and  a Patronymic. A patronymic was a formal way of addressing people. It was formed by adding the suffix to one's father's name. People referred to each other by their patronymic rather than using Mr. or Mrs. as the English did, and one's social status could be determined by it.
When meeting Arkady's friend, Bazarov, for the first time, Nikolai is not bashful about asking for Bazarov's patronymic, a rather arrogant and snooty question if you ask me. Nikolai was clearly trying to figure out which side of the tracks Bazarov was coming from, and his blatancy made it quite uncomfortable for all those present.

 Arkady returns home very conflicted. He also has a childish excitement like his dad, but he has been instilled with modern views from his education which makes him more aware of the poverty on his Father's estate.
When Nikolai picks Arkady and Bazarov up in the carriage and they drive home, Arkady revels on being home and being in the countryside. Nikolai claims that it is because Arkady grew up in the country, but Arkady disagrees:

"Come, Dad, it makes no difference where a man is born"
"Still-"
"No, it makes absolutely no difference" (pg 7).

Even though they are referring to the countryside, there is a political undertone in how Arkady is trying to convince his father of modern views on birth right.

 Arkady has also taken on Bazarov as a friend, a very educated and modernistic peer.  Bazarov is studying natural sciences and though he is from a lower class than Nikolai and Arkady (only coming from a Surgeon family (gasp!)), he exagerated his lower origin by giving Nikolai the short, popular form of his patronymic rather than his more formal one. By doing this, and how he playfully relates to the servants, it is apparent that Bazarov thinks very little of the aristocracy. Bazarov is actually somewhat rude and does not act like a proper guest when in the presence of the elder Kirsanovs. He is sarcastic when speaking with them, "Only give order for my little box to be taken there."

I smirked when I read that.
 He is playing up the fact that he is less well-to-do than the Kirsanovs and finds the whole aristocracy a joke. This attitude can be attributed to his open Nihilist views. "A Nihilist is a man who does not bow down before any authority, who does not take any principle on faith, whatever reverence that principle may be enshrined in" (pg 17). 
Nikolai and Bazarov quickly become subtle enemies. Nikolai picks up on Bazarov's attitude and is annoyed by it, "He was beginning to feel a secret irritation. His aristocratic nature was revolted by Bazarov's absolute nonchalance. This surgeon's son was not only unintimidated, he even gave abrupt and indifferent answers, and in the tone of his voice there was something coarse, almost insolent" (pg 19).

You can see why Arkady is now put in an awkward position. His father and friend do not like each other whatsoever and do not put much effort into covering their feelings up. There is a distinct clash between Nikolai's classic views and Bazarov's modern, Nihilistic opinions. Arkady will no doubt have to make the choice between supporting his Father or supporting the modern views of reform.

Arkady tries to convert both his Father and Bazarov to having more kindred feelings toward each other. To Bazarov, Arkady describes the history of his Uncle Pavel, who lives with Nikolai on his estate. Arkady tries to show Bazarov that life even for the aristocrats isn't always easy and that his Uncle Pavel had endured much strife in his life. When Pavel had been young, he had fallen in love with a young Princess, Princess R-. This Princess could be considered a little crazy. She would throw herself at men, and then spend the whole next day crying and praying over the bible, and then later at night, throw herself at men again. Still, Pavel fell for her and gave up his high position in the military to pursue her while she traveled Europe. The Princess R- dismissed him and Pavel was heart broken and embarrassed. He took himself out of society and lived with Nikolai in the country, never to love again.


All that information and I'm only on Chapter 8.
More Soon!

Halleluiah!
I will officially be studying abroad this summer, taking a creative writing course and either a modern British literature or Victorian literature class! So with that being set, I am now enrolled in a Senior Seminar course discussing current issues in English, and also a "Masterpieces in European Literature" course.

For "Masterpieces,"  we are currently reading the Russian novel, "Fathers and Sons," by Ivan Turgenev. 
My professor pointed out that while we were reading, we should be asking questions in regards to some fundamental literary elements such as:

Plot - Character - Narrative Perspective -Theme - Symbolism

The questions include:

What is the order of events? What is the significance of them being described in that order?

What is the Central Conflict? What is the nature or basis of the conflict?

What are the Characters' patterns of choice? What are their motivations?

Are they static or dynamic? How do their patterns of choice change and why?

Is the narrator a participant in the plot? Why is it important that the narrator knows what it knows?

What are the themes? What does the author want readers to know about the subject?

Is there any symbolism that is apparent throughout the narrative?

Now for some History and Background!

"Fathers and Sons" is deliberately set before the liberation of the serf's in Russia, which occurred in 1861. Peter the Great, who died in 1725, had a lot of influence over Russian culture. Russia was, and still is, struggling to be categorized as either European or Asian because of its geographical location, kind of like how its debatable whether Michigan is part of the Mid-West or not (where do we belong?).   Peter the Great traveled through Europe and acknowledged that other countries flourished because of their modernization. He loved the sophisticated culture and modern luxuries. He took this idea back to Russia and tried to "Europe-inize" the country by updating the technologies used and making French the language of the elite nobles. In doing this, Russia associated itself with Europe rather than Asia, but it seems that many Europeans questioned Russia's continental status.

The Emancipation Manifesto took place in 1861 which allowed serfs to marry without their landowner's consent, own land and businesses, and purchase land. "Fathers and Sons," was written one year after the Emancipation Manifesto but the setting takes place before the manifesto.

 In class, we discussed how during the Enlightenment Period, all of the advancements in science actually caused a, "disenchantment" of people's world views. Newton's Laws of Physics explained phenomenons that people previously took as magic, fairies, ghosts, or God. The realization that everyday events could be explained mathematically caused a disenchantment in people. The young readily cast aside their innocent views of the world, while older generations voraciously held onto their classic beliefs. We can see this in the contrast between the naive Nikolai Kirsanov, and the young Arkady and Bazarov who have returned from college and have presumably been "disenchanted" by their modern education. 

I can already tell that some of the conflict seen will be Russia's struggle to identify itself as "European", between the revolting serfs and their landowners, but most predominately, the central conflict will be the clash between modern and classic beliefs, young and old generations: The struggle between Father and Son in an age of political strife.

Alrighty. Here it is! The first post for The Literate. Sorry about the cheesy name. It sounded sophisticated and refined at the time of creating a title.
So, this blog (Its weird to say. Blog.), will be dedicated to writing my responses to classic novels that I will be reading this semester. I hope that by doing this I can really delve into the themes of the story, understand the writing techniques that the author used, why they used them, what effect it had on the story, the general historic and cultural influences of the time period, and any significant life-altering events that may have occurred in the author's life at the time of writing.

I want to become a literary Chieftain! I want to read as many books as possible and know as much about them as I can.

I am expecting for this blog to get a bit eclectic. I'll probably post notes that I liked in class, how my peers respond to the story, and probably even how my life relates to the reading. Some really professional stuff.
As of right now, the list of books that will be read is still up in the air. With me considering to study abroad this summer, it has been a scramble to see which classes to take abroad and which ones to take this semester. Though a few of my classes seem like real treasures (David Copperfield sounds amazing!) (I'm not being sarcastic) (Really, I'm not!), I might have to sacrifice them this semester so that I can learn the material in a strange, foreign land... oooh ahhhh.

I also created this blog because I do not know what the hell I want to do with my life. Part of me is strongly  interested in Biology, but another part of me loves writing short stories and poems, and yet another part of me wants to suck the marrow out of every book I read. And of course, who doesn't want to be a world traveler? To inter-mix my interests in English, Biology, and traveling, I have been looking into writing for National Geographic, a classic magazine that millions have enjoyed for generations! Yet, this timeless and coined magazine seems to be in jeopardy, suffering from lack of sales (An assumption I made by looking at the insane amount of advertisement that the poor mag seems to carry). Still, to be a journalist for the most well-known magazine would be quite the triumph, and after reading, "Pink Boots and a Machete - My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer" by Mireya Mayor, working for Nat. Geo. seems just the life for me!

But if journalism is my calling, I had better start journal-ing on something right?

So here it is. A blog all about my adventures through Literature Land! Hell, maybe I could end up working for the New York Times Book Review!