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.