So basically Bazarov dies and life goes on for everyone else. Odinstova gets married. Arkady and Katya get married. Fenichka and Nikolai get married. Pavel goes to Moscow to do business and ends up in Dresden for his health. Arkady turns out to be a great land owner and the property and peasants become much more successful.
Bazarov is buried in a small village graveyard in one of the remote corners of Russia. Bazarov's parents visit this cite often, "they exchange some brief word, wipe away the dust from the stone, set straight a branch of a fir-tree, and pray again, and cannot tear themselves from the place, wherer they seem to be nearer to their son, to their memories of him..." (166).

Bazarov is completely forgotten by everyone but his parents. His good friend Arkady does not think of him and Odinstova has busied herself with another husband, and all the great efforts and movements that Bazarov worked for in his life were fruitless and go unnoticed.

SO WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!?!?!

There are so many layers to this story I don't even know where to begin!

There is, first off, the issue of Nihilism: its sad effects on the characters, whether they were theoretical followers or practicers, whether there is such a thing as true Nihilism at all, and the author's opinion on Nihilism.

Then there is the title: Fathers and Sons. The generational differences and the human interactions that children have with their parents as the younger finally reach adulthood. That awkward stage in life where you try to find you niche.


One could also take the historical route and research the time period in which this book was made. It sounds like a very tumultuous time in Russia. The peasants were rising up, Nihilism was spreading, Russia was trying to stake its place as a European country as opposed to an Asian one. I want to look further into what inspired or pushed Turgenev over the edge into writing this. What message was he trying to get across to his readers? To abolish Nihilism and respect your elders?
More discussion is needed to organize my thoughts and find support in the text.