Analysis of the scene at the haystack (based on the novel by I.S. Turgenev “Fathers and Sons”)

Turgenev began work on the novel in early August 1860, and finished it in July 1861. The novel appeared in the February book of the Russian Messenger magazine for 1862. “Fathers and Sons” is a work that reflected an entire stage in the historical development of Russia in the second half of the 19th century.

The novel takes place in 1859, and the epilogue tells about the events that occurred after the abolition of serfdom. One of the most important historical phenomena of this time was the struggle of bourgeois-noble liberalism with the democrats. This conflict served as the basis for Turgenev's novel. The writer’s close interest in the man of the 60s determined not only the plot, but also the composition of the work. The central place in the novel is occupied by the image of Yevgeny Bazarov, a representative of revolutionary democracy. Like Chatsky in “Woe from Wit,” the main character is sharply opposed to all the characters. He is a person from a different environment, and this is manifested in his views, words, in relationships with parents, friends, and his beloved woman.

The episode “The Scene at the Haystack” is located approximately in the middle of the novel. In this scene, Bazarov comes into conflict with his friend Arkady. Here both Bazarov’s character and Kirsanov’s true views are revealed.

The action takes place on the estate of Bazarov's parents. The scene at the haystack is the moment from which Evgeny Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov, being friends, began to move away from each other. Misunderstanding and even some kind of enmity arises between the heroes. If before this Arkady agreed with Bazarov on everything (even in words and not in his soul), now he enters into an argument with him.

The episode has its own composition; plot elements stand out in it. The exhibition is a landscape sketch of a hot summer afternoon, causing a state of drowsiness and boredom. The heroes are resting in the shade of a haystack. The beginning is the beginning of a dialogue between young people about Bazarov’s childhood and parents. A dialogue develops, the conversation turns to love and hate, about what a real person should be, according to Bazarov. The tension between the characters increases due to the difference of opinions. The climax comes, the young people are ready to fight - Arkady is joking and timid, seeing Bazarov’s serious and ominous face, and Bazarov is fully prepared for the upcoming fight. The denouement of the action is the appearance of Vasily Ivanovich, Bazarov’s father, who relieves the tension of the situation with his good-natured phrase: “Ah! This is where you got to!”

This episode shows that Arkady and Evgeny are completely different people, both in attitude to life and in social status. Bazarov is a democrat commoner, but Arkady still joins the liberal camp of his aristocratic relatives.

The heroes are depicted in comparison and contrast to each other - not as representatives of the same ideological direction, but as bearers and preachers of different truths. Bazarov has not changed since the day he first met the reader. Arkady, on the contrary, changes his position, taking his uncle’s side and even saying in his words: “To listen to you today, you will inevitably agree with those who reproach us for the lack of principles.”

Evgeny Bazarov, seeing the hesitant Arkady, calls him a weakling, a gentle soul. He reveals timidity and indecisiveness, weakness and lack of self-confidence in a friend. Arkady really occupies a weak position. He is insecure and timid, he cannot defend his opinion with the same firmness and indifferent assertiveness as Bazarov.

“You are a gentle soul, a weakling... You are timid, you have little hope for yourself,” Bazarov says to Arkady. But he himself manifests this same timidity in his attitude towards Odintsova. “There are no principles at all..., but there are sensations,” insists Evgeniy, but for some time now this hero has also developed principles, in the name of which he decided to come to terms with himself and with his “romanticism.”

Bazarov’s rudeness and categoricalness, cynicism and aggression are revealed in each of his remarks: “He didn’t break himself, so a woman won’t break him!”, “A real person is one about whom there is nothing to think, but whom one must obey or hate,” “Whatever slander blame a person, he, in essence, deserves twenty times worse than that,” “Speaking beautifully is indecent.” At the end of it all, the hero calls Pavel Petrovich an idiot.

Arkady listens to his friend with alarm and indignation, trying to refute his opinion. Despite the fact that Arkady is less self-confident, in this episode he is fairer and more honest than Bazarov. Kirsanov no longer deceives himself or his friend by expressing his disagreement with him.

The main artistic device used in this episode is antithesis. The significance of the episode lies in the fact that it shows the wavering views of both heroes: both Arkady and Bazarov. The latter, feeling the anxiety awakened by the widow Odintsova, cannot restrain himself and takes it out on his friend. An example of this is his rude and aggressive statements. This shows the anger and tragedy of the hero: he is lonely, he has no love, no friends, no like-minded people.

In the scene at the haystack we hear Bazarov's most harsh, paradoxical and simply unfair attacks. But is it because they sound unbearably hard for him? Everything irritates him - both his parents and Arkady with his beautiful words and banal thoughts. Perhaps, at the moment of mental catastrophe, when a friendly hand and an understanding interlocutor are so needed, it is especially difficult for the hero to realize his loneliness? Bazarov understands that he doesn’t have a friend, that his interlocutor does not understand him and cannot understand, that he is alone in the whole world with his pain and melancholy.

Turgenev began work on the novel in early August 1860, and finished it in July 1861. The novel appeared in the February book of the Russian Messenger magazine for 1862. “Fathers and Sons” is a work that reflected an entire stage in the historical development of Russia in the second half of the 19th century.

The novel takes place in 1859, and the epilogue tells about the events that occurred after the abolition of serfdom. One of the most important historical phenomena of this time was the struggle of bourgeois-noble liberalism with the democrats. This conflict served as the basis for Turgenev's novel. The writer’s close interest in the man of the 60s determined not only the plot, but also the composition of the work. The central place in the novel is occupied by the image of Yevgeny Bazarov, a representative of revolutionary democracy. Like Chatsky in “Woe from Wit,” the main character is sharply opposed to all the characters. He is a person from a different environment, and this is manifested in his views, words, relationships with parents, friends, and his beloved woman.

The episode “The Scene at the Haystack” is located approximately in the middle of the novel. In this scene, Bazarov comes into conflict with his friend Arkady. Here both Bazarov’s character and Kirsanov’s true views are revealed.

The action takes place on the estate of Bazarov's parents. The scene at the haystack is the moment from which Evgeny Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov, being friends, began to move away from each other. Misunderstanding and even some kind of enmity arises between the heroes. If before this Arkady agreed with Bazarov on everything (even in words and not in his soul), now he enters into an argument with him.

The episode has its own composition; plot elements stand out in it. The exhibition is a landscape sketch of a hot summer afternoon, causing a state of drowsiness and boredom. The heroes are resting in the shade of a haystack. The beginning is the beginning of a dialogue between young people about Bazarov’s childhood and parents. A dialogue develops, the conversation turns to love and hatred, about what a real person should be, according to Bazarov. The tension between the characters increases due to the difference of opinions. The climax comes, the young people are ready to fight - Arkady is joking and timid, seeing Bazarov’s serious and ominous face, and Bazarov is fully prepared for the upcoming fight. The denouement of the action is the appearance of Vasily Ivanovich, Bazarov’s father, who relieves the tension of the situation with his good-natured phrase: “Ah! This is where you got to!”

This episode shows that Arkady and Evgeny are completely different people, both in attitude to life and in social status. Bazarov is a democrat commoner, but Arkady still joins the liberal camp of his aristocratic relatives.

The heroes are depicted in comparison and contrast to each other - not as representatives of the same ideological direction, but as bearers and preachers of different truths. Bazarov has not changed since the day he first met the reader. Arkady, on the contrary, changes his position, taking the side of his uncle and even saying in his words: “To listen to you today, you will inevitably agree with those who reproach us for the lack of principles.”

Evgeny Bazarov, seeing the hesitant Arkady, calls him a weakling, a gentle soul. He reveals timidity and indecisiveness, weakness and lack of self-confidence in a friend. Arkady really occupies a weak position. He is unsure and timid, he cannot defend his opinion with the same firmness and indifferent assertiveness as Bazarov.

However, the author cannot take the side of Bazarov, who treats Arkady rudely, as if taking out on his friend his inner anxiety and pain associated with the appearance of Anna Sergeevna Odintsova in his life.

“You are a gentle soul, a weakling... You are timid, you have little hope for yourself,” Bazarov says to Arkady. But he himself manifests this same timidity in his attitude towards Odintsova. “There are no principles at all..., but there are sensations,” insists Evgeniy, but for some time now this hero has also developed principles, in the name of which he decided to come to terms with himself and with his “romanticism.”

Bazarov’s rudeness and categoricalness, cynicism and aggression are revealed in each of his remarks: “He didn’t break himself, so a woman won’t break him!”, “A real person is one about whom there is nothing to think, but whom one must obey or hate,” “Whatever slander put it on a person, he, in essence, deserves twenty times worse than that,” “Speaking beautifully is indecent.” At the end of it all, the hero calls Pavel Petrovich an idiot.

Arkady listens to his friend with alarm and indignation, trying to refute his opinion. Despite the fact that Arkady is less self-confident, in this episode he is fairer and more honest than Bazarov. Kirsanov no longer deceives himself or his friend by expressing his disagreement with him.

The main artistic device used in this episode is antithesis. The significance of the episode lies in the fact that it shows the wavering views of both heroes: both Arkady and Bazarov. The latter, feeling the anxiety awakened by the widow Odintsova, cannot restrain himself and takes it out on his friend. An example of this is his rude and aggressive statements. This shows the anger and tragedy of the hero: he is lonely, he has no love, no friends, no like-minded people.

In the scene at the haystack we hear Bazarov's most harsh, paradoxical and simply unfair attacks. But is it because they sound unbearably hard for him? Everything irritates him - both his parents and Arkady with his beautiful words and banal thoughts. Perhaps, at the moment of mental catastrophe, when a friendly hand and an understanding interlocutor are so needed, it is especially difficult for the hero to realize his loneliness? Bazarov understands that he doesn’t have a friend, that his interlocutor does not understand him and cannot understand, that he is alone in the whole world with his pain and melancholy.

The author ends the episode with the words: “But no friendship can withstand such clashes for long,” thereby emphasizing that the friendship between the heroes ended from that day on.

Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” depicts the era of the 60s of the 19th century, when significant changes were brewing in Russian life. At this time, a new type of progressive figure was being formed in Russia - a democrat commoner. The central place in the novel is occupied by the figure of a new man - Evgeny Bazarov. He is one of those young figures of the era who “want to fight.” People of the older generation who do not share new beliefs are portrayed by Turgenev as weak, and there are many “traces of nobility” in them.

But the young generation is also presented in the novel as heterogeneous. Bazarov and Arkady are friends, they receive the same education, and at first it seems that their views on life also coincide. However, their relationship still cannot be called friendship, because friendship is impossible without mutual understanding, it cannot be based on the subordination of one to the other. Throughout the entire novel, a weak nature (Arkady) submits to a stronger one (Bazarov). The difference between the heroes is visible in their behavior on the Kirsanov estate. Bazarov is working, Arkady is sybaritizing. Bazarov is a man of action.

The main thing for him is the natural sciences, the study of nature and testing theoretical knowledge in practice. Passion for natural sciences is a typical feature of the cultural life of Russia in the 60s. Bazarov and Arkady express completely different opinions in relation to art. Bazarov denies Pushkin, says that Raphael is not worth a penny.

Arkady appreciates and loves literature. On the way to the estate, he and his father read Pushkin by heart: How sad your appearance is to me, Spring, spring, time of love! Arkady is always neat, well dressed, and has aristocratic manners.

Bazarov wears a “long robe with tassels,” and when meeting Pavel Petrovich, “he didn’t shake his hand and even put it back in his pocket.” A major disagreement arose between Bazarov and Arkady in a conversation about the role of nature in human life. “Nature is not a temple, but a workshop,” says Bazarov. Already here, Arkady’s resistance to Bazarov’s views is visible, gradually the “student” leaves the power of the “teacher.” The culminating point of the development of the conflict between the heroes is the dispute “in a haystack” (Chapter XXI). “You are a gentle soul, a slob,” says Bazarov, realizing that their paths with Arkady diverge. “You’re a nice guy, but you’re still a soft, liberal gentleman.” The further fates of the heroes develop differently.

Arkady continues the traditions of his family; even the weddings of father and son Kirsanov took place on the same day. Bazarov dies from blood poisoning. “Russia needs me...

No, apparently it’s not needed.” Pisarev very accurately assesses the reasons for the disagreements between Bazarov and Arkady: “Bazarov’s attitude towards his comrade casts a bright streak of light on his character; Bazarov has no friend, because he has not yet met a person who would not give in to him. Bazarov’s personality closes in on itself, because outside of it and around it there are almost no elements that are joyful to it.” The work of I. S. Turgenev was written in 1860-1861.

The basis of this novel is the social conflict between the “fathers,” that is, the “past century,” and the “children,” the “present century.” The main characters of Turgenev's work are Evgeny Vasilyevich Bazarov and Arkady Nikolaevich Kirsanov. At first glance we see that these two images are very similar. Indeed, both heroes are young (about the same age, although Evgeniy Vasilyevich is older than Kirsanov), both study at the same university. Both Arkady and Bazarov are representatives of the same ideological circle, the nihilists, from which it is clear that they both share the same moral beliefs and principles.

It would seem that Arkady and Bazarov have the same paths (that is, moral principles), but in fact their ideology differs, since Arkady belongs to the “past century”, and Bazarov is a representative of the “present century”. First of all, Bazarov and Arkady have different social backgrounds.

The Kirsanovs belong to a family of wealthy noble aristocrats, while Evgeniy Vasilyevich “comes from” a rather poor commoner family. Different social status leaves an imprint on the character and ideological beliefs of Bazarov and Arkady. From early childhood, Kirsanov was accustomed to care and love, as his parents did everything to ensure that Arkady lived calmly and happily. “The couple lived well and quietly... and Arkady grew and grew - also well and quietly.” This is why Arkady is drawn home to see his father and he is sincerely glad to be back from university. “Arkady spoke in a somewhat hoarse, but sonorous youthful voice, cheerfully responding to his father’s caresses.”

Bazarov, on the contrary, grew up to be an independent person, since he left home in his youth and got used to living without parental care. When meeting them, Evgeny Vasilyevich does not experience much joy, and he is annoyed by his parents’ affections. Bazarov constantly interrupts his father and tells Arkady about him as “a very funny old man and the kindest... He talks a lot.” Bazarov feels superior to his parents. In some way, he even despises them, since he cannot understand how they “don’t stink of their own insignificance.” This attitude towards his relatives is strongly influenced by Bazarov’s beliefs.

By nature, Evgeny Vasilyevich is a nihilist, that is, a person who has no principles, does not adhere to any beliefs and denies everything. Nihilists do only what is beneficial and useful to them. “We act on what we recognize as useful. At the present time, denial is the most useful thing - we deny. Building is no longer our business...

First we need to clear the place.” Bazarov does not even recognize art. In his opinion, all this is “romanticism, nonsense, nonsense,” and Raphael and other great artists “are not worth a penny.” Bazarov’s principles are not a mask, since even before death, at the moment when people sum up their whole life, Evgeny Vasilyevich does not give up his convictions, although he understands that he has done nothing for the benefit of humanity and has achieved nothing, since his time has not yet come. “And I also thought: I’ll screw up a lot of things... after all, I’m a giant! And now the giant’s whole task is to die decently...

Russia needs me... No, apparently I don’t.” Arkady is a follower of Bazarov. He admires and worships his friend.

He is trying with all his might to be like him, which is why he “puts on” the principles and beliefs of Evgeniy Vasilyevich - Arkady “is on his own, and the beliefs dangle by themselves” (D. I. Pisarev). An example of this is Arkady’s meeting with his father. Kirsanov is sincerely glad to be returning home, but he tries to hide his feelings from Bazarov and takes on an indifferent appearance. “...Arkady, who, despite the sincere, almost childish joy that filled him, wanted to quickly turn the conversation from an excited mood to an ordinary one.”

Arkady loves poetry and sometimes doesn't mind daydreaming. He speaks beautifully and floridly, while his friend is always laconic. “Oh my friend, Arkady Nikolaevich! - exclaimed Bazarov. “...Don’t talk nicely.”

Ahead of Arkady lies a quiet family life with his wife Katya, because he is a typical gentleman and will continue the traditions of his grandfather and father. Bazarov himself understands this and calls Kirsanov “a soft, liberal barich who cannot go beyond noble humility or noble boiling.” Thus, we see that in fact the beliefs of Arkady Nikolaevich Kirsanov are just a mask, so he can theoretically be attributed to the “camp of the fathers,” while Bazarov is a true nihilist and “a democrat to the tips of his nails” (I.S.

Analysis of the scene of the conversation between Bazarov and Arkady under a haystack
in the work of I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons"
In the mid-19th century, a large number of progressive youth appeared in Russia, and the eternal conflict between “fathers and sons” intensified. At this turning point, I.S. Turgenev wrote his novel “Fathers and Sons.” In the composition of the work, Bazarov’s conversation with Arkady under a haystack occupies one of the key places. It is here that Bazarov expresses his attitude towards life, death, the essence of being.
Eugene pronounces the following monologue here: “The narrow place that I occupy is so tiny in comparison with the rest of the space, where I am not and no one cares about me, and the part of the time that I will be able to live is so insignificantly small compared to eternity, where I was not and will not be ... And in this atom, in this mathematical point, the blood circulates, the brain works, it also wants something... What kind of disgrace? What kind of nonsense? Thus, all philosophy, all revolutionary ideas suddenly turn out to be just a special case, a speck of dust in the face of eternity.
Finding himself under the influence of a spontaneous feeling, Bazarov felt the insignificance of human existence before eternity. From the microscope he was drawn to the telescope, to looking at the sky, although he himself, mocking the romantics, said that he looked at the sky only when he wanted to sneeze.
Bazarov reflects on human insignificance before the endless cosmos. He is not consoled by the judgment of man as a “thinking reed”, who, the only one of all creatures on earth, is given the opportunity to realize the greatness of the Universe and his own insignificance before it. This is how Bazarov’s rebellion against the very foundations of existence begins. The fatal questions of spontaneity and drama, love and knowledge, the meaning of life and the mystery of death no longer receive answers for the hero in the study of natural sciences; it is no coincidence that he is drawn to philosophy. The previous view of man as an unchanging biological entity now turned out to be powerless in the face of the complexity of human existence. Feeling his insignificance in front of nature and space, Bazarov reconsiders his attitude towards social progress, as evidenced by his tirade about burdock.
Bazarov felt the absurdity of existence, the insignificance of man before the elemental forces of nature. Eugene's rebellion is his embitterment, irritation, his constant thoughts about death. This explains behavior like risky movement near a precipice, an “abyss.” The hero loses his sense of permission, wants to look beyond which a mere mortal cannot look.
Bazarov begins to think about human weakness in front of the blind forces of nature, about the inevitability of death, thoughts about which allow us to evaluate the essence of human life in a new way. Before us is a different person, not the former cold nihilist who was eager to fight, “to break more wood,” to rebuild the world for himself. New Bazarov begins to think about the mystery of life, but it cannot be explained by any materialistic theories.

Having shown in his novel “Fathers and Sons” the type of the new hero, the democrat-raznochinsky, materialist and nihilist Bazarov, I.S. Turgenev also shows that, like any thinking person, the hero cannot remain in the same positions under different circumstances of his life. Bazarov is not a blind fanatic of an idea, not a dogmatist; he is also capable of doubting, worrying, and being disappointed. Defeat in love was the first blow for the hero. He, who denied all romantic feelings like a boy, confessed his love to Anna Sergeevna, but she refused his love, fearing for her peace of mind and comfort. Bazarov's pride was so wounded that this became the beginning of his mental crisis, a period of grave doubts and self-doubt. The scene at the haystack is evidence of this mental crisis. Bazarov and Arkady are relaxing at the estate with Bazarov’s parents. Osipa, on the edge of a hole left over from a brick barn, reminds Bazarov of his childhood and involuntarily makes him regret the former halcyon times. “I didn’t realize then that I didn’t miss being a kid.” He is bored in his parents' house, their petty household concerns are alien to him. What worries Bazarov himself? “...The narrow place that I occupy is so tiny in comparison with the rest of the space where I am not and where there is nothing to do with me; and the part of the time that I manage to live is so insignificant before eternity, where I have not been and will not be...” The feeling of his own insignificance and uselessness in this world makes the hero doubt his destiny. What is the meaning of his life and work, what will remain after him? If the peasant “Philip will live in a white hut, and I will grow into a burdock,” will this make it easier for the hero? Going out of your way for a man who “won’t even say thank you”, is this the meaning of the revolutionary democratic movement? Bazarov is not confident in his abilities, and the only thing he can be proud of is the fact that “he didn’t break himself, so the woman won’t break me.” Denying the “deaf life that the “fathers” lead here, Bazarov cannot oppose anything to it. To Arkady’s question, on which side is the truth, Bazarov says that he can answer, “like an echo: where?” He denies human morality, reducing everything to the power of primitive sensations: “Why do I like chemistry? Why do you love apples? also by virtue of sensation.” He denies humanity a deeper knowledge of the world: “People still won’t penetrate deeper than this.” And the nonsense that he talks about Pushkin and supposedly about his poems shows how one-sided his natural science education is. The scene ends with a disagreement with Arkady, when the hearts of both young people are seized by “some almost hostile feeling.” Arkady protests against “despotism” for the first time! Bazarov, laughing at his “beautiful” phrase. He is outraged that Bazarov called his uncle an idiot, and not only out of family feeling, but also out of a sense of justice. If Bazarov's father had not appeared, the friends might have fought. Eugene’s tactlessness and unceremoniousness hurts Arkady’s feelings, which once again confirms that they are initially alien to each other. “No friendship can withstand such clashes for long,” says the author. This episode reveals more deeply both the turning point in Bazarov’s worldview and the inevitability of differences with Arkady. Bazarov has nothing more to achieve in this life, and his absurd death will not be an accident; it is a logical ending, which the author considers the only one worthy of an extraordinary hero.