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Chapter 21
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
The friends journey in silence, Bazarov not entirely pleased with himself and Arkady displeased with him. When they stop to change horses, Arkady suggests that they go back to Nikolskoye, even though they both feel it’s foolish.
Arkady is less and less inclined to automatically defer to Bazarov’s view of things. Conscious of the rift, Arkady falls back on Nikolskoye as a comforting alternative, though he doesn’t seem fully aware of what’s drawing him back there.
Themes
When they arrive at Madame Odintsov’s, they’re obviously not expected. When Anna finally joins them, she seems surprised and half-hearted at their arrival. They hastily assure her that they will be on their way within four hours. When Katya doesn’t emerge from her room, Arkady realizes that he had been just as eager to see her as to see Anna. They spend the time in “desultory conversation” and then make haste for Maryino.
The friends receive a cold welcome at Nikolskoye—unsurprising, given the terms on which Bazarov parted with his would-be lover. It begins to dawn on Arkady that Katya is special to him. However, they take the hint and leave quickly.
Themes
At the Kirsanovs’, everyone is overjoyed at the men’s return. The household feasts late into the night. But while they’d been gone, Nikolai’s life on the farm had been filled with “dreary, futile difficulties.” His hired laborers are troublesome, and the work is poorly done. The bailiff is growing fat and lazy, and the peasants keep quarreling. Nikolai is beginning to despair that, absent the threat of punishment, the peasants cannot be managed.
In contrast to the heartrending departure from the Bazarovs, the Kirsanovs celebrate the friends’ homecoming. But Nikolai feels unequal to the demands of managing the newly emancipated serfs. Even though Nikolai is sincerely reformist in outlook, the realities of progress seem to demand more than good intentions—a small concession to Bazarov’s rejection of old-fashioned liberals like Nikolai.
Themes
Bazarov immerses himself once again in his dissections and chemical experiments. Arkady, meanwhile, tries to take in interest in his father’s concerns. The prospect of a farming life is not distasteful to him, but he is mostly preoccupied with thoughts of Nikolskoye. He had never thought he would feel bored under the same roof as Bazarov. One day Nikolai mentions some letters that had been sent to his wife by Madame Odintsov’s mother, and Arkady won’t rest until his father rummages through 20 different boxes to find them. Restless but shy, Arkady holds off for about 10 days after their arrival at Maryino, but then gallops off toward Nikolskoye, on the pretext of studying Sunday schools.
Arkady’s openness to farming suggests that, after some time away and exposure to several different lifestyles, he’s warmed somewhat to his father’s way of life. He’s also growing weary of Bazarov’s formerly stimulating presence. Arkady gives a flimsy excuse (studying Sunday schools, presumably a reforming effort among freed serfs) to get away from Bazarov and back to the women at Nikolskoye.
Themes
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As soon as his horses reach Nikolskoye, Arkady spots Katya and jumps out to greet her. She blushes with surprise and delight at the sight of him. Arkady “was so delighted to see her that she might have been someone close to his heart.” When they find Anna Sergeyevna, he tells her that he’s brought her a surprise (the letters), and she tells him that bringing himself is better than anything else.
Arkady is surprised how excited he is to see Katya, since he’s still in denial that she’s the object of his heart, not Anna. Now that he’s out from under Bazarov’s shadow, he will have room to become better acquainted with his own feelings.
Themes
