Fathers and Sons

by

Ivan Turgenev

Nature Symbol Icon

In Fathers and Sons, nature symbolizes the enduring, irrepressible vitality of the world. Turgenev uses nature in this way as a pointed critique of nihilism, which views the natural world as a mechanical force that can be dissected and used at will. The latter view is summed up when Bazarov tells Arkady, “nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man’s the workman in it.” Bazarov embodies this perspective throughout the story as he dissects frogs, studies beetles, and regards human beings as specimens, not as individuals worth knowing and loving. However, Turgenev often uses moving descriptions of the natural world to implicitly mock such an outlook, as when Nikolai Kirsanov gazes across his fields: “a few late-homing bees hummed lazily and drowsily among the lilac; swarms of midges hung like a cloud over a single far-projecting branch. ‘O Lord, how beautiful it is!’ [he] thought,” even as he recalls Arkady’s foolish attempt to school him in materialist writings. Nature is even awarded the novel’s final word, as the flowers decorating Bazarov’s grave declare that life is in some sense eternal, defying scientific understanding: “the vast repose of ‘indifferent’ nature [tells] us, too, of everlasting reconciliation and of life which has no end.”

Nature Quotes in Fathers and Sons

The Fathers and Sons quotes below all refer to the symbol of Nature. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Tradition and Progress Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

“And there’s no doubt these good peasants are taking your father in properly: you know the saying – ‘the Russian peasant will get the better of God himself.’”

“I begin to agree with my uncle,” remarked Arkady. “You certainly have a poor opinion of Russians.”

“As if that mattered! The only good thing about a Russian is the poor opinion he has of himself. What is important is that two and two make four, and the rest is just trivial.”

“And is nature trivial?” said Arkady, staring thoughtfully at the parti-coloured fields in the distance, beautiful in the soft light of the setting sun.

“Nature, too, is trivial, in the sense you give to it. Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man’s the workman in it.”

Related Characters: Arkady Nikolayevich Kirsanov (speaker), Yevgeny Vassilyich Bazarov (speaker), Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov
Related Symbols: Nature
Page Number: 116
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

The rays of the sun on the farther side fell full on the clump of trees and, piercing their foliage, threw such a warm light on the aspen trunks that they looked like pines and their leaves were almost dark blue, while above them rose an azure sky, tinged by the red glow of sunset. Swallows flew high; the wind had quite died down; a few late-homing bees hummed lazily and drowsily among the lilac; swarms of midges hung like a cloud over a single far-projecting branch. “O Lord, how beautiful it is!” thought Nikolai Petrovich, and his favourite verses almost rose to his lips when he remembered Arkady’s Stoff und Kraft - and he restrained himself; but he still sat there, surrendering himself to the mournful consolation of solitary thought.

Related Characters: Arkady Nikolayevich Kirsanov, Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov
Related Symbols: Nature
Page Number: 131
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

“And so you have no feeling whatsoever for art?” she said, leaning her elbow on the table, a movement which brought her face closer to Bazarov. “How can you get on without it?”

“Why, what is it needed for, may I ask?”

“Well, at least to help one to know and understand people.”

Bazarov smiled. “In the first place, experience of life does that, and in the second, I assure you the study of separate individuals is not worth the trouble it involves. All men are similar, in soul as well as in body. Each of us has a brain, spleen, heart and lungs of similar construction; and the so-called moral qualities are the same in all of us - the slight variations are of no importance. It is enough to have one single human specimen in order to judge all the others. People are like trees in a forest: no botanist would dream of studying each individual birchtree.”

Related Characters: Yevgeny Vassilyich Bazarov (speaker), Madame Anna Sergeyevna Odintsov (speaker)
Related Symbols: Nature
Page Number: 160
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Supporting each other, they walk with heavy steps; they go up to the iron railing, fall on their knees and weep long and bitterly, and long and yearningly they gaze at the silent stone beneath which their son is lying; exchanging a brief word, they brush the dust from the stone, set a branch of a fir-tree right, and then resume their prayers, unable to tear themselves away from the place where they feel nearer to their son, to their memories of him.... But are those prayers of theirs, those tears, all fruitless? Is their love, their hallowed selfless love, not omnipotent? Oh yes! However passionate, sinful and rebellious the heart hidden in the tomb, the flowers growing over it peep at us serenely with their innocent eyes; they speak to us not only of eternal peace, of the vast repose of ‘indifferent’ nature: they tell us, too, of everlasting reconciliation and of life which has no end.

Related Characters: Yevgeny Vassilyich Bazarov, Vassily Ivanych Bazarov, Arina Vlassyevna Bazarov
Related Symbols: Nature
Page Number: 295
Explanation and Analysis:
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Nature Symbol Timeline in Fathers and Sons

The timeline below shows where the symbol Nature appears in Fathers and Sons. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
Tradition and Progress Theme Icon
Nature vs. Materialism Theme Icon
...rest is just trivial.” Arkady, admiring the surrounding fields in the setting sun, asks if nature is “trivial,” too. Bazarov says yes, that “nature is not a temple, but a workshop,... (full context)
Chapter 11
Tradition and Progress Theme Icon
Nature vs. Materialism Theme Icon
Generational Conflict Theme Icon
...advantage over his generation—perhaps their distance from “the serf-owning mentality.” Yet the nihilist rejection of nature confounds him. Looking across his fields, Nikolai thinks “O Lord, how beautiful it is!” and... (full context)
Chapter 17
Nature vs. Materialism Theme Icon
Love vs. Nihilism Theme Icon
...his time with Katya, not noticing how much they enjoy the same things, such as nature. Bazarov talks to Arkady less than before. (full context)