Father's and Sons Essay

Which characters in particular, convey distinctive cultural values and how?

Pavel conveys distinctive cultural values on page 16 of the novel when we first meet him. He is immaculately dressed in patent-leather shoes and an English suit, this shows Pavel is more comfortable with Western European culture and prefers its conventions to the cultures of Eastern Europe. His outward appearance is elegant and well bred. Pavel’s first sign of cultural values come out when he greets his nephew first with a European greeting of a handshake, followed by the traditional Russian greeting of three kisses. This shows that Pavel is well educated but is also partial to the culture of the European world. The fact he chose to greet his nephew in both ways shows that conventions and traditions are important to him. Pavel’s values are old fashioned; we know this because when he first meets Bazarov his impressions of him are not high. This is due to the fact that Bazarov has made no effort to look smart for the people he is coming to stay with and is dressed in very casual clothing compared to Pavel. On page 22 Pavel is again immaculately dressed and shows his sense of ‘old-fashioned’ ways when they discuss Bazarov’s Nihilistic views on life and he is astonished as to how Bazarov can contemplate livening without principles, although he shows of his snobbery by saying a phrase in French; showing he is well-educated but also so the servants could not understand him.
Bazarov is the complete opposite to Pavel in nearly all respects, as he has no interest in dressing to presenting himself well. We know this from the mention of his red hands which then was a sign of a manual labour as people of upper classes would wear gloves in order to preserve their delicate hands just as Pavel does and as most men in 1859 would have done. The gloves show Pavel’s snobbery and how he is only wearing them to show the gap between poor and wealthy. During the beginning of the novel we come to know that Bazarov is a Nihilist which means he does not believe in the old traditional values or social conventions, he sees these as weaknesses in a man and that science is the only way forward. Bazarov is not one to show feelings; he finds romance and poetry a waste of time. His philosophical views are very different from those of Pavel; who relishes in them and regards them as a part of his history. Bazarov is obsessed with the “new age” and thinks he can be the one to make a change in the world, which is why he thinks love, commitment and to an extent friendship is a waste of time. All his cultural values are towards science and investigation. He is set on everything else as being a waste of time. Bazarov not believing in social conventions comes across as very rude; this is shown in the beginning of the book on page 13 when he interrupts Nikolai and Arkady’s conversation to ask Arkady if he wanted a cigar.
The complete clash in values of Pavel and Bazarov make it easier to understand the difference between generations for the reader. On one hand you have Pavel who is brought up liking poetry and on the other you have Bazarov who thinks it is a waste of time and that science is the only way forward; Bazarov who was brought up with devout parents and a father that was a local village doctor had romantic themes to his childhood although he has gone in completely the opposite direction to his mother and father.
The tension between Bazarov and Pavel

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