Presentation of Arkady as One-Dimensional

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Natasha Frost  World Lit IB1 Mrs Noyes

Characters in plays and novels are usually multi-dimensional. Discuss to what extent this is true of important characters you have studied and comment on the techniques of characterisation used by the author.

Within the text Turgenev’s ‘Fathers and Sons’ Arkady’s personality loses some of its dimension as Turgenev values his impact upon the plot over developing upon his character. As such, he becomes a particularly one-dimensional character. From the very beginning of the text, Turgenev spends less time building him up and he is largely a slightly blurry figurehead. While this blur lends itself rather well to Arkady’s slightly bumbling and complacent mannerisms, we are nonetheless left with the impression that Arkady is more a tool within Turgenev’s writing than a personality in his own right.

Arkady is important within the text as it is only through interaction with him that the other significant characters eventually reach their end; he is necessary in the progression of Bazarov, Anna and Katya. Apart from this, Turgenev also uses him as a symbol for equilibrium. While Bazarov is ranting and raging and generally exercising the liberty that nihilism provides him with, Arkady shies from conflict and overall does little other than follow Bazarov with initial absolute loyalty. Though it is true that, like Bazarov and Anna, Arkady experiences a rite of passage and is forced to question his principles, this journey is significantly more understated and, as such, appears less important.

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As we see throughout the text the importance and reverence Turgenev places upon adapting to change and general balance, Arkady’s ease in moulding to these two seem not so much to be characteristic to him, but more a method of illustrating Turgenev’s respect for these. Arkady’s happy ending as such adds a slightly moralistic aspect to the tone. This, in turn, paints Bazarov’s aptitude, power and passion in a poorer light and contrasts the two characters. This equilibrium, being a slightly less quirky characteristic than, for example, Bazarov’s nihilistic tendencies, does not seem to particularly further our understanding of Arkady. ...

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