How do Ivan Turgenev and Jane Austen use narrative techniques to 'show' and 'tell'.

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Compare Elizabeth Bennett in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in their judgments upon their parents.  How do Ivan Turgenev and Jane Austen use narrative techniques to ‘show’ and ‘tell’.

In this essay, I attempt to show that both Elizabeth and Arkady exist in different eras of the century, however, they are not totally affected by the predominant social perceptions widely adopted by the society, namely, values pertaining to marriage, love, beauty of art and nature.  Nonetheless, their social and personal beliefs have affected their judgments upon their parents.  

Both Turgenev and Austen have used various techniques in ‘showing’ and ‘telling’ to capture the reader’s interest as well as enable the reader to understand the viewpoints of each character in the respective passages.

In the first passage, Arkady shows no intention of pretence by replying very promptly yet cheerfully: “Fenechka?” (Turgenev,12).  However, this may have appeared too embarrassing to Nikolai who blushes at the loud announcement of the name.  In fact, Nikolai’s stuttered reply displays that he is indeed self-conscious that probably a man of his age should be dating a young peasant girl of a different social class.

Arkady expresses surprise with a hint of reproach -  “You ought to be ashamed” - that Nikolai should apologise for the inconvenience of appropriate accommodation.  He is actually telling his father that as much as it is unnecessary for him to apologise as moving Fenechka to another room.  To this gentle reproach, Nikolai feels more embarrassed of his own love pursuit and uneasy that Arkady did not “condemn” him.

It would appear that Nikolai is looking forward to disapproval and, perhaps, it might have made him feel better as he could rationalise with his son his need for a companion.  In addition, he could be feeling ashamed because he had misjudged his son.

Sensing that his father is having an awkward time, Arkady has to quickly terminate the conversation on Fenechka.  Despite feeling a sense of triumph at his own maturity and openness, Arkady cannot but feel tenderness toward his “kind and soft-hearted father” (Turgenev, 13).  This reveals that the once close relationship between father and son before Arkady went off for his university education has not dissipated over the years.

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In the second passage, the first paragraph appears to explain the predicament that Mr Bennett is in; being ‘fatigued with the raptures of his wife’ (Austen, 9), he could only seek to comfort himself by indulging in books and the beauty of the countryside when no other suitable pleasures are available to him.  

The second paragraph clearly describes Elizabeth’s dissatisfaction, if not resentment, at her father who has not provided his daughters with a good education so that they could be respectable and suitable for good suitors.  With a very humble annual income, it would have been ...

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