Anna Odintsova - character in the novel “Fathers and Sons” in the table


The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” plays a frankly supporting role. He appears in the plot in order to highlight the spiritual qualities of the protagonist. Bazarov, faced with her cold beauty and sharp mind, multiplied by education, is amazed at this combination. Evgeniy sees in her an example of impeccable female beauty and falls recklessly in love. However, for Odintsova herself, the main character of the novel is just a person who can “occupy” her and help her “not get bored.”

Generally speaking, minor characters in classical literature have one generic characteristic: their personality does not evolve over the course of the book. This is exactly the role Turgenev assigned to this heroine.

Biography

We learn about the rather rich biography of this self-sufficient, wealthy 29-year-old widow, defining her as a static character. The development of her character is similar to what happened with Mrs. O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind. Fortunately, Anna did not survive the war, but she had plenty of trials. Perhaps this is why the image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is different from other ladies presented in the book; it dazzles with feminine beauty and cold masculine reason.

When she was a very young girl, she and her sister Katya were orphaned. Anna had to learn early how to manage the management of her estate. She, a daughter who matured early, was also able to pay off her father’s debts. For her younger sister Katya, Anna replaced her parents. However, she raised her without sentimentality.

Next, the young girl married for convenience to an old hypochondriac man, who left her a rich widow after his death.

Option 2

Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, wife of the wealthy elderly landowner Odintsov. She got married quite early in order to free herself from the snares of poverty. Soon Anna became a widow and took possession of the wealth of her deceased husband.

At 29 years old, Anna has never learned the meaning of love. She got married for selfish reasons; her husband’s feelings were indifferent to her. She was also indifferent to the feelings that other men had for her: Evgeny Bazarov and Arkady Kirsanov.

All her external inaccessibility and self-esteem were expressed literally in everything: in straight posture, tall stature, exquisite clothes on her beautiful, healthy body, neatly styled hair, beauty of her face. She understood that she was quite a beautiful and attractive girl. With people, especially with men, she was sweet, friendly, her easy smile made everyone fall in love with her. She listened attentively to her interlocutor, which is why everyone admired her “beautiful eyes,” which “shone with attention.”

But her only desire and goal in life was to get out of the state of poverty into which her gambler father plunged the family, spending his last money on gambling. Anna did not want to continue such a miserable existence, always looking for where to eat, thinking that “tomorrow” might not come. She needed confidence that she would always have money. But, having achieved her goal, she did not even think about what she should do next, how to enjoy the happiness she had achieved.

Being an aristocrat, she could enjoy all the benefits of an aristocratic life, but she was not happy about it. In a conversation with Bazarov, Anna mentioned: “I’m very tired, I’m old, it seems to me that I’ve been living for a very long time... There are a lot of memories, but there’s nothing to remember, and there’s a long, long road ahead, in front of me, but there’s no goal... I don’t even want to go".

Anna Odintsova is a rather calculating person. Human emotions are alien to her, she does not know how to enjoy the little things in life. She sets herself a big goal and achieves it. Then a crisis occurs in the girl’s soul. She chose this path for herself. Perhaps this is her understanding of life: calmness and the absence of unnecessary emotional turmoil. Her “misfortune” lies in this inability to experience the feeling of love, to reveal herself emotionally. Unfortunately, she will remain like this until the end, having remarried an unloved person, guided by purely practical goals, namely, to ensure a comfortable life for herself in old age.

Appearance and character of Anna Odintsova

The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” embodied the bright, but unspiritualized female beauty (photos of artistic reproductions confirm this).

Turgenev spares no color in his description of the heroine: the lady is tall, with wonderful posture and the appearance of a socialite, with beautiful, intelligent, light eyes. She knows her worth. In conversation, Anna shows insight and natural intelligence, being interested in her interlocutor and forming an opinion about him.

The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons,” outwardly striking and memorable, is only a beautiful wrapper of her gaping spiritual emptiness. The reader is convinced: she really paid dearly for her current well-being. Her heart will never beat faster from love, she is completely devoid of experiences, her feelings are dulled.

Even such a charismatic personality as Evgeny Bazarov, with his ardent passion and recognition, according to Turgenev’s apt observation, only occupied her a little. To his marriage proposal, the lady only vaguely replied that Eugene had misunderstood her. What was her attitude towards him? This is obvious: although it sounds cynical, Eugene was just another toy for this lady. No more.

Essay Characteristics of Anna Odintsova

Anna comes from a noble family, but her father lost his entire fortune. Therefore, Anna spent most of her life in the village, her father lost, and the whole family was forced to live in a small house in the village.

Anna's mother is from a family of impoverished princes. After the death of her parents, Anna managed the household herself. She was lucky, the local rich man Odintsov offered her his hand and heart, thanks to this successful match she became a rich and independent woman.

After the death of her husband, the entire inheritance passed to Anna. She lived a calm, prosperous life and did not strive for anything and did not want anything, since she had everything necessary for life.

Outwardly, the heroine of the work, Anna Odintsova, is a very attractive and beautiful woman with a graceful gait, correct posture and excellent manners. She is very calm, even completely indifferent to everything happening around her.

But this does not prevent Bazarov from falling madly in love with her, but no matter how hard he tried to light a fire of love in Anna with his signs of attention and courtship, nothing worked out for him. Only once did Anna show feelings for her lover, but after some time she again became cold and calm.

Odintsova has a very strong character and the freedom that her wealth provides her. Therefore, having fallen in love with Bazarov, she did not admit it to him, so as not to disturb her measured and calm life.

Her character is freedom-loving, she is proud, and at the same time completely devoid of arrogance. She is completely a new wave noblewoman who fully supports freedom of thought and speech and is frank in her judgments and statements.

Anna is very smart and easily fits into any social circle. In the upper class circle of nobles. She feels just as free and confident in the village among the villagers.

She is very smart, reasonable, decisive, but completely calm and indifferent, she does not care about anything that happens around her. All events cause only short glimpses of curiosity in her.

When meeting with Bazarov, Anna does not have strong feelings for him, he simply entertains her with his conversations, invitations to walks, balls and other events. Anna communicates with him, goes for walks, but does not let him into her heart, but simply has a good and fun time for herself.

In order not to fall in love, Anna Bazarova takes refuge in a special cocoon, which helps her remain the same independent lady living her usual life. As a result, we can conclude that she is incapable of either loving or sympathizing with other people.

She is simply an insensitive and cold person, beautiful and cruel in her indifference at the same time. All her life she does not live, but drags out a miserable existence. Bazarov wanted to awaken her love of life, but he failed.

Using Odintsova, the author shows more clearly and frankly the character and soul of Bazarov, who ultimately abandoned his nihilistic ideas. But Anna remained what she was, lonely and incapable of loving and sympathizing with other people, a cold-blooded woman.

The main goal in life for Anna is to lead a calm, financially prosperous, measured life. Therefore, having rejected Bazarov, she marries a more noble and wealthy man.

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  • It was not by chance that I. S. Turgenev introduced the image of Anna Odintsova into his work. Bazarov had to pass the test of love. Love is the purest, highest and most beautiful feeling; the soul and personality of a person are revealed to it, showing their true qualities.

    At the beginning of the novel, the author introduces us to his hero as a nihilist, a man “who does not bow to any authorities, who does not take a single principle on faith,” for whom romanticism is nonsense and a whim: “Bazarov recognizes only what can be felt hands, see with the eyes, put on the tongue, in a word, only what can be witnessed by one of the five senses.”

    And this man, who denies everything and everyone, falls in love with Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, a rich widow, an intelligent and mysterious woman. At first, the main character drives away this romantic feeling, hiding behind crude cynicism. In a conversation with Arkady, he asks about Odintsova: “What kind of figure is this? She’s not like other women.” From the statement it is clear that she interested Bazarov, but he is trying in every possible way to discredit her in his eyes, comparing her with Kukshina, a vulgar person.

    Odintsova invites both friends to visit her, they agree. Bazarov is trying to be indifferent. He behaves very cheekily in her presence, then he becomes embarrassed, blushes, and Odintsova notices this. On his second visit to Odintsova’s estate, Bazarov is very worried, but tries to restrain himself. He increasingly understands that he has some kind of feeling for Anna Sergeevna, but this does not agree with his beliefs, because love for him is “nonsense, unforgivable nonsense,” a disease. Doubts and anger rage in Bazarov’s soul, his feelings for Odintsova torment and irritate him, but still he dreams of reciprocal love.

    The hero indignantly recognizes the romance in himself. Anna Sergeevna tries to get him to talk about feelings, and he speaks about everything romantic with even greater contempt and indifference.

    Before leaving, Odintsova invites Bazarov to her room, says that she has no purpose or meaning in life, and cunningly extracts a confession from him. The main character says that he loves her “stupidly, madly,” and from his appearance it is clear that he is ready to do anything for her and is not afraid of anything. But for Odintsova this is just a game, she is interested in Bazarov, but she does not love him. The main character in a hurry leaves Odintsova's estate and goes to his parents. There, while helping his father, Bazarov becomes infected with a serious illness. Realizing that he will soon die, he casts aside all doubts and beliefs and sends for Odintsova. Before his death, Bazarov forgives Anna Sergeevna and asks to take care of his parents.

    Bazarov sacrifices everything for the sake of love - his beliefs and views. He is ready for this feeling and is not afraid of responsibility. But here nothing depends on him: he completely surrenders to the feeling that engulfs him, but receives nothing in return - Odintsova is not ready for love, so she pushes Bazarov away.

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    The tragedy of Bazarov’s fate stands out with particular force against the background of the final “simple-minded comedy” of other characters. Hastily, as if carelessly, Turgenev in the epilogue depicts the favorable existence of the Kirsanovs, the inhabitants of Maryino, and Odintsova. His last heartfelt...

The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” plays a frankly supporting role. He appears in the plot in order to highlight the spiritual qualities of the protagonist. Bazarov, faced with her cold beauty and sharp mind, multiplied by education, is amazed at this combination. Evgeniy sees in her an example of impeccable female beauty and falls recklessly in love. However, for Odintsova herself, the main character of the novel is just a person who can “occupy” her and help her “not get bored.”

Generally speaking, minor characters in classical literature have one generic characteristic: their personality does not evolve over the course of the book. This is exactly the role Turgenev assigned to this heroine.

Reason and thrift

The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is distinguished by thriftiness and efficiency. A brief description of her residence on the estate does not remind us of Oblomovka at all. An intelligent, educated woman is seriously involved in both organization and innovation, for which she subscribes to metropolitan scientific journals.

She loves order, she has the toughness to keep her servants in line. She finds idleness boring.

The novel mentions an episode when a young Swedish nobleman who fell in love with Odintsova offered her his hand and heart. The woman hesitated briefly before announcing her refusal. For Anna, a well-established life is of great importance, that is, an estate that she herself has equipped to suit her needs. This is more expensive for this rich widow than romance and uncertainty, even with certain prospects. In short, she prefers “bird in hand.”

Odintsova and her spiritual vacuum

To some extent, the image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons,” a self-sufficient lady, is truly typical in our time. The woman is beautiful, smart, knows how to present herself with dignity...

But she lost something internal, inherent to ladies. The idea lies precisely in a woman’s instinct - to lean on a man’s shoulder, in turn, helping with spiritual warmth. The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is completely devoid of this quality. We will introduce quotes from this work by Turgenev that characterize Anna Odintsova to the readers of the article, first discussing the logic of her actions based on the psychology of the heroine.

Character

Anna received an excellent education, and in the future she only improved it. She read a lot, and, as the author notes, speaks “correct Russian.”

Odintsova is sweet and natural with others, men like her. This woman is full of dignity and knows her worth. She is calm, reasonable, cool-headed. Anna Sergeevna is not capable of truly losing her head from love. Having barely fallen in love with Bazarov, she quickly regains her former peace of mind. However, she is not alien to the sense of beauty. Odintsova loves literature and music.

Over time, Anna Sergeevna’s business spirit awakens. If in her youth she was unable to cope with her father’s estate alone, then after being widowed, she deftly manages the much more substantial estate of her late husband. In addition, Anna is very smart and not very talkative, as is repeatedly indicated in the work.

A positive feature of Anna Sergeevna is her love for Katya. She took part in her fate in every possible way: she took care of her when they were left orphans, taught and raised the girl, introduced her to Arkady Kirsanov, and then blessed their marriage, arriving at the wedding and leaving generous gifts. Concerned about her sister’s fate, she leaves the estate and marries “not out of love, but out of conviction.”

Character Feature

A characteristic feature of the heroine is her preliminary calculation of her upcoming actions and the choice of those that carry a minimum of emotional unrest.


The image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons” is characterized by the heroine’s stay in her special individual comfort zone, the main component of which is a spiritual vacuum. If we take into account her education, tenacious logical and economic mind, then an analogy with a robot suggests itself. A person who deliberately deprives himself of feelings (killing the person inside himself), deserves, rather, compassion.

Attitude towards love

Financial difficulties in childhood and a subsequent arranged marriage turned Anna into a mercantile, calculating person, incapable of real feeling. She cannot afford to marry for love. Eugene also notices this attitude of Anna towards love, telling her that “she wants to love, but she cannot, and this is her misfortune.”

Even having become carried away by Bazarov, she does not dare to change her principles. Despite the fact that these two people have a lot in common, they are interested in the two of them, they have something to talk about, Odintsova does not admit to herself her love for Bazarov and rejects his feelings. Perhaps Bazarov himself is to blame for this, who, during the declaration of love, behaved in such a way that Odintsova was seized with fear. Anna, out of pride, rejects Eugene’s love, thereby, perhaps, depriving herself and his happy future together. Or maybe, on the contrary, by marrying him, she would have deprived herself of peace of mind, which Anna was not ready for.

However, we must give Odintsova credit for her action when she comes to the dying Bazarov to say goodbye to him forever.

At 28 years old, Anna feels empty, an old woman incapable of anything, this is her tragedy. At the end of the novel, the author reports that she will once again marry an unloved but worthy man.

Turgenev's irony

And yet the author of the novel is true to himself. He gradually demonstrates his attitude towards the heroine, introducing slight irony into the image of Odintsova in the novel “Fathers and Sons”. In the reduction in the frequency of attention given to this heroine, in the author’s slipping irony when characterizing Anna, this is manifested in a change in the tone of his comments to openly mocking.

Let us remember the episode when Odintsova comes to see the main character, who is sick with typhus. A characteristic detail is how she handed Bazarov a glass of water as he said goodbye to her - without taking off her gloves (although what should she have just washed her hands afterwards?). Isn’t Odintsova’s image in the novel “Fathers and Sons” becoming similar to “The Man in a Case”? Chekhov's work is most appropriate here for the analogy.

The last time he mentions heroin, the author is also mocking. The ironic hope expressed in the epilogue that, perhaps, love will still awaken in her heart (he first announces her marriage as a matter of convenience) can only make the reader smile.

Appearance

Anna Odintsova is a very beautiful woman. The writer focuses on a special type of her beauty: she was not just an outwardly attractive society lady (there were many of them in the world), but a spiritual, intelligent, deeply sensitive person with a philosophical mindset, which, of course, was reflected in the expression of her face, on her gait, manners, ability to behave in society.

When describing the appearance of the heroine, the author uses such epithets as “fresh”, “pure”, which emphasized not so much external beauty as a rich inner world. Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, whose characteristics of appearance allow us to better understand her character, it is not for nothing that she immediately attracts the attention of the main character, who casually remarks that she is not like other women.

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