Basarov's And Emma's Approaches To Life example essay topic

A Comparison Of Romance In Madame Bovary Comparison Of Romance In Madame Bovary And Fa the Drugs are an escape. The millions of drug users in the world today are searching for one thing: release from the toils of everyday life. Drugs hold the key to a different world. They allow your mind to venture out and away from reality for a time; a mental vacation, if you will. So why the sigma that goes along with drug use in today's society?

Because a user tends to take "extended vacations' into this altered reality while still existing and retaining her everyday responsibilities. She will eventually forget these responsibilities, as they hold no significance in her altered reality, hurting friends and family and even herself in the process. There is another side to this argument, however: that of abstinence. A person refuses to subject himself to the altered reality; views it as impractical and destructive. He denies himself the experience of internal release and escape, even for a short time. He comes across as cold, condescending, and contemptuous of those who partake in the altered state.

Basarov in Fathers & Sons and Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary both fit nicely into these extreme circumstances, with the altered reality in their case being one of romance and emotion, induced not by narcotic, but by one's own misguided thoughts and emotions. And by the end of their respective novels, each will have to come to terms with their decisions in dealing with the drug of romanticism. Basarov, through most of the novel, is the personification of abstinence. He is introduced as a nihilist, "a person who does not take any principle for granted, however much that principle may be revered' (94). He denies the existence of anything that cannot be verified by empirical methods. To him, the world in one big laboratory, with laws waiting to be defined by experimentation and reasoning according to cold hard facts.

A great deal of his time is spent in such experimentation. He is a doctor, educated in the sciences at the university in Petersburg, and applies his learning regularly during his nature walks at Maryino and with Madame Odintsov. He also exhibits other, less laudable characteristics as a result of his approach to life. Basically, he has trouble getting along with people. His arrogance and aloofness, especially in dealing with the "provincial aristocrats' (Pavel and Nikolai Petrovich), cause much conflict and ill will at Maryino: " [Pavel] regarded him as an arrogant, impudent fellow, a cynic and a vulgarian. He suspected that Basarov all but despised him.

Nikolai Petrovich was slightly apprehensive of the young ' nihilist' and was doubtful whether his influence on Arkady was desirable' (117). Basarov detaches himself from people throughout the book, apparently unable to feel closeness or compassion or love for anyone, from his loyal attendant, Arkady, to his loving parents back home. Even in his arguments with Pavel he is detached, seeming uninterested in the matter at hand, replying curtly and often without even acknowledging his adversary. He denies all his emotions, skates along the icy, quantitative, outwardly observable surface of life, never delving into the metaphysical, impulsive, passionate depths hidden beneath.

But even the meticulous and scientific Basarov cracks the ice once in a while. Emma Bovary, on the other hand, has broken clean through the surface and is drowning in the waters of her own passion and addiction to romance. Her emotions have been working overtime ever since first picked up a romantic novel at the convent at which she was educated as a child. As Mademoiselle Emma on her father's farm in the town of Les Bert aux, she dreams of romance and extravagance, of escape from the boredom of the country, of "a husband wearing a long black velvet cloak, a sugar-loaf and fancy cuffs!' (35). What she ended up getting was Charles Bovary, a man who, by Emma's standards, "taught nothing, knew nothing, wanted nothing' (35). After the short-lived romance leading up to and immediately following her marriage to Charles, Emma quickly grew withdrawn and resentful of her mundane situation.

She longed for another dose of passion; a quick injection of romance to spice up her ever-monotonous life. Her relief came in the form of Rodolphe, a shrewd, self-confidant suitor of the country gentry. After a calculated courtship on the part of Rodolphe, Emma, her good judgment clouded by her powerful desire for love and excitement, falls for him completely, referring to the relationship as an "eternal union' (147). In order to further enhance and reinforce her vision of a reality filled with romance, she spends a great deal of money on gifts and furnishing for her house, thus acquiring a rather large debt. Rodolphe, meanwhile, grows tired of her excessive sentimentality and dependence and eventually decides to leave her. After his departure, Emma slips into a state of serious withdrawal, during which she is bed-ridden for forty-three days.

Later, Emma finds herself having to pay for debts acquired during the time she was so blindly addicted to love. Responsibilities of the real world remain long after her extravagant yet illusory reality has collapsed But will she plunge back into the depths of her altered state or finally crawl back to the cold, hard surface that is reality? – Basarov's and Emma's approaches to life, though very different, turned out to be equally destructive. Basarov gets his first taste of emotion and love when he encounters Madame Anna Sergeyevna Odintsov, a bright, beautiful woman with "a magnificent body,' yet nearly as emotionally detached and aloof as Basarov himself (155). Immediately upon meeting her, he starts making all kinds of surprising gestures and expressions, from discomfort and embarrassment at first site, to efforts to impress and interest her, to finally blushing as he departs. Although he doesn't realize it at first, Basarov has finally felt the lure of romance.

Emma, on the other hand, after a second affair with an equally unfortunate outcome, finally feels the harsh yank of impending reality. She finds herself deeper in dept to her moneylender, L heureux, who is demanding retribution. Frantically, she searches out any source of money, even further loans from Rodolphe, but this time he refuses. Meanwhile, Basarov is doing some searching of his own: he is searching his soul for resolution. On one hand, "love in the ideal sense he called tomfoolery' (169).

But at the same time he was experiencing a rush of emotion that could not brush aside: "His blood took fire the moment he thought of her; he could easily have mastered his blood but something else was taking possession of him, something he had never allowed, at which he had always scoffed, at which all his pride revolted' (170). Finally, early one morning in a fit of emotion, Basarov finally declares his mad, idiotic love to Anna. She responds with, "You have misunderstood me,' and the two part company in confusion (183). The matter goes unresolved until a final scene at Basarov's deathbed. Neither Emma nor Basarov realize their fault in time.

Emma returns to reality just in time to see her life crumbling and can't deal with it, committing suicide as a final escape. Basarov realizes his love for Anna only as he lay dying of typhus. So it appears neither had the correct approach to life. Maybe the correct approach is one of moderation; a balance of cold reason and glowing passion.