Fathers and Sons 1077“Becky” and “Blood Burning Moon” explore
miscegenation. Becky is a white woman who gives
birth to two black sons. She refuses to name their
father and is ostracized by both the black and white
communities, although they anonymously leave food
at her isolated cabin, suggesting their sense of guilt
over their treatment of her and fear that their charity
will be discovered. Louisa in “Blood Burning Moon”
is loved by two men. Bob Stone is sexually attracted
to her because of her blackness and concludes that
he has a right to her because of his whiteness. Tom
Burwell, who is black, determines to fight for Louisa
when rumors circulate that she is accepting gifts
from Bob. Tom slashes Bob and is lynched because
of this affront to the white community, again show-
ing, as “Carma” does, the link between sexual jeal-
ousy and violence.
The northern section of the book dramatizes
restrained desires and failed relationships. Dorris in
“Theater” is a chorus dancer who dances seductively
to entice educated, middle-class John into marriage.
While he is drawn to her spontaneity and dreams
of an affair with her, his perception of their social
distance prevents him from acting on his desires.
The narrator in “Avey” is similarly held back. Avey,
like Karintha, experiences sex too early and becomes
a prostitute, even though she is trained as a school-
teacher. As a younger man, the narrator is infatuated
with her, but he cannot bring himself to marry her
after he moves above her in station. They spend
a night in the park, during which he explains her
nature and art at length, only to realize that she has
fallen asleep.
Bona, a white woman, and Paul, a mulatto, have
a strong sexual chemistry that fails to blossom into
a relationship. They are drawn to each other in part
because of their racial differences, but they overana-
lyze this attraction. Ultimately, their desire for each
other cannot overcome their awareness of others’
perceptions of them. Muriel in “Box Seat” is similarly
limited. Dan Moore attempts to bring out her pas-
sionate nature, but she is hyperconscious of reputation
and retreats from Dan into the symbolic confines
of her chaperoned boardinghouse and box seat at
the theater. Dan is in touch with his southern roots,
which gives him an emotional and sexual freedom
that his Muriel will not allow herself to embrace.
Toomer’s treatment of sexuality in Cane is
nuanced. The lives of the characters in the South
underscore the dangers of uninhibited sexuality.
At the same time, the repression of desire in the
North leads to the empty, alienated lives of those
who sacrifice personal fulfillment to following social
convention.
Amanda LawrenceTurGENEv, ivaN Fathers and Sons
(1862)
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (1818–83) was
first published in March 1862 in The Russian Her-
ald, an increasingly conservative magazine. The title
in Russian is Отцы и дeти (Otcy i Deti), which lit-
erally means “Fathers and Children”; however, when
Turgenev’s works were first translated into English
around 1894, the title was adapted to Fathers and
Sons and it became his best-known work. It greatly
impressed realist and naturalist writers such as Gus-
tave Flaubert and Henry James.
Turgenev based the protagonist, Yevgeny
Bazarov, on his real-life acquaintance “Dr. D,” and,
like Pavel Kirsanov in the novel, he lived mostly in
France and western Europe. He wrote Fathers and
Sons in response to the growing ideological divide
between old liberals of the 1830s and 1840s and
the rising influence of nihilist philosophy. Bazarov’s
nihilism demands complete rejection of the old
order, while Arkady Kirsanov reverts to a milder
neoconservatism. Both the nihilists (the “sons”) and
the old-time liberals (the “fathers”) seek Western-
style social reform in 19th-century Russia. In
Turgenev’s exploration of the differences between
generations, the fathers and sons represent opposi-
tional philosophies as well as contrasting perspec-
tives on life, politics, and love.
Turgenev begins by introducing his main protag-
onists, Kirsanov and Bazarov, two students return-
ing from the University of St. Petersburg. Kirsanov
brings Bazarov home to Maryino for a long visit to
meet his father, Nikolai Petrovich, and uncle, Pavel.
The two youths explore relationships with Anna
Odintsova and her sister Katya, while accommodat-
ing Nikolai’s liaison with his serf Fenechka and their
child. In the process, they discover emotional truths