# Arina Vlasyevna — Fathers and Children character guide

> Arina Vlasyevna in Fathers and Children by Ivan Turgenev.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Vlasyevna, Arina Vlasyevna, Arina

**First appearance:** 0019-xx

## Snapshot

Bazarov's devout, superstitious mother, who would hang an amulet on her grown son's neck if he'd let her and feeds him as if three years of hunger needed undoing.

## Who they are

Arina Vlasyevna belongs to an older Russia of amulets, samovars, and unquestioning maternal love — a world her son has intellectually rejected but cannot entirely escape. She consults her husband anxiously about which soup Enyusha might prefer, afraid to ask the boy herself lest she bore him. Her wordless adoration and simple piety form the emotional bedrock of the Bazarov household, and her uncomprehending grief becomes one of the novel's most piercing indictments of a philosophy that leaves no room for such love.

## Relationships

### [Yevgeny Bazarov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters/yevgeny_bazarov)

_family_

A deeply loving, anxious mother who dotes on her son and is heartbroken by his emotional distance and disdain for her simple faith.

### [Vassily Ivanovitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters/vassily_ivanovitch)

_family_

A devoted, old-fashioned married couple who share a simple life and mutual love, united in their adoration of their son.

### [Yevgeny Bazarov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters/yevgeny_bazarov)

_family_

A deeply loving, anxious mother who dotes on her son and is heartbroken by his emotional distance and disdain for her simple faith.

### [Yevgeny Bazarov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters/yevgeny_bazarov)

_family_

A deeply loving, anxious mother who dotes on her son and is heartbroken by his emotional distance and disdain for her simple faith.

### [Vassily Ivanovitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters/vassily_ivanovitch)

_family_

A devoted, old-fashioned married couple who share a simple life and mutual love, united in their adoration of their son.

### [Vassily Ivanovitch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters/vassily_ivanovitch)

_family_

A devoted, old-fashioned married couple who share a simple life and mutual love, united in their adoration of their son.

## In the story

### [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/chapters/xx)

Bazarov's mother; emotional, superstitious, and devout, she dotes on her son and embodies traditional Russian gentility.

### [Chapter XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/chapters/xxi)

Watches Bazarov with sorrow, devotion, and awe; serves dinner and seeks her son's affection.

### [Chapter XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/chapters/xxvii)

Bazarov's mother, praying and weeping; she breaks a mirror as an omen and falls at Odintsov's feet in gratitude.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters/arina_vlasyevna
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/fathers_and_children_se/characters