ry his opinion of nobles is often the opposite. In “Bailiff” and “Two Landowners” his dislike for the nobles or their treatment of serfs is a large part of each sketch.Another facet of Turgenev was his abhorrence of injustice. In the “Two Landowners” he tries to convince one of the landowners to help his serfs by giving them better living conditions, but he has no luck of convincing the landowner of evil of serfdom. In the “Loner” Turgenev stops the Loner from punishing the serf he caught, because it was obvious the serf was only chopping down wood to help his family. The loner and the serf both have hard times because of their owner, and Turgenev even offered to pay for the wood the surf was taking.Turgenev western philosophy is obvious through its lack of autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality, as well as his disdain for serfdom. Yet surprising to me in one small way was the emotion that overcame Turgenev and the tavern-dwellers in “Singers.” When Yakov the Turk sang his song I could not help but be reminded of my own patriotism. It struck me how similar Turgenev was to many liberal arts students. Those students and I almost never agree with many of the decisions and statements that are made on the national, state, or local level, many times I have argued with my father whether Bush or Clinton was the right President, but I am still in love with this country. A slightly twisted example is in the sketch “Death.” Turgenev talks about how Russian peasants and a few landowners actually decide to meet their deaths. They all meet it calmly and in the end they still try and fulfill their duties. I was astounded by the peasant Vasily Dmitrich when he went the hospital and refused treatment on finding out he was to die because he had his duties of family and business to attend. He himself said “Where to? It’s obvious where to - home, if things are ...
