Arina Vlasyevna, the mother of Yevgeny Vassilyitch, fits the archetype for the traditional, old-fashioned Russian gentlewoman. As the narrator explains, “she ought to have lived two centuries before, in the old Moscow days” (98). Her views and tendencies are almost exactly opposite of those of her son. She is very religious, emotional and superstitious; she believes in prophecies, dreams, omens, and spirits, fears all sorts of animals, and follows old Church customs of eating and fasting. Arina Vlasyevna is a very kind and generous woman who serves everyone around her with humility.
When Bazarov returns home after an absence of three years, she greets him with a long embrace and is unable to hold back her tears of joy. Arina waits on her guests hand and foot during their entire stay there, making tea, preparing platters of raspberries and strawberries, and concerning herself with the softness of her son’s bed. Though she is very happy to spend time with the young Bazarov, she is aware of the fact that he does not appreciate her expressions of affection. He injures her with his coldness and ostensible annoyance at her presence. When Yevgeny Vassilyitch leaves suddenly to return to Maryino, she shows her inner strength by comforting her husband in his grief. Although he feels that they have been abandoned she assures him that their son will come home again, just as a falcon returns to its nest (112).
At the very end of the novel, Arina Vlasyevna’s devotion to her son is illustrated for a final time. She and her husband often go to the cemetery, kneel before the tomb of Yevgeny Vassilyitch, and shed their tears upon it. Her sacred motherly love is worthy of admiration, although Bazarov never appreciated it.