Yevgeny Vassilyitch, the university friend of Arkady, arrives as a guest to the Kirsanov estate and quickly begins to disturb the peaceful and stable state of affairs that had previously been enjoyed there. He causes, directly or indirectly, most of the conflicts that unfold in the novel, and most of his interactions with other people lead to undesirable consequences for them or for himself. The main reason for all of this is that he is arrogant and considers himself superior to others. Moreover, he does not hesitate to talk about his controversial nihilistic views, which express the insignificance of all human principles and institutions. Bazarov is a rather ragged, unpolished young man whose great interest is medicine, illustrated by the fact that he spends much of his time at Maryino catching and dissecting frogs for his studies. Although he does not believe in principles, he finds value in science it allows him to deduce “facts” about the world. In a conversation with Arkady, he expresses his disdain for anything that is not verified by science: “All that matters is that two and two make four, and the rest is all foolery” (34). The brazen manner in which the young nihilist flaunts his contentious views is what infuriates the refined and idealistic Pavel Petrovich and eventually leads him to insist on dueling with pistols.
However, Bazarov’s attitude produces a very different reaction in several of the other characters. Arkady is highly impressionable and begins to identify more with his friend’s nihilistic ideas than the values of his father. One of Bazarov’s acquaintances, Viktor Sitnikov, goes so far as to call himself a loyal disciple. The elegant Anna Sergeyevna finds Yevgeny Vassilyich extremely intriguing from the moment that she first hears about him from Arkady. She explains that she is curious “to see the man who has the courage to believe in nothing” (59). Bazarov’s appeal to these people comes from his very self-assured manner in which he appears to put no one else’s ideas above his own, rejecting nearly everything that others take for granted. He shamelessly declares that art, poetry, and nature are all useless abstractions (39). However, a crack appears in his façade of universal irreverence when he and Arkady are visiting Anna Sergeyevna in Nikolskoe. Though he is initially only attracted to her because of her physical appearance, his sentiment for her grows, culminating in his hesitant proclamation of love that leaves him utterly abashed. The same idealistic, romantic sentiment, which Bazarov had previously regarded as “unpardonable imbecility” (74) is present in him, and it provokes a great deal of inner frustration and conflict. This episode shows that although Yevgeny Vassilyitch may claim that certain conceptions are ridiculous, he is as vulnerable to them as anyone else.
For the rest of the novel, Bazarov suffers internally and is overcome by moodiness. He responds with irritation and anger to the welcoming embraces of his overjoyed parents when he returns home, and even quarrels with his loyal friend Arkady. He grows restless at the home of his parents and decides to leave after staying for only three days. He impolitely lives in solitude at Maryino even when Arkady goes back to visit Anna Sergeyevna, acts in an utterly inappropriate manner by kissing the mistress of his host, injures Pavel in their duel, and goes to see Arkady to announce the death of their friendship because they had grown sick of each other. Bazarov does all of this in a cold, rather detached manner, blind or indifferent to the effect that his actions have on other people. He returns to the home of his parents, grows incredibly bored, but works with his father to help him give the patients medical treatment. One day, he cuts on his finger while dissecting the corpse of a man who perished from typhus. Despite burning the wound with caustic, he contracts the disease, and as his illness worsens, he sends for Anna Sergeyevna. In his delirium, he tells her that his love for her was nonsensical but that it still existed. He does not mourn his own death but speaks of it more as an inconvenience to all that he had planned to do. His last wish is for Odinsova to kiss his forehead, and then he passes into eternal unconsciousness.
The death of Yevgeny Bazarov, for the most part, goes unnoticed. He is mourned greatly by his mother and father, and little by anyone else. In the end, the extremely self-confident young man was able to do little more than disturb the lives of a handful of individuals living in the Russian countryside.