In the 19th century novel Fathers and Sons, author Ivan Turgenev complements the theme of the generation gap by describing two divergent paradigms of nihilism and the author's personal ideology, romance. Yevgeny Bazarov's is used as a representative of nihilism, thus embodying one side of the spectrum; meanwhile Nikolai Kirsanov serves as a symbol of romance. Both characters experience key trials through character interaction in the novel and thus strive to test their own perspective. Through the use of the characters of Nikolai Kirsanov and Yevgeny Bazarov, Turgenev respectively conveys that balance and progressiveness are essential to sustaining one's philosophy through life's challenges. The title of a novel can offer a first insight into the novel's themes. Through the title Turgenev outlines a fundamental theme of the relationship between the two generations of fathers and sons. There is always a disparity on various issues between the younger and older generation. On the one hand, Turgenev characterizes Nikolai Kirsanov in a depiction of romanticism in the novel and in the traditional perspective of the generation gap. Nikolai and the events of his life are Turgenev's classic example of the Middle Russian and Russian lifestyle. As learned in the first chapter, Nikolai's father was a recognized military general, and his brother Pavel consecutively followed the same career path, so Nikolai was expected to follow in the family's footsteps. However, two months before his enlistment date, Nikolai broke his leg preventing him from pursuing this career. As an alternative option, Nikolai went to St. Petersburg University in 1835 to study civil service. As the novel progresses, the reader becomes... halfway down the page... the cold portrait of Bazarov, his passion for critical thinking and knowledge was the author's demonstration of the political reform that was about to enter the country to transform it into an innovative new state. Although Turgenev wrote the novel Fathers and Sons two centuries ago, the issues raised in it are relevant today. Some readers will identify with different characters depending on personal intentions, others will have a tendency to act actively rather than contemplate in terms of reforming society. Should the new generation with innovative ideas fire the older generation? Should materials and ideas be evaluated only in practical terms, as Bazarov tended to do? These questions will have to be answered by each new generation. However, perhaps the inability to resolve them is the reason that allows this novel to be timeless.