Rudin

Main Themes and Ideas

• The problem of the intelligentsia: the gap between ideals and real life
• The hero's conflict with society, expressed in the mismatch between his inner world and the demands and conventions imposed by society
• The theme of love and betrayal: the search for and impossibility of finding harmony in relationships
• Questions of the meaning of life, self-realization, and self-assertion in society
• The idea of disbelief in the possibility of realizing ideals in the realism of social life
• Analysis and critique of the landowning lifestyle and its way of life
• Depiction of the psychology of a reflective person experiencing internal conflicts and contemplations
• The motif of travel as a symbol of the search for meaning and place in life