Ibsen's A Doll's House and Turgenev's Fathers and Sons reflect two unique societal struggles. While both texts deal with a main character attempting to overcome society's resistance to progress, they are distinguished from each other by the characters' relative successes as well as their divergent societal implications. The formal cause of these differences ultimately lies in societal mores as well as contrasting goals: Ibsen discusses feminism, while Turgenev discusses nihilism. However, both novels were written in the 19th century and dealt with local issues, the implications of which beyond their respective societies were ignored. These two texts therefore both play an important role in their respective societies. These two texts, however, announce two contrasting revolutions, where A Doll's House and Fathers and Sons feature enlightened and dark protagonists respectively. While Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons and Ibsen's A Doll's House challenge the thoughts and beliefs of traditional society, the author's diction, character arcs, tone, and exposition reflect opinions contrasted on the successes of the two revolutionary attempts. Ibsen's and Turgenev's texts vary in usage. and the role of foreign languages. If Pavel Petrovich, the main character of Fathers and Sons, is a xenophile, Nora Torvald's experiences in A Doll's House are very limited. Pavel's love of foreign cultures is represented through his use of French words, while Nora lacks understanding of the world and therefore lives in the proverbial doll's house. Pavel calls liberalism "very distinguished" and says "good evening" to it when he goes to bed, while Nora emphasizes the need "to achieve a certain understanding of herself and the things around her, she must learning to stand... .. middle of paper ......e relevant to popular audiences. The two main characters – Bazarov and Nora – advance society to very different degrees. This is reflected in the lack of character development of Nikolai and Pavel as well as the drastic changes in Nora's personality. Nora's power over Helmer contrasts with how Russian society prevails over Bazarov. While Bazarov falls ill and crippled, Nora asserts her independence from her family duties. Ultimately, the degree to which the two problems – female subordination and serf indolence – are addressed varies between the two texts. While Arkady fails to respond to the serfs' discontent, Nora leaves her dollhouse with a curious mind. Therefore, Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House use the four aforementioned elements to compare the relative successes and implications of attempted revolution..