As the friends prepare to meet Anna in town, Bazarov wonders cynically why she “married peculiarly” by marrying an older man who left her a financially privileged widow (61). He enjoys the rumors he’s heard about her promiscuity, implying he hopes the two of them may have an affair.

Anna grew up in the capital, but her father was a gambler who ultimately retired to the countryside in obscurity and disgrace, a drastic change in circumstances. Both her parents died when she was 20 and her younger sister Katya was only 12. Katya was raised by their aunt, “a nasty, arrogant old woman” (62), while Anna married the wealthy middle-aged Odintsov, “eccentric, hypochondriac, portly, ponderous and sour” (62), who died six years into the marriage. After a brief sojourn in Europe, Anna returned to Nikolskoe, her family’s estate.

Anna is unpopular in town, plagued by association with her gambler father, rumors about her marriage, and further speculation she’d had an abortion in Europe. However, she flourishes: “all these rumors reached her, but she didn’t pay any attention to them, she had an independent and rather resolute character” (62).

When Anna greets the young men, Bazarov is uncharacteristically awkward. He does his best to capture Anna’s attention.