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Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
by Silvertwig242 It is indeed a truth universally acknowledged...so commences the first line of the book as famous as it is true?.. do i detect some sniggers in the background?.. is it a mans predisposition to be proud and arrogant and a woman's to be indifferent and prejudice? If these statements are no longer true, (?) then it certainly appeared to be ... that way in Jane's day. There are many complex and competing ideals to the whys and wherefores of Jane's writing. It could not be argued that Jane Austen must have lived to write. Jane examines the close and sometimes fraught personal relationships Elizabeth has with her peers and with her parents, which is often envisaged as juxtaposed. Being one of the eldest sisters in the household, she takes the responsibility upon herself to guide and even educate her younger siblings, which is reflective of how Jane also lived her life. One has to remember that at the time of writing, it was frowned upon for a young woman to be educated beyond what was deemed strictly necessary and if seeking a husband was not her primary concern then not having an interest in gaining an advantageous marriage, she would have appeared somewhat radical. I for one, rather like that. There have been many film and tv adaptions - each bring their own interpretation of the book and attempt to bring it back to life. The thing that stands out to me the most (which is the reason i return back to this book and read it all over again) is that, above all else, humour and a sense of the ironic shines through like a beacon of light. This is reflected most in the 1941 version of Pride and Prejudice starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, which to me will always be the best, despite the appalling costumes. The book is a delight to read, unashamedly poking fun at all who come into her circle, whether they be friend or foe. But it is also genteel, defiant, again unashamedly speaks of her class and of her social standing in the community in which she lives. It is not difficult to draw parallels. 'Why..you would be the last person I would ever be prevailed upon to marry'... justifiably cross with her circumstances, social restraints and barriers and with no other way to fulfill her needs she fights against her feelings for Darcy, while also sensibly admitting to herself that to secure her financial future (for her family also) would be a wise thing to do. I would argue that even in today's setting, the story still has resonance - which I believe is part of the reason why this novel is so deeply loved and engrained into our English culture. We all still crave success and happiness within relationships and social acceptance, we all still want to be loved for ourselves alone and have someone set us apart and to say that we are indeed special and in a household of sisters this could not be more pronounced and yet more fun. This is why Pride & Prejudice will continue to hold a place in our hearts as each time we read it, we are mirroring a reflection of our own needs to love and be loved and not to be judged. to uphold the virtues in which we believe and to support and defend our societal nucleus, that thing we call 'family'. Read the complete review |
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The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy
by Silvertwig242 All one has to do to imagine yourself enjoying reading this book is to recreate the opening scenes of the book in your head. They walk in silence in the heat and the dust.. a family of three, exhausted, thirsty, hungry, each emotionally separated from the other. Alone. They happen along to a fair, where the man (Henchard) is ... suddenly possessed of the right to quench his thirst after a long walk along dust filled lanes. They eat a form of gruel and unbeknown to the woman, the man has his food laced with drink to make it more palatable (often the occurrence in those days).. Tempers fray after more and more drink is consumed by Henchard and in a fit of pique, where he is both consumed by jealousy of the mother to daughter relationship and the lack of displayed affection from his wife and the disaffection he feels for them both, he drunkenly stands up and offers his wife and child for sale shouting.. 'who would have ye some of this..am i to be forever tortured by such financially draining constraints in my life or am i to be rid of them and free to be a man who can breathe again?' or words to that effect.. The alcohol he consumes fuels his ambition further to be a 'free man' again and as they eat at sparely set out tables, he eyes his wife and child with growing frustration and when his pleas are ignored he rises once more to plead to his audience to rid him of his burden. The scene is jaw droppingly good and leaves the reader hungry for more so that you can taste the disillusion of the man and the quiet compliance of the woman.. you feel with shocking violation the strains within their relationship, the tense atmosphere and of how a bet (that could have been so easily resolved) and clearly goes too far. No one cares to stop it. This is all any reader could possibly need to feel compelled to read this book.. why it isn't a compulsory text for schools and literature reading books worldwide beats me... Hardy does what no one else can do, he makes his hero and heroine victims of their own weaknesses and in that creates a monster of a tale that leaves you tasting the bitterness Henchard feels right to the bitter and ironic end.. Read the complete review |
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The Withered Arm - Thomas Hardy
by dcdc8lc A fore note to my review, in light of the great author Hardy was, I have taken it upon myself to provide a brief analysis of his writing in my review, and in doing so, I assume the reader has read the book. Creating effective interest and suspense is a useful skill, particularly in short stories. The ability to quickly build ... up the tension in the limited size of the narrative is what draws the reader into the story. This technique is comprised of smaller ones such as juxtaposition of characters and objects, foreshadowing events, gradual revelation of the plot, the presentation of the setting and many more methods. These are all designed to provoke feelings in the reader such as a sense of injustice, sympathy, apprehension, and Thomas Hardy incorporates them throughout the entire story to generate interest and suspense. The gradual revelation of information is a sure way to build up the suspense in a story. Hardy begins the story by gradually revealing facts about Rhoda, the "...thin fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest." Hardy makes it subtly clear what a social outcast she is. A short way further into the conversation we learn that Rhoda has not been spoken to by Farmer Lodge for years and that he will be marrying a woman half his age, who is rumoured to have rosy cheeks and a "...tisty-tosty little body...". At the end of the page the reader is shocked by the knowledge that Farmer Lodge is actually the boy's father and that he is illegitimate, a sudden shock to the reader when the boy says," Is Father Married then?". And so the reader is kept in anticipation about the relationship between Rhoda and Farmer Lodge. But even as we are satisfied with knowledge on that point, the new revelation raises fresh questions and intrigue. Rhoda is quite interested in gathering information herself (and it is through her discoveries that we learn more about her supplanter, creating more intrigue) and tells her son to find out as much as possible about Farmer Lodge's new wife whom he married over Rhoda, creating more interest and suspense for the reader. Later on when the boy has gathered more information, she (though disappointed by her beautiful looks) gains pleasure out of knowing that she was taller, height being very important in Victorian times. The reader though slightly alarmed by Rhoda's obsession with Gertrude (as we see when her son arrives home and his mother says,"' Well?' before he had even entered the room") can understand why she feels this way. We read in one of Gertrude's conversations with Lodge, she speaks of Rhoda's son " 'How that poor boy stared at me!'" and so we are given information from both parties; however some of this is information that Gertrude is denied. When the boy returns home to his mother after seeing Mr.Lodge, the boy's father, Rhoda questions him asking " What did he say or do?", to which his response is, "Just the same as usual" "Took no notice of you?" " "None". Of course one of the ways that Hardy builds up suspense and interest is through such snappy short conversations. Hardy uses these techniques simultaneously in an effort to extract as much feeling and emotion from the reader. Another such conversation following a similar pattern is in the scene where Rhoda rigorously interviews her son upon the appearance and manner of Gertrude, anxious to know as much about her usurper as possible, ""Well did you see her?" "Yes; quite plain." "Is she ladylike?" "Yes; and more. A lady complete." " Is she young?" and so on. The reader is shocked by the scandalous affair and then the actions of Farmer Lodge, consequently damaging his character for the rest of the narrative, making the reader side against him and more likely to condemn any further actions by him, thus building up the anticipation of the reader. Further suspense is created, when Gertrude visits Conjuror Trendle for a second time. He reveals information very slowly, mounting up the tension. He shares his advice and gives his instructions piece by piece, his first comment being, "If you ever do throw it off, it will be all at once". This in turn reveals that a cure might be available. All the while the reader is getting more and more drawn into the events. Hardy crafts short, snappy dialogue where a lot more is being hinted than said. Gertrude has to nearly beg, "Tell me", before he finally reveals that she must "touch with the limb the neck of a man who's been hanged". Even after keeping the reader in suspense, he refuses to move on to the next part of the narrative, as the reader wonders how Gertrude will manage such a feat. Towards the end of the tale the reader's interest is subtly aroused as we are given a bit of information about the young man to be hanged who had "...only just turned eighteen, and [was] only present by chance when the rick was fired...",- encouraging the reader to feel pity for the lad and hope that he will somehow gain reprieve, even though the reader is sympathetic to Gertrude's cause. And there are still more examples such as when Gertrude first catches sight of the county jail. Its description is unhurriedly given out bit by bit: "Over the railing she saw the low green country; over the green trees the roofs of the town; over the roofs a white flat façade, denoting the entrance to the county jail." "She discovered on the level roof over the gateway three rectangular lines against the sky..."The effect of this is to evoke curiosity and apprehension in the reader. One particular technique that Hardy uses repeatedly throughout the chapters is juxtaposition of characters and objects. He sometimes uses this to reveal to the reader the harsh realities of life at that time. A particular scene early in the narrative presents the son of Rhoda Brook, of whom we are never told the name (perhaps to ensure the reader develops no significant feelings for the boy), walking along at snails' pace; "... the heavy bundle he carried being some excuse for, if not the reason for his dilatoriness." Hardy presents in that same extract, Farmer Lodge and his new wife riding upon "...a handsome new gig with a lemon covered body and red wheels." The contrast of the relative poverty that Rhoda and her son live in, is juxtaposed with the relative luxury Farmer Lodge and his new wife are privileged with, as Farmer Lodge owns the land in the valley. Similar to this is his juxtaposing of their living conditions, Rhoda and her son live in a shack that was "built of mud walls, the surface of which had been washed by many rains into channels and depressions and left none of the original flat face visible..." Such was the poor condition of their residence in comparison with Mr. And Mrs.Lodge's "white house of ample dimensions." There is also a kind of juxtaposition and irony that develops roughly halfway into the story; As Gertrude and Rhoda's relationship improves, Gertrude's arm worsens, a tragedy, which is typical of Hardy. This also provokes a sense of injustice in the reader. It is through such comparisons that Hardy makes it clear to the reader the unfairness of the situation (which reflects the common reality of the time) in order to raise the possibility in our minds that justice might be delivered in the story. This further aids the creation of interest and suspense. Towards the end of the Victorian era, people who believed in and performed superstitious actions were increasingly looked down upon, and this reversal of natural progression entices the reader and builds interest and suspense. Thus Gertrude does not wish to follow her servants' advice about seeing Conjuror Trendle; "I dare say it shall soon disappear", however she is worried about what her husband would think whilst making reference to the occult; "My husband says it is as if some witch, or the devil himself, had taken hold of me there, and blasted the flesh." Rhoda herself all the while is feeling insecure, having said to herself earlier, "O, can it be...that I exercise a malignant power over people against my own will?" Not only that, but since she fell from grace after her illegitimate child with Mr.Lodge, the villagers deemed her to be a witch; " She knew that she had been slyly called a witch since her fall; but never having understood why that particular stigma had been attached to her, it had passed disregarded." This introspective questioning stimulates the reader's desire to learn more of her past and what exactly were the events that led up to her fall. In the Victorian era, distinctions in social class were more pronounced. And so women in Rhoda's position, who had low social status, were vulnerable to exploitation and harsh treatment. Hardy generates tension by incorporating the notion that there really could be supernatural forces at play here whether there will be any further supernatural intervention. It was around Hardy's lifetime that the Victorians began to emerge from the superstitious era that held them and all previous civilisations. With the advancement of scientific knowledge, superstition was increasingly being regarded as old wives tales and dismissed in favour of science. But Hardy chose to write a short story about the period where things had just begun to change. Ironically Gertrude is changing in reverse. She is reverting from the modern enlightened Victorian woman to the superstitious crabby lady from ages past. We read that when Gertrude is told about Conjuror Trendle and his abilities, she initially dismisses it as superstitious nonsense; "O, how could my people be so superstitious as to recommend a man of that sort! I though they meant some medical man. I shall think no more of him.". But just two days later she comes back down to see Rhoda and asks her to lead her to Trendle, thus belying her initial instincts. During the years when Gertrude and Rhoda had no contact, Gertrude tried every single cure she could think of in order to rid herself of the curse, to no avail. She eventually decides to go back and visit Trendle. She pleads, so desperate is she, for him to reveal the cure that she begs him; "Tell me!", and Hardy keeps us on tenterhooks the whole way through. (Right at the end with Rhoda is she at her most decrepit.) The interest and suspense being generated at this point is huge, as we are at a key point in the narrative. Hardy also wrote about the subconscious in "The Withered Arm", a late Victorian discovery, though not properly identifying it, merely focusing on the repressing aspect of human nature. It was roughly just 10 years later that Sigmund Freud addressed the issue. In The Withered Arm, the element of the subconscious is introduced as to blame for Rhoda's use of her malignant powers, with which she curses Gertrude's arm, it is Rhoda's repressed resentment that wishes to cause harm towards Gertrude. She performs the curse in a queer dream. Hardy uses this opportunity to captivate the reader with the application of sorcery and fast paced action that takes place in the dream; "Gasping for breath, Rhoda, in a last desperate effort, swung out her right hand, seized the confronting spectre by its obtrusive left arm, and whirled it backward to the floor.". It is at this point in the narrative that Gertrude begins to suffer the effects of Rhoda's curse on her arm, and by doing so, Hardy brings in the possibility of there actually being supernatural forces at work here, in this case manifesting itself as Rhoda's powers, for which she is not totally resentful of, for" In her secret heart Rhoda did not altogether object to the slight diminution of her successor's beauty" . And so over the coming months and years Gertrude's arm worsens. Foreshadowing is a technique where the writer tries to create an image in the reader's mind of an event to come, usually through the description of something. Particularly at the beginning of the story, Hardy incorporates a lot of foreshadowing, and he presents quite a lot of it through the setting, such as at the very beginning of the narrative in the dairy farm, when the milkers took their pails and "... and hung them on a many-forked stand made as usual of the peeled limb of an oak tree, set upright in the earth..." The cottage was built of mud walls; "...while here and there in the thatch above a rafter showed like a bone protruding through the skin.". He successfully tries to create an image in the reader's mind of a rotted limb with a bone sticking thorough the skin, subtly evoking a grim foreboding as he does so. The degeneration of Gertrude's arm is something that inspires a morbid curiosity in the reader as we are compelled by the deterioration of her beauty and rationality. Throughout the narrative our minds are transfixed by the unfortunate changes Gertrude has suffered, compelled by the constant change in description of Gertrude. Towards the beginning of the narrative, she is described by Rhoda as an; "...innocent little thing" who" should have her blessing and not her curse". But when Gertrude leaves Rhoda and her son's dwelling, it was as if; "...a light" had" gone from the dwelling." But as her arm degenerates, it seems she loses her grip on reality and more focused on finding a cure for her arm; "The once blithe-hearted and enlightened Gertrude was changing into an irritable, superstitious woman, whose whole time was given over to experimenting upon her ailment with every quack remedy she came across." Hardy even juxtaposes her description from light to dark, such as when Gertrude decides to visit Rhoda again, Rhoda saw"... a shadow [that] intruded into the window-pattern thrown on Rhoda Brook's floor by the afternoon sun." This description reflects the change not just on Gertrude physically, but also mentally. It is truly inspiring to imagine how long Thomas Hardy must have planned in order to conceive and incorporate all the techniques that he has managed to fit into his short story, "The Withered Arm". It is a artful piece that containing many superb examples of a complex narrative. The ending of the story incorporates many of Hardy's most powerful techniques, provoking a sense of injustice in the reader when we realise that it is Rhoda's son being hanged. The moral conclusion of the story is quite depressing, something Hardy is quite notorious for, leaving Gertrude dead, Farmer Lodge heirless, a widower, lonely, and faced with the prospect of being the last of a family 200 years old. Rhoda carries on being a milkmaid, rejecting all contact, especially with Farmer Lodge. The reader is left feeling unsure of Rhoda's powers in the last few lines, as we are compelled to read on right up until the end, determined to resolve any loose ends. Rhoda being very old at this point is described; "Here, sometimes, those who knew her experiences would stand and observe her, and wonder what sombre thoughts were beating inside that impassive, wrinkled brow, to the rhythm of the alternating milk streams". Read the complete review |
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