Thomas Hardy's "The Return of the Native"

It's easy to come away from this novel with a superficial impression of it. The Return of the Native comes off a bit like survivalist guide crossed with a love advice column, plus a large portion of National Geographic stirred into the mix. And what sort of wisdom do we get with this book? Well, we learn about pool safety, the perils of hasty elopements, hiking safety, and the fact that you really can't "change" your love interest.

So what’s so great about this novel? Well, it's worth reading because it actually shows readers how intertwined the Man vs. Wild survival guide and the romantic advice column really are. In this novel, human relationships aren't divorced from the realities of the natural world. We often ignore nature and the wider world around us, but Hardy makes us acutely aware of how things like nature, history, and communities have a direct impact on individuals.

Yet, some readers feel differently and many criticisms have been given regarding the novel.

In John Patersons’ modern criticism of Return of the Native, Paterson makes the claim that the book, overall, can be seen as an anti-Christian document.  He argues that Eustacia Vye’s character is beyond the typical classifications of good and evil and her “high gods are William the Conqueror, Strafford, and Napoleon…she sides with the philistines and admires Pontius Pilate” (Hardy 65).  Paterson goes on further to assert that “The antichristian bias of the novel is first of all apparent in its celebration of Eustacia Vye.  For as a symbolic character, Eustacia belongs to a world that has not yet been touched by the spectral hand of Christianty” (Hardy 441).  So is there more to this survivalist/love story like Paterson believes?  I believe there is.  I mean, at the end of the novel, Clym Yeobright becomes a preacher, and earlier in the novel, Hardy refers to this character as, “a John the Baptist who took ennoblement rather than repentance for his text” (Hardy 147).  The character of Christian Cantle openly condemns Christianity and as Paterson writes, “Christian constitutes, as his name would suggest, the caricature of the Christian man…Christian functions most clearly as a satire on Christianity” (Hardy 452).  Was Hardy merely using this book and his fictional characters to voice his own opinions and beliefs?  Considering the author left his Christian roots and devoted himself to some Unconscious Will, I definitely think Paterson is accurate in his assertions.

D. H. Lawrence wrote a modern criticism on “The Study of Thomas Hardy” and in it, declared that in The Return of the Native, “none of the heroes and heroines care very much for money, or immediate self-preservation, and all of them are struggling hard to come into being.  What exactly the struggle into being consists in, is the question…the first and chiefest factor is the struggle into love and the struggle with love…” (Hardy 418).  I’d have to agree with Lawrence that money isn’t a fixated about topic in the novel, but I would add that Eustacia (and maybe throw in Wildeve) are probably the characters who are most concerned about money, for they have high expectations and clearly want the best for they feel they deserve no less (which is why they should’ve just stayed together and spared everyone else their problems).  One of Lawrence’s remarks I find to be interesting, when states that, “The via media to being, for man or woman, is love, and love alone.  Having achieved and accomplished love, then the man passes into the unknown” (Hardy 418).  I’m not sure if Lawrence is talking about both in real life and the novel, or just the novel, but in either case, I don’t fully agree.  Yes, the characters in the novel are striving to be loved and that is what caused all the ‘love triangles’ between Clym, Eustacia, Wildeve, and Thomasin, but is it true that once a man has achieved loved, he just ‘disappears?’  Here, I think Lawrence is emphasizing that love is the ultimate attainment, which is especially true for the characters in the novel.  “The tale is about becoming complete, or about the failure to become complete,” Lawrence writes (Hardy 418).  And isn’t that what The Return of the Native is about?  Love, and the search for it?  That is what makes the novel timeless and relatable even to readers today.  All of the petty quarrels and constant alterations of the heart by the characters are realistic, even though we readers may find them to be absurd; we understand them to be the truth.  Love is confusing, time-consuming, mind-absorbing, satisfying, disappointing, bitterness, happiness…love is work. 

So what is The Return of the Native really about?  Is it functioning as a survival guide and love editorial?  Is it meant to be an Anti-Christian novel?  Is it expressing that love is the “ultimateness” of everyone?  Or, could it be all three?  Hardy was an accomplished novelist for his time and I believe it to be very well possible that he wrote The Return of the Native with more than just love in mind.  Like most writers, he wrote from personal experiences, beliefs, ideals, and that has come across in this novel.  A modern and honest novel of chance and choice, faith and infidelities, this dark story asks ‘what is free will?’ and ‘what is fate? What is the true nature of nature, and how do we fit together? Can we fit together?

Wilde and Women-- The Search for *An Ideal Husband*

After watching Wilde's film version of An Ideal Husband (1999), I was surprised at how relatable it was to today's society.  A romantic and sentimental comedy, the film is set in the 19th century, with Jeremey Northam playing the role of charming Sir Robert Chiltern--a man that all women would fawn over to be with-- who represents wealth and power.  Sir Chiltern's wife, played by Cate Blanchett, adores her husband and has always held him up to high standards for his constantly gentleman-like ways.  Rupert Everett stars as Sir Chiltern's faithful best friend, Lord Goring, a man who is most content to remain in his bachelor ways and not let any woman have influence over him.  That is until, Chiltern's younger sister, Mabel, enters the scene.  Simply put (and not giving away an spoilers in the process), the entire plot is created over an absyss of misunderstandings.  The one question that the movie boils down to is:  Would a man marry a woman he did not love simply to protect a friend, or keep a confidence?  Maybe the answer would be a more resounding yes for the audience's of Wilde's time, but in today's society?...I don't think so.  It is likely that none of us today have ever been--or will ever be--put in that position.  But if we were, well, it's not like divorce is a frowned upon thing these days anyway.  So how is this move representative of today's society?  Why would filmmakers want to adapt Wilde's play to a film version in 1999 when the setting takes place during the 19th century?

An Ideal Husband  resembles today's society if you look more closely at a number of characters.  Take Blanchett's character, for example.  She is a woman who holds her husband in high esteem and loves him for his upright character, and because of this, she considers him an ideal husband.  Women out there today, do we not look for a male companion who is a gentleman to us, who has strong values that he clearly believes in, and who we know we can depend upon to be our husband if we so choose to become married to him?  The answer to each of those qualities should be 'YES!'  We do not look for someone who lacks integrity or makes poor judgments, and if we did, well, that just wouldn't make sense.  Now look at Mabel's (Minnie Driver) character.  She instantly falls in love (you have to love the movies, right?) with Lord Goring, the self-proclaimed bachelor, who in turn, eventually falls in love with her.  I know this film was set in the 19th century, but I think most of us today would agree that this still happens today, and when I say "this", I mean men completely doing a 180 and going after a woman even when they claim they 'don't need a woman to make them happy.'  Also, I think the situation of instantly being infatuated with someone happens today too.  Maybe not instantly falling in love, but there's certainly those feelings of butterflies and instant attraction that occur today, just like in Wilde's film adaption of his play.      

Overall, I think Wilde, through his his comical ways, depicted the important, ever-present issues of love and deception, but with that comes unselfish love and forgiveness. 

Horse Burger, Anyone?

Anyone who has read Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon is aware that the main character, Aurora, along with her husband and several other characters in the novel, are infatuated with horses and the lucrative business that surrounds these four-legged beauties.  Aurora and her husband don't withhold their funds when it comes to purchasing horses, training them, and betting high stakes on races.  So, I'm sure they would've never considered the possibility of eating one of their own horses, or any kind of horse for that matter.  Do you think if one of their horses became ill or lame that they would've killed it for meat?  Hmm, I'm going to go with 'no.'  Yet, there's a huge fuss in the UK right now concerning that same matter.

 
Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, said:"For the four weeks ending 17 February, frozen burger sales were down by 43% and frozen ready meals declined by 13%, clearly demonstrating a change in shopping habits."  I can comprehend why.  I don't forsee myself buying any horse burgers in the near future, either.  Hundreds of thousands of items have been removed from store shelves, only adding fuel to the already-chaotic attitudes of the people in the UK. 

Andy Harrison, the boss of Whitbread (the group behind the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub chains), was baffled why more pub and restaurant chains did not appear on a list of co-operating companies published at the back of a weekly FSA horsemeat crisis bulletin. "The suppliers who supply us [Whitbread] also supply many of our competitors," he noted. "There are very many well-known names that are not there [on the FSA's list]."  Well, isn't that comforting to know...there are numerous people who supply horse meat but aren't being charged for it just yet.  I'm wondering how many companies will be discovered in the end of all of this mess, and hopefully penalized for distributing these products to their customers.

What I continue to ask myself through this whole scandal is: why horse meat?  Yet, other cultures might be looking at America and asking: why cow meat?  Why turkey meat?  Well, I don't see the possibility of training any cows to be capable of riding people around, like we are able to do with horses, or having turkey races, like we do with horses, so maybe it's because we view cows and turkeys more 'impersonally' that we find it okay to eat them and not horses?  If it sounds like I'm condoning eating horse meat, I'm not by any means (because that's disgusting), but I also feel like it's because of our culture and the way we have been raised for hundreds of generations (Aurora Floyd was published in 1863) that we live the way we do today and find it okay to eat only certain meats..

I think the major emphasis of this scandal rests on the fact that people weren't aware they were consuming horse meat.  That being said, it must have tasted acceptable, if not delicious then, right?  I mean, if no one noticed a change in taste, it couldn't have been that bad.  The truth is, humans don't like to be tricked or taken advantage of, and with the horse meat situation, society has clearly been dooped.  In a few decades or centuries, who knows, we may be consuming horse meat after all. 

Sorry Ms. Floyd, not all of us are as crazy about horses as you are.

Whose "Getting" Who: Examining "The Icarus Girl" by Oyeyemi

As I finished reading The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi, I kept coming back to the two same probing questions: 'What purpose(s) does Tilly serve for Jessamy?' and 'What purpose(s) does Jessamy serve for Tilly?'  After I asked myself these two questions, it was like a snowball effect occured, and I found my questions spiraling out of control.   

There were moments in the book where I felt Tilly was the spirit of Jessamy's dead twin, but then, why was Tilly doing evil things to Jessamy and 'getting' people?  What does it even mean to 'get' someone?  Is Tilly Jessamy's dead twin? and is she alive now because of her connection to the Nigerian culture, or was Tilly just an imaginary friend?  Who is Tilly, truly?  Does Oyeyemi give any definitive conclusions to this question?  I don't believe she does.  In an interview with Oyeyemi  I think this ambiguity within the novel gives an accurate representation of Jessamy's character, who is so confused and unconfident.  Jessamy struggles with her own identity, being brought up in a family of two different cultures (her mother, Nigerian, and father, British), discovering that she had a twin who died as a baby, and clearly not adhering to the standards of normal eight-year-olds. 

From the moment the audience meets Jessamy, they are aware that she's unique.  She has an extremely extended vocabulary for her age and has these random outbursts of panicking, crying, and shouting.  Anyone knows that this is not normal.  So when Jessamy meets Tilly and readers discover that only Jessamy has the capability to see Tilly, they know something strange is going on.  Will Tilly be able to 'fix' Jessamy and cure her from all her problems, or will Tilly be more trouble for Jessamy than anything else?

In the beginning of the novel, I would've gone with my initial instinct: that Tilly would help Jessamy come out of her shell and gain some confidence in the world.  This did happen, for example, when Jessamy stood up to a snotty girl at school, but then her actions turn a little violent.  It's when this occurs that I discovered Tilly wasn't so 'goody-goody' after all. 

Half way through the novel, it's almost as if Oyeyemi completely shifted her style of writing.  The increasing horror of TillyTilly's visits and the chronicling of the breakdown of Jess's family life under her malicious influence become almost too much to bear, and the author's style sometimes veers from her normal mature and delicate poise to a younger-sounding voice, although this may be an intentional effect. 

Going back to my first two questions that I posed initially in this post and attempting to answer that, I'd have to assert that Tilly first functions as Jessamy's friend, then later on becomes a controlling, dangerous influence in Jessamy's life and doesn't want her to have any friends but Tilly herself.  As poisonous as Tilly can be at times, she really is the primary reason for Jessamy rediscovering her Nigerian heritage and figuring out that she had a twin, and also, for Jessamy gaining more confidence in herself.  By the end of the novel, Jessamy was able to communicate better with people her own age, instead of hiding from them.  So then what does Jessamy do for Tilly, if anything?  Well, giving a lot of thought to this, I'm led to believe that Jessamy ultimately proves to Tilly that Tilly is not real.  The things that Tilly can do throughout the novel are mystical and impossible, like flying through staircases and being the cause for Jessamy's father to become terribly sick and non-functional.  I'm still wondering if these things happen because Jessamy believes them to be real, because Tilly wants her to, which then encourages Tilly to keep doing what she is doing and 'getting' people.  If this is true, then Jessamy is giving even more power to Tilly, and that is why it was so hard for Jessamy to overcome Tilly at the end of the novel.  Or does Jessamy really 'win' against Tilly?  In the end, I think both characters are destructive towards each other, but Jessamy is the last one to do the 'getting.'    

Fluff or Futuristic: What's the significance of Wordsworth?

What's up with Wordsworth's poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud?"  Does it represent beauty or just some 'fluff' written by a man who reminisced about time spent with his sister in the Bay District?  Well, I'd have to declare this poem 'inspirational.'  It's not 'fluff' (entirely), it's really more 'futuristic'.

Wordsworth once stated that, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”  This quote might sound far from profound when said to people of our culture today, since we are taught to write and create projects from personal experiences like Wordsworth says, but to people of his time, this was a breakthrough idea.  "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" was written in 1804, when people didn't typically write things that related to their ideals, dreams, our sensory intakes.  It sounds preposterous, I know, but it just proves how different our style of writing today is from centuries ago.

In Wordsworth's twenty-four line poem that's composed of six, four-line stanzas, Wordsworth creates a beautiful but simple message about the beauty of nature and how inspiring it can be. The images that he uses to describe the scene are like an artist painting a scene vividly so the reader can see it with his mind's eye.  He writes in lines three through six that,

"When all at once I saw a crowd,  3

A host, of golden daffodils;    4

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,   5

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."  6

As a reader, I can picture the color of the flowers, their location, and the way their movements.  The image of these flowers "fluttering and dancing" added more rhythm to the poem, which is written in a strict, but melodious, rhyme scheme (ABABCC; DEDEFF, etc.).  By giving these flowers human-like characteristics, Wordsworth is personifying them. 

•  He also uses personification in the first two lines, when the poem says, "I wandered lonely as a cloud," drawing a simile between the wandering speaker and the single lonely cloud.  
•  There's also personification going on here in addition to the simile, since clouds don't possess the capability to be lonely.                
•  Looking at lines three and four, Wordsworth then moves to personifying the daffodils as a crowd of people.  
•  In the end of the first and beginning of the second stanza, lines seven and eight capture a simile comparing the shape and number of the daffodils to the band of stars that we call the Milky Way galaxy.  
• When readers reach line nine, they meet the example of a hyperbole (or exaggeration) in the poem. The speaker says that the line of daffodils is "never-ending," but we know this can’t be strictly true: all good things come to an end.
•  The first line of the third stanza (line 12) again personifies the daffodils, giving them "heads," allowing them to bob in the breeze.  In the proceeding two lines, the waves are then personified, making them dance.
• Lines 21 through 24 is the location where Wordsworth imagines the daffodils in his spiritual vision, for which he uses the metaphor of an "inward eye." His heart dances like a person, too.

It is apparent that by looking at these examples, readers can see that what Wordsworth was writing about held meaning to him personally, but also that the text was rich with poetic devices.  It's not simply a 'cutesy' poem with cheery, plain language.  Or, is it?  What makes this poem so futuristic is that Wordsworth was advanced for his time by writing in this type of style.  You won’t find any earth-shattering revelations of truth within this poem. Wordsworth felt that the little moments in life could be the most profound, and readers see proof of that in this poem.  I mean, he's writing about some dancing daffodils and how is heart is made so glad by seeing them.  Many people can relate to what he's writing about, and that's why it's one of the most beloved poems of all time. "I wandered lonely as a Cloud" describes an experience numerous people have probably had: they're bummed out, maybe because of something that happened in a relationship or maybe because it’s an unpleasant day outside, and suddenly they see something that just makes them smile and feel cheerful again. I think its popularity has something to with how unabashedly joyful it is.  Fluffy or not, Wordsworth had the right idea when he 'wandered lonely as a cloud'. 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (Daffodils)

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

    

The Queen of Sensation Novels Was A Sensation Herself

As I venture into the world of Aurora Floyd via Mary Elizabeth Braddon, I'm struck with feelings of wonder and pleasure.  As seductive and secretive as the main character, Aurora, is, I find myself curiously drawn to the author, Ms. Braddon herself.  When an author, and a women nonetheless, can publish such a number of lucrative novels (approx. 90) in the 19th (and into the 20th) century, I'm left considering how and where she achieved such inspirations from.  Could it be possible that she drew from personal experiences?  With that thought circulating in my mind, I decided to see if the "queen of sensation novels" had any skeletons in her own closet.

It's come to my realization that Braddon was a radical all of her life.  Ah, ha!  The queen of sensation was actually a sensation herself---maybe.  She grew up in a house where her father was unfaithful to her mother and also financially irresponsible.  The two separated and Braddon received homeschooling from her mother in London where she spent the rest of her childhood.

 The real scandal happened when she was 25 years old, after meeting John Maxwell, a magazine publisher.  The two were instantly attracted to each other, despite Maxwell already being married and having 6 children.  While his wife lived in an asylum due to mental instability, Braddon set up home with her publisher and became a stepmother to his six children.  (Side note: I'm feeling a bit of awkwardness toward this situation, although I feel like this is definitely something that would happen now in the 21st).  The two would eventually become married, but it was not until 1874 when Maxwell's wife died.  (Wow, okay, so now that she passed away it's okay to get married even though Maxwell and Braddon had been living together for 14 years, had 6 children together of their own, and Braddon also step-mothered 6 children; that's 12 kids total...that'd drive me into an asylum).

Braddon eventually become editor to Maxwell's magazine, Belgravia, the vehicle for most of her novels in the next 10 years.  Many of her novels came to be published in newspapers and magazines, despite her scandalous past.

Coming across this new-found information, I'm certainly inclined to interpret and analyze Aurora Floyd with an entirely different approach.  No wonder Mary Elizabeth Braddon was capable of creating such intense and seductive novels of mystery, passion, and pleasure-- it was because that was her life.        

What's so great about blogging?  There seems to be this craze taking over about people being able to post whatever they like on the Internet, from baking recipes like "Easy No-Bake Lemon Bars" to "How To Properly Eat Sushi."  Really?  I suppose since two courses in my college education require me to become part of this phenomenon, I have to succumb to blogging.  It's exciting but a little intimidating at the same time, knowing that my words are now accessible to the world wide web and other peoples' criticisms (or kudos).  Now, don't expect anything in the realm of  "Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever!!!" or "The 8 Top Remedies for a Good Night's Sleep."  Nope, I'll be discussing the Amazing World of British Literature!  That being said, let the blogging begin!

I've always been fascinated by British Literature since reading The Canterbury Tales in high school.  There's something so mystical and nostalgic digging back hundreds of years and diving into the words of well-versed authors and poets, and then fast-forwarding to the present to witness the changing themes and ideas of new and upcoming British storytellers.  My favorite part about literature as a whole is evaluating the piece we're working on from an analytic standpoint.  Experienced authors typically say more and mean more than just the words they've left inked out on the pages.  It's our job as readers to find out what they're trying to say (by what they didn't say).  It's like solving a puzzle or mystery, but the best part is, hearing other peoples' thoughts and interpretations of the same poem or book, as well as voicing your own.  You compare and contrast other classmates' arguments to your own, hoping to reach a sense of resolution after all of the circulating opinions.  It's a melting pot of ideas.  Some of the best works that I've read and analyzed over and over again are just left up to interpretation, and in my opinion, that can be a great thing.   Take the novel The Icarus Girl, for example.  Reading Oyeyemi's story allows my mind to wander and to go on this literary journey.  I'm left wondering: Is TillyTilly real or is Jessamy just creating her psychologically?  Where is this "bush" which Jessamy enters at times in the novel?  Is it clear what happens to Jessamy at the end of the novel?  Is there denouement, or resolution?  All of these questions can be debated and in the end, probably will still be continue to be debated because of the way Oyeyemi leaves her audience in The Icarus Girl.  What good literature comes down to is that new thoughts and ideas can be brought forward, leading to new insights, and of course, great group discussion.  What is there not to like about the world of (British) literature?

My British Literature is dealing with works written from 1798-Present.  First off, we're meeting the words of Helen Oyeyemi in her novel, The Icarus Girl.