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Return of the Native Hardy Week 3 - Buddy Read Book 3
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What do you think of the various relationships so far? Are the right people married or would it be better otherwise? What about Mrs. Yeobright? is she just jealous? Please post your thougts on anything you like.
The two weddings are not supposed to happen and they also take place in haste, in far-away churches and with no proper attendance from friends and family; Hardy makes it clear that there is something off with these couples. I am afraid Mrs. Yeobright is just human and does what many parents do: project ambitions on to their children and have difficulties seeing things from their perspective.
The reddleman is not a scary ghost as folklore has it - but still he is often hiding behind bushes and twisting events in a magical way.
Yes, he seems like someone who always intervenes into the story and turns it.I wonder what Eustacia is really thinking/feeling. She seems to love neither Damon nor Clym.
Michaela wrote: "Yes, he seems like someone who always intervenes into the story and turns it.I wonder what Eustacia is really thinking/feeling. She seems to love neither Damon nor Clym."
Yes, I wonder that too. Are we supposed to believe that she is actually just a shallow person? That she is stupid for dreaming of Paris and thinking that everything is better there? It started out with her being in another category than the locals - as if she was more clever than them. But now it is Clym that is the wise character and her ambitions are just ridiculous and superficial.
Michaela wrote: "I wonder what Eustacia is really thinking/feeling. She seems to love neither Damon nor Clym."
I been thinking about Eustacia again. There is something that reminds me of Bathsheba. Did you read Far From the Madding Crowd by Hardy?
Bathsheba is also enchanted by a guy who in fact doesn’t have what she really needs. And both names are peculiar. And they are both strong-willed.
Is it me or do we often hear the man referred to by his last name and the women by her first name. Is it just an accident or what? Like for instance “Yeobright� and “Eustacia� in the same paragraf, in stead of “Clym� and Eustacia.
I think you´re right Charlotte about the names - I wouldn´t know Eustacia´s surname atm. Perhaps another sign that men are more important and powerful than women?
I loved Far From the Madding Crowd, and found Batsheba strong but not necessarily knowing what/who was good for her. Her name comes from the Bible, where she´s longed for by David, but is Uriah´s wife. We know the outcome, so perhaps meaning a dangerous woman.I looked up Eustacia, and it´s Greek, meaning "fruitful" - perhaps also a sign for her character? Btw there´s also a rose named Eustacia Vye. :)
Chapter 1: Oh no!! Clym just dropped a nuclear weapon on the plot by stating his intention to stay and open a school. He really got the idea he has been made for "great" things. Hardy compares him to Clive, and Keats.Robert Clive rose through the ranks of the British East India Company from clerk/shop keeper, signed up as a soldier, to Governor-General. He secured British dominance of India defeating the French and their Indian allies at Plassey. Clym reminds me of St. John Rivers from Jane Eyre.
Chapter 1:Find it interesting he described working in the diamond trade as "effemiate". Is it because he lived in Paris which the English, at least in the novels, considered effeminate and decadent? Or because the main customers were directly or indirectly women? When the novel takes place diamonds could still be considered precious stones as the only source was India. This was before the huge diamond reserves were found in South Africa.
Chapter 2: I found it interesting that Hardy think a person's thirst for knowledge must be preceded by knowledge of material affluence. My first thought on reading this is the first time Pip from Great Expectations visits Satis House for the first time. He realizes how ignorant he is and there is a much wider world beyond the blacksmith trade living on the Kent marshes. So he becomes much more serious about taking advantage of the little opportunity he has for education even approaching Biddy about getting private lessons. When he moves to London at least tries to take full advantage of the opportunity to study under Matthew Pocket.
Chapter 2: I am not sure what to think of Hardy's take on "great men". He makes them out to be almost psychopathic. In his mind it is all or nothing. You leave your mark on history or you crash and burn. He seems to have an affinity for mediocrity. He lists a bunch of people one might recognize but none of them of the persons would be considered great. He refers to Ametican born artist Benjamin West who permanently moved to London and earned some fame for his portraits and historical paintings. He refers to Lord North who was prime minister in the years leading up to the American Revolution and held that office until Cornwallis' British army surrendered at Yorktown. So he served a long time as prime minister but is most famous for losing the American colonies.
Chapter 2: Poor Eustacia gets stabbed at church because the locals think she is a real witch. I can imagine some reader in London rolling their eyes thinking how can these people in the modern age we are living in believe in witchcraft. I am reminded of the scene from North and South where Miss Hale goes back to New Forest. If my memory is right she discovers a skinned cat that some local killed the animal as some superstitious act. I believe this shakes up Miss Hale's idealized perception of her childhood home. Whatever one can say about Milton the people living there have no use for such superstitions.
Chapter 3: My heart skipped a beat when Eustacia expressed her concern about Clym possibly injuring himself. I think that is the first time in the novel she has said something with tenderness. Did those 2 even listen to each other? Eustacia was quite clear she wants out and Clym told her he is going to stay. Hardy is such a tease. He did not even describe the kiss between Eustacia and Clym. Was it passionate? With those two who would know.
Chapter 4: What a chapter. olli Eustacia and Clym having a romantic rendezvous during a lunar eclipse under a starry clear sky on the Rainbarrow. This is the what my own dreams are made of. The romantic tension Hardy really increases by their talk, especially from Eustacua, about being star crossed lovers. At the end, Clym realizes he had found himself in a situation he must choose 2 out of 3: his plans for the school, Eustacia, and his mother.
Chapter 4: Eustacia has such wonderful dialogue. This one Hardy seems to be invoking his previous novel From the Madding Crowd: ..I remember, I saw an officer of the Hussars ride down the street at Budmouth, and though he was a total stranger and never spoke to me. I loved him till I thought I should really die of love...
MichaelK19thCFan wrote: "Chapter 1:Find it interesting he described working in the diamond trade as "effemiate". Is it because he lived in Paris which the English, at least in the novels, considered effeminate and decadent..."I guess it was part of the explanation of how he discovered that his trade was of no real value to him - decadent and superficial, only adornments for the vain people.
MichaelK19thCFan wrote: "Chapter 3: My heart skipped a beat when Eustacia expressed her concern about Clym possibly injuring himself. I think that is the first time in the novel she has said something with tenderness. Did ..."I can’t believe either that these two have not heard what eachother said. He has been very clear that he wants to stay.
She really believes she can change him and we know that is futile.
Chapter 5: Mrs. Yeobright and her son...too stubborn for their own good.
Chapter 6: As Hardy associates Eustacus with the moon, he the sun with Thomasin.
Chapter 7: Hardy went to his bag of literary tricks and uses the incompetence and lack of discipline of the locals to drive a major plot twist. Good gawd that Christian losing other people's money. I am reminded of how Hardy in Far From The Madding Crowd of how one of the locals inability to follow simple instructions causes major future events in the plot.
In the closing chapters of Book 3, a Guinea was the gold coin of the English monetary system during the 17th and 18th century. It was named that due to the gold used to mint the coin came from the colony of Guinea in Africa. It was replaced by the gold Sovereign during the early part of the 19th century. Even after the Sovereign replaced the Guniea luxury items were often still quoted in Guineas.
The Guinea had a slightly higher gold content than the Sovereign. The Sovereign had an official value of 20 Shillings or 1 Pound. The Guinea had an official value of 21 Shillings.
100 Guineas would be about 7 and a half years of annual salary earned by Jane Eyre and 3 and a third times the annual salary of Bob Crachit.
MichaelK19thCFan wrote: "100 Guineas would be about 7 and a half years of annual salary earned by Jane Eyre and 3 and a third times the annual salary of Bob Crachit."Can’t believe that Mrs. Yeobright would send them off with Mr. C! That was not a bright thought. But it made for a wonderful turn of events.
There is so much going on. Haven’t read a Victorian novel in a long time with such an exciting and intricate plot.
I knew the moment Mrs. Yeobright sent Christian off with the money that something catastrophic would happen. The only question was how Christian would screw up.
MichaelK19thCFan wrote: "I knew the moment Mrs. Yeobright sent Christian off with the money that something catastrophic would happen. The only question was how Christian would screw up."Me too. That was a fantastic turn of events. I am a Hardy-fan.
We don’t even know Mrs. Y’s christian name. ... But I guess that is normal.
Not knowing first names is standard in the period. Only when say a parent is talking to a child, or husband and wife or siblings or very close friends of equal social standing can first names be revealed. The other time is with multiple children. The proper form is for an eldest unmarried daughter to be the given the honor of Miss surname. The younger daughters can be referred by Miss christian name. The same applies to brothers.
We are given some further understanding as to why Egdonites may perceive Eustacia to be a witch. She "... roams the heath at all hours of the day and night" as "no lady would". That may be one of the more persuasive arguments, at least of socially unacceptable behavior, to set her apart from "normal" women.But Book 3's overriding theme is the love between Eustacia and Clym. I wonder if other readers were frustrated as I was that Hardy kept our prying eyes away from the couple at the very beginning of their romance! But we were treated to a most poetic description of their feelings when he let us rejoin them (Hardy was a poet at heart, he started and ended his career with poetry, and believed it to be the highest form of creative writing):
"They remained long without a single utterance
For no language could reach the level of their condition
Words were as the rusty implements of a bygone barbarous speech
And only to be occasionally tolerated"
However, Hardy begins planting seeds of doubt about the fate of their love immediately. Both Mrs. Yeobright and Eustacia express doubts about the relationship. We are told that while women like Mrs. Yeobright may not be wise in the traditional sense, they have an uncanny knack for judging relationships accurately. And Hardy dwells on the essential differences between the two lovers. Clym has come to see that his rightful business is educating and raising up the lower class around him in his beloved Egdon heath. Eustacia longs to escape this place and its people.
When Mrs. Yeobright is visited by her niece Thomasin, she tries in vain to reconcile her with Clym, but also tells her that she doesn´t get money from Wildeve. Mrs. Yeobright promises her her share of her inheritance, which she sends with the inept Christian Cantle, as she doesn´t want to give it to Wildeve. When Christian takes the 50 guineas for her and 50 for Clym, he meets a group of locals and wins in a raffle, which leads him to believe in Damon´s tales and looses all the money at a dice game. The reddleman Viggory witnesses the scene and wins back the money from Damon, only to give all the money (also the one for Clym) to Thomasin when he meets her.