Friday, March 23, 2012
Theme in The Return of the Native
When we talk about theme in fiction, we talk about the major ideas that the novelist, and the narrative, is exploring in the work. What ideas do you think Hardy investigates in The Return of the Native? And, what about the novel--the plot, character, setting, narrative point of view--suggest the theme or themes? Plot is what happens in the novel, the sequence of events. Theme is what the novel is "about."
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ReplyDeleteAt first,I found Hardy's novel to be a hard read, but as I discovered that the novel is more about the place where the characters rather than the characters themselves, I begun to understand it piece by piece. Hardy spends a significant amount of time describing the place of Egdon Heath before introducing any characters. As we well know, the first part of the novel focuses solely on such a discription, illustrating to the reader that some sort of a connection exists between the place and the characters, and as such, the theme of the novel is greatly affected. In The Return of the Native, Hardy explores several significant themes. Thus far I would argue that those themes are love, sacrafice,romance,the closeness of friendships of Egdon Heath, the curiousity (sheer gossip) of the residents, true desire and happiness, as well as the power nature possess (Egdon Heath) over nurture (the people living in such a place). The first theme that Hardy explores is love (all forms of it). For example, Diggory Vann demonstrates true love toward Thomasin Yeobright. He sacrafices his happiness for her to be happy and keep her honor. He allows her and understands that she must marry Damon Wildeve in order to maintain her respect. He spends a significant amount of in the first few books of the novel achieving this. The love he shows toward Thomasin is true love. Further, the love Clym Yeobright, who I would argue in this case is the native, shows toward Egdon Heath is also true love. The next very similar theme to love is sacrafice. Love and sacrafice within the context of this novel go hand in hand. Diggory Vann sacrafices his happiness, and Clym Yeobright sacrifices the wealth he was accumulating in Paris to return to Egdon Heath. Mrs. Yeobright also makes the ultimate sacrifice. She looses the realtionship with her son due to her beliefs and his decisions. Romance is another theme that Hardy's novel clearly explores, and Eustacia Vye is a perfect example of that,or rather, I should say her love affair with Damon Wildeve perfectly illustrates the theme. Thier symbol for meeting - the bonfire- demonstrates sheer romance. Further, her desire to meet Clym aslo plays on the theme of romance and female sexuality. Additionally, Hardy explores the theme of closeness and curiousity. The two go hand in hand. The curiousity of the people and that necessity for gossip bulids close friendships that shape the lives of the main characters. Hardy also explores the theme of happiness thus far. To be happy one has to sacrifice, and that is clearly demonstrated. Lastly, I would firmly argue that the theme of narture vs. nurture all too greatly shapes Hardy's novel. The nature which as mentioned abouve is Egdon Heath shapes the nurutre (the lives of the natives). To conclude this blog topic, I would say that all of the themes are internally and externally connected carrying the novel throughout.
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DeleteI agree that the heath plays a great role in this novel. It is as if it is a character within itself, because it influences the story line so much. Some despise the heath, like Eustacia Vye. Others do not mind its reminder of home, like Clym. Either way, the heath is wild and unpredictable, like the characters in the novel. It reflects them in a way that is foreshadowed throughout the novel. The heath is described as out of control at times and dark, which sets up the story line for the rest of the novel. The characters prove to be doing drastic things that were not expected and at times, letting darkness take over their actions. For example, Eustacia was motivated by darkness to begin an affair with Damon, and even married Clym only for selfish reasons.
DeleteI believe Hardy plays heavily on the theme of love and also trickery. He intertwines relationships between all the characters and throws love into the mix, which tends to stir up a great deal of controversy. It begins by the trickery Damon uses to avoid marrying Thomasin because he is still in love with Eustacia. Later we discover that Eustacia has used trickery to marry Clym, believing that this marriage will lead to a new life in a far away place. However, she is fooled when she discovers that Clym will not leave because he wants to build a school for children. Hardy uses love to involve trickery and vice versa. It’s interesting to see how the two are connected throughout this novel. It seems that every time a character is in “love” it somehow leads to deception.
ReplyDeleteI think you have hit on two very important themes used by Hardy -- love and deception. Love is definitely a major theme in the novel. Hardy does intertwine many of the characters with love. Hardy presents several love triangles that each are equally deceptive and love infused. The first love triangle we learn of is the one between Wildeve, Eustacia, and Thomasin. Two of the most deceptive characters of the novel are involved in this love affair which makes the emphasis even more apparent. Other love triangles are also part of the novel like the Clym, Wildeve, Eustacia connection then later the Wildeve, Thomasin, Diggory triangle. As is often characteristically true of many three sided love relationships, deception plays a major role in the progression of these love triangles.
DeleteAfter today's class, I would have to say that I completely agree with you. Hardy purposly establishes Diggory Vann to be somewhat of a minor character, but in reality, he acutally is one (if not the most) important main character. As was suggested in class, it is possible that Diggory Vann is actually the native of the novel. I assumed right away that the native had to be Clym Yeobright because he gives up the wealth he was earning in Pairs in order to return to Egdon Heath and open a school for the heath's children; however, now that we have finished and discussed the novel in depth, it proves likely that Diggory Vann is our native or the main character of Hardy's novel. Ironically, throughout the novel's beggining and the middle Diggory is described as a reddleman (and is in fact red), and as such, he was deemed inferior by the others due to his line of work; nevertheless, he returns to the heath as someone else, a new him, to persue his dream of marrying his true love Thomasin Yeobright. Lastly, Diggory most certainly is the one character that greatly interferes in the lives of the other characters in order to make things better. Now that I reflect back on it, he has to be our main character; he is almost every single scene and those scenes of the novels in which he is not, he in one way or another finds out exactly what occured. Diggory Venn is defenitely the protagonist and the main character, sacrificing everything in order to ensure and maintain Thomasin's honor. He truley illustrates sacrifice and his love is pure and true without self-interest. He is a self-less character who at the end acheives happiness which makes since now that we know more about Hardy and his beliefs. I must conclude by saying that at first I did not like or even understand this novel at all, but as we discussed it in class and explored its themes in depth, I must say that I am rather fond of Hardy and his The Return of the Native.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major themes in Return of the Native is fate. The idea of a ‘force’ that predetermines certain outcomes or events is certainly present in the novel. Many of the characters in the novel have their life changed by fate. Despite the decisions or resolutions they make to change their foreseen destiny they are unable to do undo the inevitable.
ReplyDeleteEustacia for instance dreams and aspires of moving out of the heath. She takes action after action in hopes of moving either to Paris or Budmouth. She leaves Wildeve to marry Clym who she thinks will provide that escape but certain misunderstandings and events never allow her to escape the heath.
Clym also makes decisions prior to the novel that are aimed at changing his fate. Perhaps influenced by his mother he does indeed decide to move to Paris prior to the novel in order to escape his fate in the heath. Even distancing himself from his fate is unable to keep him away. Clym as we have all read does indeed return to his rightful place, the heath, where he feels the most comfortable in. Even the insistence from the two women he loves the most can not allow him to alter his fate.
Diggory has also tried to escape who he truly is and his predetermined destiny by becoming a reddleman. Diggory has taken his occupation in order to escape the world he feels dejected by and has imposed a sort of self-inflected punishment for his shortcomings. By choosing to become this red figure so closely associated with evil (as he is seen by the local heath children) or negativity he aims to escape who he is and what is fated for him to become. Despite Diggory’s attempt to isolate himself from his hometown he is essentially the person most involved in the lives of the towns people of the heath. He cannot escape fates desire to keep him close to the heath and Thomasin no matter how hard he tries.
This book was very dense towards the beginning and necessarily so. It was quite a change of pace from everything else I've been reading this semester and I mentally prepared for the undertaking of a Victorian novel set in the English countryside. That being said, I did not expect to be so engaged in a book that appears as, in fact, drawn out descriptions of one rural area and the handful of people that live there. It is easy to imagine these subjects as bland and dull, which is exactly why Hardy's writing is so impressive. This is the stuff of great poets!
ReplyDeleteHardy imaginatively portrays rural England as not only a place of which we are now familiar by our modern experience (or exposure), but also as a necessary living and breathing host to its inhabiting parasites--both lives breathing into each other. The expanse of land that is Egdon Heath employs a specific breed of character and accompanying dialect, and when educated and/or progressive dreamers such as Eustacia Vye and (originally) Clym Thomasin are to exist at the influence of these settlers, gossip becomes never more meaningless, nor unavoidable. Indeed, there are not many people that live in the isolation from society that is the heath, but a population is present and a culture is preserved. The amount of unoccupied land must govern the idle lives of the villagers that live so far apart. Cultural stagnance remains by lack of progression. The community does not unite to discuss ideas that may stimulate the future of the area, largely due to the separation that the land forces between each persons' individual lives. Unproductive, private, often selfish thoughts possess those compelled to think progressively or with some sense of worldview. The others accept the bonfires--life outside the heath is not realistic because life on the heath does not change. The natives like it this way, but might not realize that society does not depend on them, much less consider them. Thus, the physical expanse of land sets their separate lives in motion, like the planets and moons of the universe in their fixed (but very separate) orbits.
Hardy constructs a tragedy out of a tale in this setting for the educated audience of very progressive Victorian era. Urban society was expanding so quickly that this rural lifestyle, dear to Hardy, was quickly becoming obsolete--not entirely by pressures from society, but by the sheer separateness of the heath-dwellers: separate from society, separate from each other both physically and personally, therefore, separate as a whole--separate as a type of people. Each person on the heath has little to nothing in common with his or her neighbor that lives at least a miles walk away. The native of the heath is the observer of his lifestyles condition--the Victorian reader becomes aware of a contemporary foreign existence.