More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
His Christian name was Gabriel,
Farmer Oak = Gabriel
Laodicean
Nicene creed,
to state his character as it stood in the scale of public opinion, when his friends and critics were in tantrums, he was considered rather a bad man; when they were pleased, he was rather a good man; when they were neither, he was a man whose moral colour was a kind of pepper-and-salt mixture.
Characterization of Farmer Oak/Gabriel as middle ground
He wore a low-crowned felt hat, spread out at the base by tight jamming upon the head for security in high winds, and a coat like Dr. Johnson's;
Samuel Johnson was an important literary figure whom, I imagine, dressed smartly. A smart coat seems to contrast a hat pulled on tight so that it won't fly away in the wind. Indoor vs outdoor concerns. White collar versus blue collar
Mr. Oak carried about him, by way of watch, what may be called a small silver clock; in other words, it was a watch as to shape and intention, and a small clock as to size. This instrument being several years older than Oak's grandfather, had the peculiarity of going either too fast or not at all.
Does this symbolize anything significant aboit the passing of time?
Oak's fob being difficult of access, by reason of its somewhat high situation in the waistband of his trousers (which also lay at a remote height under his waistcoat), the watch was as a necessity pulled out by throwing the body to one side, compressing the mouth and face to a mere mass of ruddy flesh on account of the exertion required, and drawing up the watch by its chain, like a bucket from a well.
Okay, so timekeeping is highly inconvenient for Oak.
Oak walked unassumingly and with a faintly perceptible bend, yet distinct from a bowing of the shoulders. This may be said to be a defect in an individual if he depends for his valuation more upon his appearance than upon his capacity to wear well, which Oak did not.
Oak is a humble man; he is not vain
He was at the brightest period of masculine growth, for his intellect and his emotions were clearly separated: he had passed the time during which the influence of youth indiscriminately mingles them in the character of impulse, and he had not yet arrived at the stage wherein they become united again, in the character of prejudice, by the influence of a wife and family. In short, he was twenty-eight, and a bachelor.
Transitions. Liminal spaces. Also, it's comforting to see "28" depicted as an "in-between" (even in a book published in 1874)
The handsome girl waited for some time idly in her place, and the only sound heard in the stillness was the hopping of the canary up and down the perches of its prison.
The symbolism of a caged bird is effective enough. Explicitly alling its cage a "prison" heightens the effect. Is the handsome girl imprisoned? Is Oak imprisoned?
The myrtles, geraniums, and cactuses packed around her were fresh and green, and at such a leafless season they invested the whole concern of horses, waggon, furniture, and girl with a peculiar vernal charm.
She's breathing life into a desolate place
Woman's prescriptive infirmity had stalked into the sunlight, which had clothed it in the freshness of an originality.
There was no necessity whatever for her looking in the glass. She did not adjust her hat, or pat her hair, or press a dimple into shape, or do one thing to signify that any such intention had been her motive in taking up the glass. She simply observed herself as a fair product of Nature in the feminine kind, her thoughts seeming to glide into far-off though likely dramas in which men would play a part—vistas
Gabriel's features adhered throughout their form so exactly to the middle line between the beauty of St. John and the ugliness of Judas Iscariot, as represented in a window of the church he attended, that not a single lineament could be selected and called worthy either of distinction or notoriety.
Crazy way to say Oak is average-looking
Gabriel, perhaps a little piqued by the comely traveller's indifference,
Push/pull, indifference/mystery being attractive
glanced back to where he had witnessed her performance over the hedge, and said, "Vanity."
If a woman is confident, she is vain? He stil doesn't have the context for her loomking in the mirror. If her fault is vanity, perhaps his is judgmentalness
convexity
half-wooded half-naked hill,
Half hidden, half revealed. Perhaps like Gabriel? Or perhaps like Gabriel knowing the exterior of the pretty woman and guessing at the rest?
a mysterious sheet of fathomless shade—the
A division -- like a looking glass. And like the looking glass reflects what's in front of it, we assume the shadehides more of the same terrain ahead of it. Are we wrong to assume so?
To persons standing alone on a hill during a clear midnight such as this, the roll of the world eastward is almost a palpable movement. The sensation may be caused by the panoramic glide of the stars past earthly objects, which is perceptible in a few minutes of stillness, or by the better outlook upon space that a hill affords, or by the wind, or by the solitude; but whatever be its origin, the impression of riding along is vivid and abiding. The poetry of motion is a phrase much in use, and to enjoy the epic form of that gratification it is necessary to stand on a hill at a small hour of the
...more
Just beautiful. Magical.
Ararat,
Previously he had been a bailiff for a short time, and earlier still a shepherd only, having from his childhood assisted his father in tending the flocks of large proprietors, till old Gabriel sank to rest.
Gabriel is finding his way. He is a shephard almost by default, because his dad was a shephard. Dad is also named Gabriel
He returned to the hut, bringing in his arms a new-born lamb,
Innocence. Sacrifice?
united by a seemingly inconsiderable membrane about half the substance of the legs collectively, which constituted the animal's entire body just at present.
The appearance of age/maturity/indeendence versus the reality of youth/inexperience/helplessness
Her companion was apparently young and graceful; he could form no decided opinion upon her looks, her position being almost beneath his eye, so that he saw her in a bird's-eye view, as Milton's Satan first saw Paradise.
Okay, comparing his voyeurism to the gaze of Satan is pretty intense
Oak, upon hearing these remarks, became more curious to observe her features, but this prospect being denied him by the hooding effect of the cloak, and by his aerial position, he felt himself drawing upon his fancy for their details. In making even horizontal and clear inspections we colour and mould according to the wants within us whatever our eyes bring in.
Yes. We projects our wishes and desires onto the unknown-- and are often disappoiuted when reality cannot compare
Having for some time known the want of a satisfactory form to fill an increasing void within him,
prosily,
The girl, who wore no riding-habit, looked around for a moment, as if to assure herself that all humanity was out of view, then dexterously dropped backwards flat upon the pony's back, her head over its tail, her feet against its shoulders, and her eyes to the sky.
She's not like other girls-- she's a rebel. Still smart enough to abide by patriarchal rules in public. But how and where did she learn to maneuver so well on a horse?
The performer
Interesting that she is called "the performer." And once again, Gabriel is the voyeur. And ofc, she performs (or does not perform) "femininity"
satisfying herself that nobody was in sight, she seated herself in the manner demanded by the saddle, though hardly expected of the woman,
She came, the pail in one hand, hanging against her knee. The left arm was extended as a balance, enough of it being shown bare to make Oak wish that the event had happened in the summer, when the whole would have been revealed.
Bring back lusting over the smallest glimpses of flesh
There was a bright air and manner about her now, by which she seemed to imply that the desirability of her existence could not be questioned; and this rather saucy assumption failed in being offensive because a beholder felt it to be, upon the whole, true.
Why would he /want/ to be offended by her confidence/desirability? It's giving insecure
she must have had a beautiful neck and shoulders; but since her infancy nobody had ever seen them. Had she been put into a low dress she would have run and thrust her head into a bush. Yet she was not a shy girl by any means; it was merely her instinct to draw the line dividing the seen from the unseen higher than they do it in towns.
Is this customary? Has she been taught to be ashamed of her body?
Rays of male vision seem to have a tickling effect upon virgin faces in rural districts; she brushed hers with her hand, as if Gabriel had been irritating its pink surface by actual touch,
her hair, which was black in the shaded hollows of its mass;
"Yes you had." "How do you know?" "I saw you."
Bro, why are you blowing your cover? You sound like a creep
It was a time to see a woman redden who was not given to reddening as a rule;
Why are men prone to enjoying a woman's embarrassment? Sigh.
as without law there is no sin, without eyes there is no indecorum;
contretemps
He wished she knew his impressions; but he would as soon have thought of carrying an odour in a net as of attempting to convey the intangibilities of his feeling in the coarse meshes of language. So he remained silent.
What a great way to conceptualize the failure of language to convey our true feelings
You seem fond of yours in speaking it so decisively, Gabriel Oak." "You see, it is the only one I shall ever have, and I must make the most of it." "I always think mine sounds odd and disagreeable." "I should think you might soon get a new one." "Mercy!—how many opinions you keep about you concerning other people, Gabriel Oak."
Omg is he hitting on herr?!?! Or just trying to imply that she will soon be married because she is beautiful?
I suppose you are thinking you would like to kiss it? You may if you want to." "I wasn't thinking of any such thing," said Gabriel, simply; "but I will—" "That you won't!" She snatched back her hand.
Is this dizzying switch-up a product of her learning -- in real time -- what conduct is appropriate between a man and woman? She would have been fine with a kiss on the hand, but sh seems to be taking cues from Gabriel. His reaction made her rethink.
Love, being an extremely exacting usurer
His dog waited for his meals in a way so like that in which Oak waited for the girl's presence,
Bathsheba Everdene,
Love is a possible strength in an actual weakness. Marriage transforms a distraction into a support, the power of which should be, and happily often is, in direct proportion to the degree of imbecility it supplants.
But without marriage (or actual structure/support) love remains a weakness
for the clothes she had worn on the hill were by association equally with her person included in the compass of his affection; they seemed at this early time of his love a necessary ingredient of the sweet mixture called Bathsheba Everdene.
This implies that by a later time in his love, he will not hold Bathsheba and her clothes in the same regard. Like maybe he'll want to see her undressed?
his usually dry, sandy, and inextricably curly hair,
Appearance of Farmer Oak
Nothing disturbed the stillness of the cottage save the chatter of a knot of sparrows on the eaves; one might fancy scandal and rumour to be no less the staple topic of these little coteries on roofs than of those under them.
Greeeeat, the stereotyping of women as gossips
