UTGT - Part 1 - Winter

[Pip]

Ella's Gran wrote: "Fancy could well be an early feminist. This was about the time the movement was getting underway"

That would indeed be fabulous. Something is telling me, though, that she (Fancy) is no Perkins Gilman. The name certainly doesn't help ;-)

[Deborah]

Peter wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Thinking about the incident of the girls outsinging the little band, it seems to have several underlying aspects. One is that obviously the old schoolmaster or mistress didn't enco..."

One of the things I enjoy about Hardy is the strength of his women characters. There are many with streaks of independence :)

[LindaH]

Fancy Day, whatever her motives, certainly has definite intentions in the church on Christmas. She enters "methodically". The girls' singing was "surging upwards when the gallery plunged downward, and the reverse." She sounds possessed of a strategy. I don't think she aims to uplift the girls' status. I would guess, given her appearance, that her intentions have to do with a man.

[Lily]

Ella's Gran wrote: "Yes, Fancy could well be an early feminist. This was about the time the movement was getting underway, and Hardy could well have used it as a theme for this novel. It will be interesting to see how he develops that - pro or against - which will be his leaning...."

Hardy is, of course, famous for his rather feminist female protagonists, whether Tess of the D'Urbervilles or Sue in Jude the Obscure or Bathsheba in Far from the Madding Crowd. The last time I read Jude with a group, I spent more time reading analyses (about Sue, particularly) and Hardy bios than reading the text. I came away with a sense of more information, but not necessarily more understanding, about Hardy and his stance vis–à–vis feminism. If you are interested, Ella's Gran, my suggestion would be to go have fun. The journey may frustrate, but still be worthwhile. Certainly the world from which he speaks is far different from the one in which our daughters move and function, but identifying and naming those differences can be challenging, especially as regards self-respect and self-identification.

My one generalization would be that Hardy doesn't necessarily portray what we might call "feminism" as wise, but he doesn't demonize it either.

[Frances]

Pip wrote: In other words, many of the characters we might have seen in Hardy's novels if the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions hadn't occurred, have actually upped and left to appear in Dickens' novels instead ;-)


Too funny and too right, Pip, glad we get to enjoy both sides of the coin in our readings.

[Tracy]

Everyman wrote: "Thinking about the incident of the girls outsinging the little band, it seems to have several underlying aspects. One is that obviously the old schoolmaster or mistress didn't encourage the girls t..."

I agree... This is my first time reading UTGT, and I felt a lot of tension and foreshadowing in that scene. Don't yet know what it means, but I'm eager to find out.

[Tracy]

Everyman wrote: Michael. Who insists on singing out at the farmer's place,...

I love this scene, the drama, and the characterization. And this image is priceless: "“wildly flinging his arms and body about in the forms of capital Xs and Ys,”

[Tracy]

Thank you all for the interesting discussion and the resources, for enhancing my reading enjoyment.

[Diane]

Tracy wrote: "I love this scene, the drama, and the characterization. And this image is priceless: "“wildly flinging his arms and b..."

I love that image too. I also enjoyed the story one fellow told about having an auctioneer friend who he nodded to one day and ended up buying a feather bed, bolster and pillows. Even today there are jokes about accidentally buying things at auctions.

[Renee, Moderator]

I love that bit! I was petrified the first time I attended an auction with my mother. I was sure that is sneeze and we'd be stuck with something awful and expensive!