Jude the Obscure - Part IV

[Alana]

Discuss Part IV.

[Alana]

IV - 2

Sue speaking of staying in a, for her, unhappy marriage: "When people of a later age look back upon the barbarous customs and superstitions of the times that we have the unhappiness to live in, what will they say!"

Such an interesting statement, considering that's exactly what we are doing by reading this book. We look back on an earlier time, when marriage was binding (at least socially) and where someone like Arabella would be the utmost of reviling to an orderly society. What are some "barbarous and superstitious customs" do you suppose our descendants will judge us for?

[Alana]

Jude wonders at some point in this section if all women are like this (wishy-washy, unconstant, etc) or if that happens to be just his particular temptation and problem because of his own personality. How many of us have wondered this about the opposite sex over the years! It makes me chuckle ruefully because I can recall countless conversations with other women where we are (again) flabbergasted over the actions of some man, and wondering if all men are like that or we are just unlucky? Obviously this is not a new problem! Or just a problem among women, much as we like to think it sometimes.

I don't know if Hardy is trying to make a point about women in general (more likely about the constraints of society at the time), but I can't help wondering if Sue is bipolar or, more likely, had borderline personality disorder. Having known someone with the latter disorder in the past (someone who had an extreme case and refused to take medication, etc), she reminds me a lot of that person in the way she is so back and forth in how she treats Jude (well, really ALL the people in her life). She is their best buddy one minute, then a day or two later, writes letters of how she regrets her actions and to not take her seriously (i.e., don't love her even though she said to), then a few days later again, be craving that love again. Hardy makes it seem like she genuinely doesn't know what she want, and maybe that's true, but it has a horrible effect on those around her who DO love her.

This book reminds me a great deal of W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage. There, too, a woman plays on a young man's affection for her, coming back to him for help again and again, for money, shelter, etc, after her affairs with various men, even long after his affection has ceased for her, but he still feels duty bound by his old affection to take care of her, even after long abuse and neglect by her. In modern society, we so often see this the other way around, that a woman keeps pining away for a man and taking care of him, despite the horrible way he treats her, but it often happens the other way around, too. Women can be just as fickle and using of others as men, sometimes more.

Honestly, I don't think Jude and Sue are made for each other, despite what Phillotson thinks. I think Sue is determined not to be happy no matter WHOM she is with or WHERE she is. She just can't settle to anything. She doesn't know what she wants, and doesn't care who gets tossed around emotionally by her roaming. She is a child, fanciful, thinking of what she wants, but then getting it, and not wanting that either, and then pouting about it to whomever is closest. Talk about fear of commitment issues! I don't anticipate any happier times for Jude and/or Sue now that they are (sort of) "together." Say what you will about Arabella's actions, at least she was honest enough to completely walk away and leave the picture, then ask for a divorce later. She never sought Jude out for help later, but when they met by chance at one occasion, fell into the passion of an evening, which is understandable, if not entirely justifiable.

Why do I have a feeling that Sue is going to turn up pregnant and now Jude will be stuck in his original position of taking care of a woman because she's pregnant, but this time, he's not the cause? May end up being some different issues, but I wouldn't be surprised if that ended up being one of them.