The Way We Live Now - Week 8

[Dianne]

Ah ha! we finally see that Melmotte’s majesty is unraveling as his forgery in connection with Pickering estate transactions has been revealed. It surprises me that he does not seem to understand why people did not attend his grand dinner - because surely this was not the only schemes he had going on! Did he really think that he would be able to keep it up on an ongoing basis undetected? At the end of the first chapter in the section, Mr. Melmotte is aware of why people did not attend the dinner but we don’t see his reaction. What is interesting is that later on in the section he seems resigned to his feet and that he will be imprisoned and go down in infamy. It seems that he has escaped from any other Scripps in the past but knows he will not escape this one did he think he would set this up to go down and glory? It’s amazing that he would set up a gram dinner in light of the trouble but he must’ve known would come to him. What is interesting is that later on in the section he seems resigned to his fate and expects that he will be imprisoned and go down in infamy. It seems that he has escaped from many other scrapes in the past but knows he will not escape this one - did he think he would set this up first so as to go down in glory? It’s amazing that he would set up a grand dinner in light of the trouble but he must’ve known would come to him. As he put it, he wouldn’t be able to ever escape now - even if it was to the stars.

Also in this section we also see that Georgiana intends to marry - but does she really seem in love with her suitor? Perhaps she feels that she really doesn’t have a lot of options at this point.

[Tammy Dayton]

It seemed to me that the Melmottes were used to it. I cannot remember the exact words so I am paraphrasing - We may need to move again dear. How horrid is Georgiana's friend? Only using her to be with the Chinese emperor and the other royalty and then missed them because she was so concerned about what others thought. She had her husband running ragged to find out if the dinner was going to be cancelled or not. Geez. The Way We Live Now = How People Should Perceive Us.

[Monarda]

So sad to read about the antisemitic attitudes.

[Jen]

I wonder to what extent Trollope shared the antisemetic views expressed in the book. His portrayal of Brehgert is a sympathetic one (and there aren't many we can say that of in this story). But even so, it's sometimes hard to tell. Does anyone know about this who has read or studied Trollope in more depth?

I did find this interesting article from The New York Times in 2002: https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/bo...

[Tammy Dayton]

Jen wrote: "I wonder to what extent Trollope shared the antisemetic views expressed in the book. His portrayal of Brehgert is a sympathetic one (and there aren't many we can say that of in this story). But eve..."

Jen, thank you for this article. This is my takeaway - Trollope intended to write a book about the greed of corporations and included Jews as the stereotypical greedy, money laundering bankers. I do think Trollope was racist because of the way they are written. On the other hand, Breghert was written as an honest person, yet Georgiana's friend and father called him names alluding to possibly greasy fingers (swindling). Trollope didn't use him as a champion. Roger is still the only one to be honest in everything.

I hate that even in modern times, the media portrays Melmotte as a caricature/stereotype of Jews. That blew my mind. The journalist or editor is right - people become bigots because of fear - that a culture will erase another's culture.

When we read Daniel Deronda, Anti-Semitism was also in it, but George Eliot seemed to want to enlighten her readers about the culture, not stand by a hateful stereotype.

Breghert was treated awfully by the friend and the father and I hope that the relationship can be redeemed. Again, thank you for sharing this article.

[Monarda]

Thanks Jen for the link to the NYT article. I'm disappointed to read that the PBS Masterpiece theatre series seems to include an anti-Semitic caricature.
Thanks Tammy for mentioning Daniel Deronda - hadn't heard of it, and am looking forward to reading it.