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Return of the Native Hardy Week 2 - Buddy Read Book 2
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Only now it occurs to me that we haven’t even met the real main character of this book until we reach Book 2. How exciting!
I am dizzy and have lost track of who manipulates who; and what circumstances cause misunderstandings and what is a natural development; and what would have happened if who hadn’t met who. This plot is spinning around and I feel completely bedazzled.
I agree it´s quite confusing with all the people and their relationships Charlotte! Looking ahead to further developments...
Wildeve was supposed to have Eustacia and Diggory was supposed to have Thomasine. What a mess.
Chapter1: First off, I first encountered the feminine name Eustacia in the novel. I think Eustacia is one of the prettiest names I have ever encountered. From what I understand the informal version is Staci. But if I ever run into an Eustacia I would use the full version. Eustacia overhearing the workers talking about Clym Yeobright is ready to throw herself at him sight unseen as she believes he is her ticket out of Dodge. As I am wont to do I try to connect scenes in the novel in the context of Victorian society. The workers,I am sure expressing the general sentiment, believe Clym is destined to marry Eustacia. Why would people think this? In Victorian society there was, if I remember the right term, what was classed the Women Problem. This was the demographic imbalance between the population of single Middle Class single women and the population of acceptable potential husbands. From the novel for women like Eustscia the store shelves were very bare indeed. At least in the United States there is a similar demographic challenge. For the past few decades women have greatly outpaced men in earning college degrees. I fact many institutions practice a type of affirmative action for male applicants to keep the sex ratio from becoming too unbalanced.
Chapter 2: Poor Eustacia. Driven mad by a simple greeting of "Good Night".
Chapter 2: Hint...pay attention to what Eustacia overhears Clym saying with his mother and cousin.....
I messed up the chapters again. Chapter 4: Poor Charley paid a steep price to hold Eustacia's hand. Eustacia first offered Charley money to replace him as a mummer. Her first offer was a Half Crown. Under the per-decimal system 1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence. This division allowed a wide plethora of coins representing different fractions of 240. A Half Crown was 2 shillings and 6 pence or 30 pence or 1/8 a pound. Then she doubled the offer to 5 shillings. To put this into context a low skilled laborer usually earned around 5 to 7 shillings a week. So Charley turned down around a week's salary to hold her hand. I have a collection of Victorian era coins.
Chapter 6: Grandfer Cantle reminiscences about being a soldier in 1804 and deploying from the port town of Budmouth. The British government mobilized the army to defend against a potential invasion from Napoleon. The potential threat lasted thru part of 1805 when Napoleon took his Grande Arme from the Channel and marched east ultimately winning his great victory at Austetliz.
Chapter 6: One of the things I find so enchanting about Eustacia is Hardy associates here with the night. He remarks Eustacia enjoys moonlight walks. Her first words with Clym took place as she was looking at the moon. I do find it interesting Clym immediately identifies her as a cultured woman just by her saying a few sentences.
Interesting thoughts and information, thanks Michael! That was a rather steep price playing the mummer, and I never thought that Eustacia was associated with the night! Great to hear you even got a collection of Victorian coins!
Miss Michaela, probably the main reason I noticed was as an undergraduate and graduate student I did the same exact thing as Eustacia. I would go for nightly walks around campus. Other times I would be walking to my dorm or the place I was living after another stupid frat party and even then the walk was the highlight of the evening not being around a punch of drunken peacocks trying to find the next hook up. This is getting personal so I better stop. If you want to heard a 52 year old reminiscence feel free to message me.
I notice everytime Hardy pushes the romance meter to red for Eustacia it is at night or the approach of night: her silhouette on the Rainbarrow against the dusk, her signal and waiting for Wildeve. and now her first meeting with Clym. I was one of those persons where romantic thoughts and like are drawn out by the night especially when the seasons turn to Fall and Winter. No spring birds and bees for me. The inky blackness, and the bright stars of a wintry night it is for me.
MichaelK19thCFan wrote: "I messed up the chapters again. Chapter 4: Poor Charley paid a steep price to hold Eustacia's hand. Eustacia first offered Charley money to replace him as a mummer. Her first offer was a Half Crown..."That shows just how attractive and unobtainable Eustacia seems to be. To him, just holding her hand was ten times more valuable than the money. And it shows how different they are - on an intellectual level.
Funny you said that about the name, Michael. ( I can’t find that post. ) During the first two books, the name Eustacia was ugly to me. Because when read in Danish, it starts with “yew” (like “yuk!”) And the c just makes it look foreign and unfamiliar. Now I have learned how to properly pronounce it and not to pay attention to the spelling. I guess I am supposed to pronounce it like the Eu in Europe. And yes, it is a beautiful name.
I (Austrian) wondered about the pronunciation of Eustacia too. I had to look it up, as I was wrong in the end. ;)
Chapter 8: I did take note when Clym heard the rumors about Thomasin and Wildeve his first assumption it was Thomasin who did something wrong.
Does anyone else notice Venn's speech seems to fall between the workers and say the Yeobrights?
MichaelK19thCFan wrote: "Does anyone else notice Venn's speech seems to fall between the workers and say the Yeobrights?"I didn´t realize that, have to re-read. And of course the women are the ones whose fault it is, they´re dangerous!
MichaelK19thCFan wrote: "Does anyone else notice Venn's speech seems to fall between the workers and say the Yeobrights?"Yes, I did, but I didn’t think more about it. What was it he did before...
The first thing we are told about Clym Yeobright's personality is that he "doesn't try to make people like him". It will be interesting to see how this affects others. We learn that he and his cousin Thomasin had something between them before he went away - how much is not revealed. Clym now finds the hills of the heath "friendly and genial". Did he when he grew up there? Will he always? Hardy doesn't, as far as I noticed, tell us why Clym's plan to stay for just a few days changed (they changed BEFORE he met the disguised Eustacia). Was it because he was starting to have tender feelings for Thomasin again? Eustacia becomes so engrossed in her literal charade to lay eyes on Clym that she forgets her scheduled meeting with Wildeve when she was due to give him her decision. The hand of fate is starting to loom large, as it always does in Thomas Hardy's world. There are so many people playing with so many hearts, that fate cannot fail to be invoked.
Eustacia gives Diggory a letter in which she breaks up with Damon. In consequence he agrees to marry Thomasin, also when he hears that Diggory is interested in her (he comes too late to propose). They marry clandestinely, though Viggory and Eustacia attend surprisingly.
Please post your thoughts on the second book here. :)