Works of Thomas Hardy discussion
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The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge
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The Mayor of Casterbridge: 1st thread: Chapters 1 - 9
Bridget wrote: "Does the bird wanting to escape the tent mirror Michael wanting out of his marriage. Or does the bird reflect Susan needing to escape a man who obviously does not care for her. .."I know it's too early to truly say which of these desires is true.
My initial feeling is that Michael is too drunk and not thinking right to know whether or not he wants out of his marriage.
On the other hand, the couple were distant and non-communicative from the get-go, so perhaps they each want to leave each other.
It does seem that Susan would need to leave the marriage in order to blossom into her true self and to give her daughter the best possible chance of blossoming, too.
That may all now depend on the man who bought her. He seems kind. I hope he is.
Doesn't Michael ask about work - whilst on the road? I just thought that without any means to support his wife and child, he could only see them as a burden - their homeless state a relentless source of shame to him. He wishes to be rid of them - so that he is free to look for the work that he can only find by travelling quickly and repeatedly.
Thank you, thank you, thank you all for all the wonderful detail and comments. I had meant to jump in earlier (I had read the first chapter as soon as this thread was opened!) and I'm already hooked on the story.I'm reading a Signet Classic with an introduction by Elliot Perlman, author of Seven Types of Ambiguity, The Reasons I Won't Be Coming, The Street Sweeper and Three Dollars, but I like your comments so much more. It was published in 2008.
I don't know who had my edition of the book prior to my purchase, but it's interesting that who ever it was written notes in the margins, including one about the swallow reference. And I'm interested in finding out who may be the better off after the auction. Its quite an introduction to this story.
So for now, I'm on to the next chapter!
The poem, "The Selfsame Song," has been posted to read along with Chapter 1. The dozen poems we will be reading along with the novel have been mentioned by a Hardy scholar as having some connection--an image, location, theme, or character's behavior--to "The Mayor of Casterbridge." I'll be including a quote from the novel for each poem. Most of the poems are very accessible even to people who rarely read poetry. Hardy wanted to be a poet at a young age, but he had to turn to short stories and novels to pay the bills. When he had made a name for himself as a writer, he was able to concentrate on poetry. We'll notice that many of the same ideas and images are present in both his prose and poetry.
I would love to read your ideas about the poem. This is the link to "The Selfsame Song" poem and discussion:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Bridget, Mark, Erich, Petra, and Laura, I've enjoyed reading your remarks about the two passages where Hardy uses images of birds to foreshadow or comment about events.In the phrase about "the voice of a weak bird," it suggests some impending doom. We can ask who is the weak person--Michael, his wife Susan, or both? Susan could be considered the weaker because the laws do not favor women, she's in a difficult marriage, and she was treated like another animal on the auction block. But Michael is weak in character, does not value his family, and makes the terrible decision to sell his wife.
"At the moment a swallow, one among the last of the season, which had by chance found its way through an opening into the upper part of the tent, flew to and fro quick curves above their heads, causing all eyes to follow it absently. In watching the bird till it made its escape the assembled company neglected to respond to the workman’s offer, and the subject dropped."
This quote above shows a wonderful image of a bird finding its way to freedom. Again, we can consider both Michael and Susan when we think of freedom. Michael says, ". . . if I were a free man again I’d be worth a thousand pound before I’d done o’t. But a fellow never knows these little things till all chance of acting upon ’em is past.”
Susan says, "I’ve lived with thee a couple of years, and had nothing but temper! Now I’m no more to ’ee; I’ll try my luck elsewhere. ’Twill be better for me and Elizabeth-Jane, both. So good-bye!” Michael is ready for freedom for financial reasons, and Susan for emotional reasons. Like the bird, Susan is heading for an unknown destination.
Jean, thank you about all the information about wife-selling. I'm wondering if Susan will be considered a bigamist later, and hope the sailor is kinder than Michael.
Bridget wrote: "What a marvelous first day, Jean. Thank you so much for including so many new facts I didn't know, like The Mayor of Castebridge being a huge part of Hardy solidifying his fictiona..."Bridget.
Yes. Thank you for pointing out the references to other forms of auctions and the bird references. There is so much packed into such a seemingly leisurely opening chapter. We are in for a rich reading experience.
Mod
Oh yes! What a sense of foreboding we have, and yet it seems impossible to predict what could happen next.
Mod
I love the way you have encapsulated this, Bridget. Like Peter and others, I was aware Thomas Hardy's mastery of the pathetic fallacy, of the repeated imagery, and Hardy's favourite choice of birds as metaphor for freedom or flight, or in this case being trapped. I had a vague feeling that the bird was Susan, but of course both characters feel trapped in their lives. Plus of course the old worn-out bird giving us a sense of impending doom.
Yes, I realised you must have been tempted to put wife-selling in your intro posts, but think you were absolutely right not to! Nearly all the blurbs include it, (as it does happen in chapter 1!) but it is so much better to read it in Thomas Hardy's words, with his fantastic build up.
I really enjoyed the parts you analysed, too, thank you!
Mod
Great observation that "Hardy makes a point of Susan and Michael being disconnected from the start" -
Yes, it does make us think of the history between them. I think Kathleen and others also wondered what could have happened.
And thank you so much for pointing out the detail that Susan takes the sailor’s hand: such a trusting sign. She is almost like a child herself at this point. I hope he does not let her down, wherever he takes her.
Ah, the bird imagery again ... do please follow the link to today's poem, and add your thoughts there too. It is remarkable that so many of us felt this was key, and then we have the poem which confirms that indeed it is! 😊
Mod
My goodness we seem to have Thomas Hardy's whole philosophy there in one pithy phrase!
I'm so pleased you will be with us for this one ... I know you are heavily committed with hosting duties elsewhere at the same time for some of it! (Thank you 😊)
And your comment on the personal inscription in your copy made me giggle! When years ago I took some books to an antiquarian bookshop, having struck out any such personal inscription I was chastised and told "people love to read them". Now I see he was right!
Mod
I agree "he could only see them [his wife and child] as a burden", and wonder whether he felt that resentment even before he was out of work. Thomas Hardy paints a picture of a cynical, dismissive, hot-tempered fellow.
Mod
"I'm interested in finding out who may be the better off after the auction."
That's a very good question! And don't miss today's poem ...
Mod
I love all the pertinent quotations you included, and am still marvelling at the serendipity of us all picking up on the bird imagery, just before we read the poem which reflects and consolidates it. 🥰
Thank you so much for discovering these poems and leading them. The 3 links are added as promised: in the first comment, the timetable comment and the poetry index.
Pamela wrote: "Its quite an introduction to this story."One of the greatest first chapters in English lit!
Mod
The morning sun wakes the young man the next day. As he discovers his wife’s wedding ring in the grass and the bank notes in his pocket, he groggily recalls the events of the previous evening. Michael emerges from the tent into a beautiful September morning. The gypsies and other visitors to the area are still sleeping, so he leaves Weydon Priors unobserved. About a mile away, he stops, leaning upon a gate, to reflect on his predicament.
Michael worries that he might have revealed his own name the previous evening. He is both surprised and angered by Susan’s willingness to go along with her own sale, and he realises that she must, in her simplicity he believes, except the sale as a binding exchange. He rails against her for bringing such disgrace upon him. Her meekness, he feels, has done him more harm than a bitter temper could have done. He vows that he will find her and their daughter, Elizabeth-Jane.
Michael walks on until he sees a village and towering church spire. He heads to the church and enters through its unlocked door. At this morning hour, the workers have left for the fields, but their wives have not yet awoken. In the church, he makes a vow on the Holy Bible to never drink alcoholic drinks for at least twenty years, asking that he be struck dumb, blind, and helpless if he breaks this vow.
“I, Michael Henchard, on this morning of the sixteenth of September, do take an oath before God here in this solemn place that I will avoid all strong liquors for the space of twenty-one years to come, being a year for every year that I have lived. And this I swear upon the book before me; and may I be stricken dumb, blind, and helpless, if I break this my oath!”
Having taken this first step in a new direction, he eats breakfast in the village.
Michael seeks his wife and child, but as the weeks turn to months and he continues his search between odd jobs, he realises the difficulty of the search. He is reluctant to reveal his own misconduct, which also hampers his search. Eventually he arrives at a western seaport, only to learn that people matching the description he gives had emigrated before he arrived there. Finally giving up the search, he moves a long way south, to settle in the town of Casterbridge.
Mod
Although he seems self-involved and keen to blame others, Michael’s vow is significant because it takes place in a church, a traditional place of prayer and penance. Therefore his vow to not drink is serious: both a punishment for his past actions, and a goal for improvement in the future. There may be an element of superstition in this too, as country characters from this time held a combination of the religious beliefs they had been taught, and also folk traditions.
Despite having sold his family, we see that that Michael is not “evil.” He is evidently a complex character who is able to grow and change. His dedicated search for his wife and child shows commitment to his family, and a sense of duty to them. However, because this search is hampered by his unwillingness to tell the full story, it is clear that he places his own reputation above this sense of familial duty.
Mod
You won’t be surprised to learn that Hardy found the basis for Michael’s vow in the “Dorset County Chronicle”. Like Michael, one man vowed to touch no alcohol for 21 years.
In his case he looked forward to the day when he could drink freely again, and as soon as the term was finished, he had a merry day and got completely inebriated. The next day he renewed the vow for another 12. 😲
I’m not quite sure what to make of this story, but it’s certainly entertaining! I hope we will follow Michael, to see whether he keeps to his vow or not. But then I also hope we follow his wife and child. Michael seemed more piqued that Susan had taken the child with her, than losing his wife herself!
Mod
The Illustrations
The golden decade of British illustrated magazines was the 1860s. After 1870, “The Graphic” newspaper still had most of the important graphic artists of the day on its staff. The Mayor of Casterbridge was actually Thomas Hardy’s seventh serialised novel, (although his tenth published one). It was illustrated for the paper by Robert Barnes, a member of that highly talented group of artists.
Although Thomas Hardy’s serials had been illustrated in magazines since 1872 and A Pair of Blue Eyes, this was only his second experience with weekly serial publication in the large-format Graphic. As we saw in another group read, they would also publish his Tess of the D’Urbervilles later, with weekly frontispiece illustrations by a team of artists led by Hubert von Herkomer. (All those illustrations can be seen in our group read threads.)
All but three of the Barnes illustrations were also reproduced in the American serialisation of the novel in “Harper’s Weekly” which ran concurrently from January to May 1886. Victorian serial readers looked at both the text and the illustrations to properly appreciate a story. Often there are emblematic elements in the illustrations, which both enrich and enhance the story. Sometimes they are less evident to contemporary readers, but often we can pick them up too, if we look carefully.
The two-volume edition of The Mayor of Casterbridge was published just prior to the conclusion of the serial run, and not illustrated at all. This was common practice at the time, and remains so.
There are twenty illustrations in total. Typically, an installment consisted of a picture page with type ranged in three columns, a second full page of type in three columns, and a third page with a single, short column. That is how the original readers read this novel.
According to a letter that Thomas Hardy wrote to Frederick Macmillan on 27th November 1885, preparing of the illustrations “caused delay” in the magazine serialisation of The Mayor of Casterbridge. We do not know about Hardy’s attitude towards these particular illustrations, nor about his relationship with Barnes, as he did not seem to correspond with him, or to collaborate as he did with some other artists.
However, Robert Barnes was noted for his skill with figures and genre subjects, and one critics observe that his characters apparently sprang:
“straight from English soil … these men and women … of the well-to-do farming class, healthy, sturdy, producing no disquieting variations from the sound yeoman stock that has reached back from generation to generation … bold, strong, and very much alive.”
I find them realistic if a little flattering of the figures, but like them very much. I often wish Victorian serial illustrations had been included in the published books.
Mod
Susan’s portrayal is again true to the text “pretty, even handsome” as she looks down at her baby. That the worn-out trio have approached the outskirts of Weydon-Priors is suggested by the building to the extreme left. We see the sceptical hoer beginning to shake his head in response to the young hay-trusser’s query about work. His boots, linen smock-frock, and rumpled hat of the native of Weydon-Priors, are not described in the text, but are perfectly consistent with the attire of Dorset labourers of the period of the 1840s, as can be seen in exhibits in the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester.
It’s worth looking at these original illustrations from the newspaper I think, as there is a wealth of detail in them. Later illustrations would not be as informative. They are likely to be artists’ impressions made to enhance our enjoyment, and perhaps not even technically accurate. It would be interesting to see these too though. Please feel free to post any you like, at the appropriate time: I know Laura mentioned that there are some in her online edition.
Mod
We can tell that these two chapters set up the premise for the whole novel, so let us pause here, as the original readers did, and think of Michael’s unenviable situation. What might happen now? I look forward to your thoughts on this first section.
We will read chapter 3 on Thursday 19th June
What a great start into a story! No doubt readers back then were eagerly waiting for the next chapter!The narrative voice insists again on the sounds: a fly musically buzzing around. With Michael, we gradually perceive the things around, each object, even the tiniest detail, reminds him of what had just happened :
"Besides the buzz of the fly there was not a sound. He looked about—at the benches—at the table supported by trestles—at his basket of tools—at the stove where the furmity had been boiled—at the empty basins—at some shed grains of wheat—at the corks which dotted the grassy floor. Among the odds and ends he discerned a little shining object, and picked it up. It was his wife’s ring".
Beyond mere hangover feelings, I feel all these items are highly significant. When Michael Henchard moves on, with his basket to a yet uncertain future, doing odd jobs, he is a man with a secret!
Great additions on the illustrations, Jean!The skeptical hoer also belongs to those interesting secondary protagonists of Thomas Hardy's novels. Thomas Hardy has several times set some parts of his plots on a marketplace or at a fair, usually significant meeting places in rural life especially in the old days, but also a place for incidentally gathering characters or letting them go
away. The description of Susan and the baby going away with the unknown sailor is also very hardyesque!
Reflecting on Hardy’s poem ‘The Selfsame Song’ and then looking at this chapter, I wonder to what degree we can see the ‘selfsame’ lives and fates of our characters being played out on the pages. In terms of a marriage, we see a family whose silences on their walk speaks volumes about their relationship. We see a man disrespect, indeed abandon his wife. We see a wife accept their state — and Fate — and symbolically both cast her marriage ring to the ground and then take the hand of another man in order to attempt to survive for the sake of both herself and her child.
As for her husband, how many countless times has an individual made a solemn oath, and what has been the results of that oath? All these, and many more selfsame acts of individuals are played out in life each day, each generation. Each of our actions is both an individual and universal act at the same time.
Claudia used the phrase ‘moved on’ above. A perfect way to frame both the acts of individuals and the reality of how both the human and natural world functions.
Bionic Jean wrote: "The first illustration (in comment 31) shows how closely Barnes has kept to the text. Although we can’t really see the couple’s weariness and dust-covered appearance which [author:Thomas Hardy|1590..."Yes. A successful partnership between an author and an illustrator is a magical thing to behold. The Victorian reader was very adept at reading both the letterpress and the illustration. The reading of the interplay of text and illustration is fast becoming a lost art and I for one am glad we are paying close attention to both in this novel.
As always, thanks Jean.
Jean, my thoughts on this chapter mirror yours. I was irked that Michael blamed Susan for what happened the night before. As if she hadn't tried to stop him and as if he hadn't threatened to auction her off before. He doesn't look closely to himself and his actions.
Then he swears the oath in the Church. It's a solemn oath, indicating he's reached his "rock bottom". He realizes that he's crossed a line.
Yet, when he searches for Susan, he's not fully truthful and this hinders (perhaps) the search and his attempts fail. I feel that although he tried to find her and the baby, he didn't put his full heart into the search somehow.
However, I think the oath he pledged will change him. Perhaps not change him as much as give him a different goal and perspective.
Claudia, I suspect you're right about the readers of the story when it first appeared - after the opening chapter, I had to stop myself from devouring the next one immediately.Chapter 2 feels like the calm after the storm as Michael emerges from the tent into the quiet of the new day. It feels like a false dawn, however. We are given the impression that Michael feels he must repent for his actions, his deliberate act of promising before God a stark symbol of this. Michael presents with such conviction, and a conviction that I think he genuinely believes he has in the moment he feels its full power (and I think the way Hardy writes Henchard makes us believe it too) but it's paper-thin. We've already seen he blames others for the consequences of the actions taken in this 'puffed up' state, whilst seeming reluctant to own his part in it - he chose to marry Susan, he chose to drink, he chose to instigate the auction - and then berates others for not stopping him. Then we rebound into tremendous guilt and self-pity, apparently not out of genuine regret, but because he's concerned about others finding out about the truth about why his wife is no longer with him. This is why I love the character of Henchard - we can already see his deep flaws, but also feel great pity for him because he knows nothing else and isn't ready to own it yet. He's a gloriously frustrating character.
Mod
Mark, I really liked your observation: "It feels like a false dawn, however" that was my thought too while reading. Michael wakes up hung-over having lost his wife and child, with only a fly for company yet when he steps out of the tent "The whole scene lay under the rays of a newly risen sun". The hope of a new day feels a little false given the situation, but then it's very Hardyesque to show the world moving on and the insignificance of one man's troubles.
I was really glad Jean mentioned the superstitiousness of country folk at the time. I thought of that when Michael wants to make his oath in a church. It's because "there was something fetishistic in this man's beliefs". And the way that he says if he breaks the oath, he hopes to be struck dumb and blind, strikes me also as part of superstitions melded with religion that was so prevalent at the time.
Mod
Thank you, Jean, for the background information on Victorian illustrations! Fascinating information. I very much liked this first illustration. Especially the way Barnes portrays Susan with her head tilted towards her daughter. I think he also does a good job of portraying the youth of Michael. He's a fine looking man, but he does look so young, and that goes a long way towards making me have some sympathy for him - even though his behavior makes me feel the opposite.
Mark wrote: "Claudia, I suspect you're right about the readers of the story when it first appeared - after the opening chapter, I had to stop myself from devouring the next one immediately.Chapter 2 feels lik..."
I agree with you, Mark. I had the full range of emotions upon reading Henchard's day after reaction, but almost diametrically opposite to his.
He somehow finds a way to blame Susan for his actions, then thinks he should search for them (later in the story giving the limitations to the search - another way to avoid the blame) and finally, he enters a church and proclaims he will not drink for 21 years ... and nothing about how he dandied with his marriage vows.
I'm then became suspicious that like his marriage vow, he might grow weary of this latest vow, but was surprised that he realized at some point that he must stay the course about drink.
I would say Hardy is asking us why we are so quick to blame him? Do we know the circumstances under which Sue and Michael are wed? Also questions of who should punish. Should Michael's actions be subject to external judgement or is it enough to leave him to his own moral journey?
It is interesting to notice the different responses to Michael and his actions in this group. Hardy has created a character whose motivations and character are ambiguous. We see in the first chapter that he is looking for work, that he seems to be diligent and interested in doing an honest day's work to support himself and his family. He is clearly jaded but is not usually abusive to Susan under normal circumstances. He has a weakness for alcohol and it causes profound changes in him, but that doesn't mean he is a bad person.
And yet he does see Susan as a burden, and he treats her with disdain. His first instinct when he wakes up is to blame her. And when he finally calms and admits that it was all my fault, it is just after he had berated Susan for being such a simpleton as to believe that he was in earnest. It is possible that It was all my fault means that he accepts complete responsibility for his actions, or it could mean that Susan is ultimately responsible?
And this is not the first time he has done such a hurtful thing. Until Susan actually takes him up on his threats to sell her, Michael has never sworn off alcohol; on the contrary, he is on the lookout for it, and it is Susan who tries to steer him away from the beer tent. Even though he must know that he has acted wrongly on other occasions when he drank and that Susan does not want him to drink, he doesn't hesitate when he has the chance.
He does make an honest search for Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, but his motivations are ambiguous. Is he looking to reunite his family, to accept responsibility for his blunder and live an honorable, alcohol-free life? Yes, but... One of his first questions is whether others know his name. He says, Seize her, why didn't she know better than bring me into this disgrace! He reflects that he must somehow find her and his little Elizabeth-Jane, and put up with the shame as best he could. When he leaves the fairground, he is glad not to be seen. By finding his family, he will escape disgrace even though by taking back his family he will face shame.
When he hears a rumor that Susan has emigrated, he immediately stops his search. Is it because the search is now hopeless, or does the fact that the search is hopeless mean that he has been released from shame and disgrace?
Question: Why is Michael looking for work as a hay trusser in September? We see from the turnip-hoers reaction that it is unthinkable that hay would be harvested at that time (it would be in summer). Does this represent a sort of imbalance in the novel?When Michael leaves the fairground, he is only observed by a dog of the mysterious breeds that vagrants own, that are as much like cats as dogs and as much like foxes as cats. I found that image very unsettling, a sort of not-dog, shapeshifting familiar that reflects so well the state of Michael's mind.
When Michael leaves the fairground, he pays no attention to the luxurious nature around him: unheeding the yellowhammers which flitted about the hedges with straws in their bills, the crowns of the mushrooms, and the tinkling of local sheepbells. I noticed that Michael mirrors the yellowhammers when he nibbled a straw which he pulled from the hedge, but I can't decide if and how it might be significant.
As he ponders his next step, Michael leant upon a gate. Which path will he take? What are the possibilities?
We learn about Susan from Michael's perspective. She has freedom from levity of character and extreme simplicity of her intellect, but he acknowledges that she may have buried recklessness and resentment beneath her ordinary placidity. As we see in Chapter 1, she is silent and stoic, but her expressions of love for Elizabeth-Jane show that her "freedom from levity of character" is probably really unhappiness with her marriage. Her "simplicity" perhaps a passive disengagement. Her "placidity" may in fact be endurance.
He also remembers that she spoke to him in the resigned tones of a fatalist. The narrative voice agrees with that in Chapter 1.
I don't have anything to add to the chap 2 discussion. When Michael ended up in Casterbridge and thinking of the title of the novel, it made me hark back to the journey of Jean Valjean. Is Michael going to make something of himself and become the mayor? We shall see I guess.Also from chap 1. I meant to ask what a "keacorn" is. Throat? Voice?
Chris, I had never heard of the word "keacorn," so I googled it and AI wrote:"Keacorn" is a dialectal word, primarily used in some regions of England, meaning "throat" or "windpipe". It appears to be an uncommon term, found in older literature and regional dictionaries.
Chris wrote: "I don't have anything to add to the chap 2 discussion. When Michael ended up in Casterbridge and thinking of the title of the novel, it made me hark back to the journey of Jean Valjean. Is Michael ..."Indeed Chris, I strongly agree with you! I wrote a whole essay on (view spoiler). Les Misérables was published in 1862. But this is an enormous thing.
Alone the opening lines of both novels are interesting.
Jean Valjean's arrival in Digne, the actual beginning of the plot, is described as follows, after a very long explanatory introduction about Mgr Myriel, Bishop of Digne. Originally, Victor Hugo wanted to begin there, not with the long introductory Book One on Mgr Myriel. He first meant to flash back on Mgr Myriel after having shown Jean Valjean arriving in town one evening in Autumn.
We see Jean Valjean, not with a rush basket, but with his yellow ex-convict passport, equally looking for some accomodation and consequently, for some work. (view spoiler).
"Early in the month of October, 1815, about an hour before sunset, a man who was travelling on foot entered the little town of Digne."
Book Second, Chapter 1, Translation Isabel F. Hapgood, May 1994
Erich, I really like this - Question: Why is Michael looking for work as a hay trusser in September? We see from the turnip-hoers reaction that it is unthinkable that hay would be harvested at that time (it would be in summer). Does this represent a sort of imbalance in the novel?I think you're onto something - I remember being really puzzled by him looking for such work too at this time. To me it seems to foreshadow Michael's tendencies to 'act in haste, repent at leisure' - marrying young and then being unhappy, auctioning Susan and the subsequent miserable search, and taking a strict vow that we are left wondering whether he can honour. Prior to the story beginning, I can imagine him packing up his family almost on a whim because of something that has happened without really evaluating what the consequences of his decision might be - where will we stay? What will I do for work? None of that figures in the moment he makes such decisions. He's a tremendously sympathetic character - he seems to have real difficulty with knowing what he really wants or what is to be done for the best despite the conviction he seems to present with in those moments.
Hay-cutting season is right now in West European areas and beyond. Depending on weather, grass may grow significantly in September again (rain on warm soils). Farmers are cutting in September again if it is worthwhile, they call second cut or "regain", if it is not worth cutting it, flocks or herds are still grazing - last year they had enough grass until Martinmas. A second harvest yields a valuable additional hay supply for the winter. It was the case here in Central France last year. Flocks or herds in stables ate that hay very greedily in winter months. But that exceptional harvest was perhaps also somewhere else. The phrase "regain" is still in use here, but it is also the title of a novel by Jean Giono Regain, translated Second Harvest.It has been happening from times immemorial but such second harvest is quite exceptional so that the hoer may rightly have been skeptical.
Mod
Michael is in Hampshire when he asks. In both Hampshire and Dorset (where he will walk to) hay is typically harvested during the summer months, with June being a key month. It is being harvested right now in Dorset, as it is fine and quite hot.
The specific timing can vary depending on weather conditions, but generally, farmers aim to cut the hay when the grass is at its freshest and most nutritious. A first cut is usually taken in the summer, followed by grazing of the regrowth in the autumn, until it becomes too wet for livestock to be on the field.
There is some harvesting in Hampshire's Cowslip Meadow in late September, but this is by individuals (nowadays volunteer-led, by hand) and not representative of commercial haymaking. This explains the turnip-hoer's doubts, and also affirms Erich's sense of discord.
Thomas Hardy had gone through several possible occupations for Michael, as I mentioned, and his novels are all set with an eye to the faming year, because this is what ruled the lives of country people of the time. He well knew what was common practice, so yes, this is another symbolic way of telling us Michael is at odds with both his life, and the natural order of things. Great eye for detail there Erich - well spotted! Mark too spotted that this was not right for Southern England.
Mod
All the details you mentioned Claudia show what masterly writing we have by Thomas Hardy. Michael gradually "comes to" (with what I imagine must be a heck of a hangover, as you say. A favourite drink of West Country folk is scrumpy, which is a very very strong cider. I'd lay bets there would be some of around, well as the furmity!) So it would take him a while, and we experience it through his eyes.
Good point about the public areas being places for "gathering characters or letting them go away." Life - especially country life - tended to be much more outside than now. Plus there were country barns, inns and so on, where folk gathered more often than now where many are isolated in their lives. As you say, we come across many characters who "come and go", and we are never sure if we will see them again. Some even find their way into other novels, if they are named. Others in a group form a sort of Greek Chorus, to comment on events. The turnip-hoer I suspect is a "Hodge" - one of his rustics - and there not as an individual but to represent the type.
Mod
Each of our actions is both an individual and universal act at the same time"
Yes! You've put your finger on one of Thomas Hardy's favourite preoccupations with this: our destiny and our fate. We all have elements of "the self-same song" by both our birth and our conditioning, but we can choose to exercise our self-will. What will be interesting is to see who does this, who does not, and how their story arcs intermingle.
Mod
It did seem to be made in earnest, didn't it. As several have picked up from his wife Susan, Michael's drinking is what makes him rash and at his most irresponsible. I hope you are right!
And the Maelstrom - perhaps that is a reference not just to the bitter resentments stirred up between husband and wife, but forces of Nature? over which no human has control - forces outside of human origin or relevance?
Mod
"I think he genuinely believes he has in the moment he feels its full power (and I think the way Hardy writes Henchard makes us believe it too) but it's paper-thin."
This is a very good point. We have been told that Michael is a young man. In the original manuscript both he and his wife were a little older. Perhaps part of the reason for this change was to encourage us to think that Michael could change, whereas a middle-aged man may not have found it easy? But equally, he is quick to change colour.
"we can already see his deep flaws, but also feel great pity for him because he knows nothing else and isn't ready to own it yet."
Yes! Michael is one to watch ... As Bridget says we "have some sympathy for him - even though his behavior makes [us] feel the opposite." And Pam "then became suspicious that like his marriage vow, he might grow weary of this latest vow"
Interesting questions, Laura. I think you are right that Thomas Hardy wants us to ask them.
As you conclude Mark: "He's a gloriously frustrating character."
And Erich recognises that both Michael's motivations and his character are ambiguous - at least at this point.
Mod
"does the fact that the search is hopeless mean that he has been released from shame and disgrace?"
Great question! My feeling from the text is that he would initially veer from one feeling to another, but who knows how he will mature?
"not-dog, shapeshifting familiar that reflects so well the state of Michael's mind."
Wow! I got the mismatch of harvesting, but this completely escaped me! There are so many little clues ... thank you for picking some out for us.
"[Susan's]"simplicity" perhaps a passive disengagement. Her "placidity" may in fact be endurance."
Yes indeed!
Mod
Ah yes, not long to wait!
Many stories start this way, with an unknown wanderer, from time immemorial. Joseph Campbell studied the literary phenomenon and coined the term "the hero's journey" which includes this as part of his theory in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Many readers, like Claudia, view Les Miserables as one of the best examples. But it's surprising, once your radar is up, how many times we can see the same tropes popping up in the novels we read, just given a different treatment.
JeanJoseph Campbell’s book The Hero With a Thousand Faces has served as one of the most foundational books of my life. Your mention of it prompted me to reflect what I originally wrote about in on Goodreads. I looked and discovered I’ve never commented on it. Rather embarrassing.
Yes - Campbell, I think, says there are only 6 core stories. Which is why I often wonder at all the concern over "spoilers". Given a heroic set up, there are usually only one or two choices. All the variation is in the details - and novels rejoice in detail.
ErichWonderful close reading. For such a brief chapter there is much to unpack.
Works of Thomas Hardy
Books mentioned in this topic
Daniel Deronda (other topics)Tess of the D’Urbervilles (other topics)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (other topics)
James (other topics)
Far From the Madding Crowd (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
John Drinkwater (other topics)Thomas Hardy (other topics)
George Eliot (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
Fyodor Dostoevsky (other topics)
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I am reading the novel for the third time, and the edition I'm using is the Harper Perennial based on the Wessex edition. It is inscribed to "Master W. Stephenson, 3636 Cedar St, 1967." I don't think Master W read it, although he should have.
Mark wrote: "Its departure leaves me feeling sad; just as the lone swallow has been left behind by its roost mates, so too is Michael in the dark tent, and just like the bird, he will leave alone to continue his journey."
I love this interpretation, Mark. The swallow could also represent Susan's escape from an abusive relationship.
Birds - and nature in general - are always significant in Hardy. The image of the horses rubbing necks exemplifies what Hardy writes earlier in the paragraph: The difference between the peacefulness of inferior nature and the wilful hostilities of mankind was very apparent at this place.
The opening of the chapter shows the sterility of Susan and Michael's relationship. They walk in silence, not touching, not speaking, a layer of dust deadening sounds and coating the vegetation, a bird singing weakly.
Since we are reading Hardy, this sentence stood out to me: When she plodded on in the shade of the hedge, silently thinking, she had the hard, half-apathetic expression of one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except, perhaps, fair play.