Feminist Response- Wuthering Heights

One aspect I found interesting in Lyn Pykett’s essay is the idea of feminine “strategies” (stealth and indirection).  Although at first the closet fem-Nazi in me was somewhat angered and disagreed with this statement, after a while of pondering and a quick observation of my own behavior, I could not disagree.  Women tend to go about handling conflict or extreme negative emotion with sneaky ideas and in my opinion, are better are ruining things from the inside-out—rather than inside-in like men. 

Pykett discuss how both Catherine and Cathy use these strategies and the point I find the most interesting is her brief discussion of how Cathy uses them to rekindle Hareton’s interest in literature.  Cathy uses these tactics to not only gain control over her own life, but in teaching a man, she establishes control over him.  As a teacher, she has something over Hateton.  Although it is not made clear in the novel, I would think that Hearton would look up to Cathy.  Perhaps it is not made clear because the character of Hearton is too ashamed to say that a woman is better at something than he is.  It would hurt his already battered ego (thanks to Heathcliff) more and would cause him great emotional pain I may be delving too deeply into this thought, but if his character was more deeply discussed in the novel, maybe I could make a better assumption.

Critical Marxist Reponse: Wuthering Heights

Personally, when I first hear the name Karl Marx, the first things that I think of is the basic ideas of the bourgeois and proletariats: the idea that there is a higher and lower class.  The ideas that there are inequalities in the world and are heavily pronounced in Wuthering Heights. The idea that these two sides are always at a struggle for power: a sense of power and a sense of struggle similar to the ones in the novel.

In Terry Eagelton’s “Myths of Power: A Marxist Study on Wuthering Heights, Eagelton discusses in depth the character of Heathcliff.  She gives evidence of the two sides to Heathcliff with a quote from the novel: “See here, wife; I was never so beathen with anything in my life; but you must e’en take it as a gift of God; though it’s as dark almost as if it came from the devil” (p.51).   Mr. Earnshaw eventually begins to favor and give Heathcliff special treatment which makes Hindley very jealous (and eventually vengeful) and creates inequalities among the Earnshaw children.   This eventually causes turmoil among Heathcliff and Hindely.  After childhood, the couple is still not on good terms with one another and Heathcliff becomes obsessed with taking his power.  The idea of Heathcliff, the lower-class, adopted, outsider child rising up from his humble and poor beginning is the ultimate Marxists goal (or at least I think it is). 

Wuthering Heights Response p. 203-288

As the first half successfully sets up the plot and develops characters, the second half of the novel is equally as successful in creating a sticky, unpleasant tension and climax that is destined to result in disaster.  Also, in the first half of the book, I believe Bronte does a fantastic job in setting up Heathcliff to be the ultimate underdog in the novel: not only do I find myself cheering and rooting for his success and revenge, but I also empathize and feel sorry for the poor boy. Although a small fraction of this initial emotion remains throughout the book, the second half really shows how truly insane and unstable Heathcliff is.

Heathcliff’s sanity and physical health take a major downward plunge in chapter 33.  He opens up to Nelly and exclaims, “I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped on the flags! In every cloud, in every tree—filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day, I am surrounded with her image! The most ordinary faces of men and women—my own features—mock me with a resemblance. The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!” (p.277). Not only does he admit to digging up Catherine’s body from her grave, but is obviously losing his mind and possibly having delusions of Catherine.  He either a) cannot bear to live without his beloved or b) is truly being haunted by her ghost.

One of the mysteries of this novel is that you never know if Heathcliff is really being haunted by spirits, or if perhaps he was mentally unstable from the start.  The gothic element of the supernatural and unexplained plays out loud and clear in the novel and still successfully gives a modern readers goose bumps.  Although I personally like to still like to believe that Heathcliff has been a victim throughout the novel and was set up for disaster form the start, it is ultimately up to the reader to decipher his or her personal feelings.

Wuthering Heights Response p. 3-108

After discovering that the novel we would focus on this semester would be Wuthering Heights (which I read in honors World Literature in the tenth grade), I figured that reading it again would be a piece of cake.  Oh, how wrong I was.  I was truly amazed at how much of the plot I had actually forgotten.  I had also forgotten how much I loved the character Heathcliff-- the loner with mysterious origins; the black sheep, the dark protagonist that spoke to my fifteen year-old heart, and still resonates with me today five years later.

In the first couple of chapters of the novel, the adult Heathcliff is portrayed as a callus and bitter man with a personality disorder.  However, as I continued to read and remembered the back and forth rags to riches story of Heathcliff, it made me remember why I felt so deeply for this character.  His mistreatment from society and living on the streets of Liverpool makes me sympathize and then feel joyous after his discover and adoption from Mr. Earnshaw. Sadly, his happiness is not permanent.  He is teased and talked down to constantly and is constantly called a “dog” or “vagabond”.  After practically losing his best friend and love, Catherine, he is again forced to live in a hell of torment and slavery from people who, for lack of a better phrase, think they are “all that and a bag of chips”.  This is when I felt like I could personally relate to Heathcliff and his struggles.  Perhaps it was just because I was picked on a lot in high school and was not one of the cool kids, but I still cannot help but smile when I read the text “I shall be as dirty as I please, and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty!” (p. 65).  It makes the little rebellious teenager inside me want to high-five Heathcliff and go throw hot applesauce in a stuck-up kid’s face.

George Orwell response

As I read George Orwell’s “Politics and The English Language”, I could honestly feel the annoyance and sick of it all attitude Orwell conveyed through his writing.  Although I agree with Orwell that political writing is as a whole “bad” writing, I believe it was intended to be that way. After all, have you ever seen an award or honor given to a presidential speech or amendment?   Political writing has one purpose only: to persuade the listener or reader into agreeing with an idea. 

As a whole, I could agree with Orwell on most of what he had to say except for his ideas on foreign language words and phrases used in the English language.

 Orwell states that “Foreign words and expressions such as cul de sac, ancien regime, deus ex machina, mutatis mutandis, status quo, gleichschaltung, weltanschauung, are used to give an air of culture and elegance. Except for the useful abbreviations i.e., e.g., and etc., there is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now current in the English language”.  I agree with the first part of Orwell’s statement.  Using words or phrases from other language can give a politician a sense of prestige or cultural knowledge, which I as a voting citizen, do appreciate when I dabble into politics.  However, I totally disagree with the second part of this bold statement.   As a foreign language minor, cannot help but disagree with his idea that foreign words and phrases are pointless in the English language.  I cannot accept the idea that I am restricted to one language because I am a native English speaker.  I believe that some languages can communicate an idea better than the English language ever could. The German language has words for concepts that English does not.  For example, the German word “schadenfreude” means to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others.  Orwell then goes on to discuss the questions that a “good” writer asks himself while constructing an idea.  One of them is “Could I put this more shortly?”  Sometimes, our trusty English language cannot communicate an idea in fewer words than a foreign word. 

Again, I feel that I could agree with Orwell overall, but I cannot share the same burning annoyance he has with political writing.  I believe that political writing is not something that you read or listen to for fun on a rainy day.  It is created to sometimes be melodramatic and outrageous.  Certain words and phrases are used because the target audience is an average, working class citizen and not an English major.

A History of Reading

One point I found interesting and somewhat familiar (in a strange way) in Alberto Manguel’s A History of Reading is found a conversation between Augustine and Francesco: “Whenever you read a book and come across any wonderful phrases which you feel stir or delight your soul, don’t merely trust the power of your own intelligence, but force yourself to learn them by heart and make them familiar by meditating on them, so that whenever an urgent case of affliction arises, you’ll have the remedy ready as if it were written in your mind” (pg.63).   As an avid reader, I have experienced this phenomenon first hand, but was left to think that I was just “different” or “nerdy” from meditating and personally absorbing the text in front of me.  I feel that my personality, outlooks, and a good portion of my beliefs have been heavily influenced by the books I have read.  I just sort of accepted the fact that I was different as I watched my peers turn into mush in front of the television watching reality shows.  I often times find myself remembering specific texts or images from books I have read on a daily basis.  May it be inspired from a walk in the park to a conversation I have with a friend.  If I have the audacity to quote the passage on my mind or talk about the déjà vu I am experiencing at that moment, most of my peers would say something along the lines of, “Wow, you’re weird.” I guess this passage has not only reassured me that I am not a total freak, but that it is indeed healthy to take more than just a good story from a book.

Caleb Crain Response

I have always been a firm believer in the idea that technology will slowly take over the human race. As bizarre and paranoid as this may sound, I believe that our electronic babysitters (televisions, computers, video games. ect) are creating an entirely different type of child for the twenty first century.  These high-tech toys may be inhibiting today’s youth to imagine or think critically; two necessary skills needed to actually enjoy reading literature!  Since maybe these two skills are being stunted by today’s technological toys, not only do children find reading boring, but perhaps they also are not 100% capable of enjoying their time in front of a book.  Again, I know this just may sound like a paranoid rant from someone with “techno-phobia”, but the article also has some staggering statistics to back it up.