Date of Reading: 30/06/2008
Author: Thomas Hardy
Publisher: Macmillan
Place: London
Year: 1963
I have been waiting to get hold on this one book which made Hardy to abandon his writing career. Curiously I can't still figure out what was all this commotion about; there is his usual pessimism stuff with fate (sometimes taking the embodiment of humans) thwarting expectations, critical remarks on religion (which eventually became too critical for his career as a novelist), and the portrayal of inner dilemmas. But if we take the lives of Henchard and Tess for comparison, Jude seems to occupy the better slot. Well, each of us have our own individual crosses enough to drag us down from the smooth climb.
Other day I was waiting in que in front of the xerox shop for some printouts; its the day of 12th standard results and not surprisingly there is one small crowd waiting for the verdict. Thanks to the new examination pattern, there are no disappointments or heartbreaks and I can see the family residing in the nearby chawl starting the cries of jubilation; their girl has secured a first class. The new system is open to Judes (at least partially) who are ready to rise from their working class background to the magnificent halls of Oxford. In other words, the illusion of the American dream still permeates hope, even though the odds are stacked against us each.
Little Jude lives with his aunt Drussille Fawley. He cherishes a dream to have his higher studies at Christminster (symbolises Oxford) and has begun to learn Latin and Greek by himself. As a stonemason he sets out towards his goal but eventually gets trapped into a marriage with Arabella Down who feigns pregnancy to have him take the vows. Soon the infatuation gives way to mutual contempt and Jude proceeds to Christminster when the couple decides to separate.
But Christminster is reluctant to accept a common figure from the working class background. Devastated, Jude finds his consolation in his cousin Sue Bridehead with whom he falls in love. Jude's former marriage stops her in taking the decisive step and she accepts the proposal of Mr. Phillotson, Jude's old school master, resulting in an unhappy marriage. She flees back to Jude and after a divorce from their respective spouses, they start life anew. Arabella meanwhile had undergone her second marriage in Australia.
As Sue felt that the marriage has a destructive effect on love, they choose not to take the vows legally. Seen as social outcasts, they lead a miserable life with two children and Father Time, Jude's son in Arabella. Disaster stuck when Sue is expecting her third baby and Father Time grieved in hearing the news kills the other two and himself "because we are too manny". The shock Sue undergoes results in the premature death of the third child.
Terrified, Sue marries Phillotson again thinking that before heaven they are still man and wife. Arabella, now a widow, persuades Jude to another marriage with her but things were too much for his weak health. He dies at the Remembrance Day, alone at his room.
I have been waiting to get hold on this one book which made Hardy to abandon his writing career. Curiously I can't still figure out what was all this commotion about; there is his usual pessimism stuff with fate (sometimes taking the embodiment of humans) thwarting expectations, critical remarks on religion (which eventually became too critical for his career as a novelist), and the portrayal of inner dilemmas. But if we take the lives of Henchard and Tess for comparison, Jude seems to occupy the better slot. Well, each of us have our own individual crosses enough to drag us down from the smooth climb.
Other day I was waiting in que in front of the xerox shop for some printouts; its the day of 12th standard results and not surprisingly there is one small crowd waiting for the verdict. Thanks to the new examination pattern, there are no disappointments or heartbreaks and I can see the family residing in the nearby chawl starting the cries of jubilation; their girl has secured a first class. The new system is open to Judes (at least partially) who are ready to rise from their working class background to the magnificent halls of Oxford. In other words, the illusion of the American dream still permeates hope, even though the odds are stacked against us each.
Little Jude lives with his aunt Drussille Fawley. He cherishes a dream to have his higher studies at Christminster (symbolises Oxford) and has begun to learn Latin and Greek by himself. As a stonemason he sets out towards his goal but eventually gets trapped into a marriage with Arabella Down who feigns pregnancy to have him take the vows. Soon the infatuation gives way to mutual contempt and Jude proceeds to Christminster when the couple decides to separate. But Christminster is reluctant to accept a common figure from the working class background. Devastated, Jude finds his consolation in his cousin Sue Bridehead with whom he falls in love. Jude's former marriage stops her in taking the decisive step and she accepts the proposal of Mr. Phillotson, Jude's old school master, resulting in an unhappy marriage. She flees back to Jude and after a divorce from their respective spouses, they start life anew. Arabella meanwhile had undergone her second marriage in Australia.
As Sue felt that the marriage has a destructive effect on love, they choose not to take the vows legally. Seen as social outcasts, they lead a miserable life with two children and Father Time, Jude's son in Arabella. Disaster stuck when Sue is expecting her third baby and Father Time grieved in hearing the news kills the other two and himself "because we are too manny". The shock Sue undergoes results in the premature death of the third child.
Terrified, Sue marries Phillotson again thinking that before heaven they are still man and wife. Arabella, now a widow, persuades Jude to another marriage with her but things were too much for his weak health. He dies at the Remembrance Day, alone at his room.
A very dark tale..I was always under the impression that Hardy, a wonderful novelist stopped writing novels altogether because of unjust ctiticism by people who are now long forgotten.. But with the story as revealed by you, I am not sure...
ReplyDeleteI skipped through the story as I am yet to get my hands on this book and I don't want to know 'everything ' before hand... But then you know classics like this are so much discussed and referenced that its really hard to not to know anything ! Nice review and glad I found your blog as it is fully devoted to books . So hi there fellow bookworm !
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