The Return of the Native Critique - Book Report/Review Example

The Return of the Native opens on a descriptive wild tract of unenclosed heath land wherein the of Egdon portrays the narrator’s point ofview- a vast claustrophobically preventing the reader from attempting to provide changes. Edgon is therefore referred to a static changeless place that encompasses time- time that narrates the only changes of the sun and seasons wherein humanity becomes history. “The sea changed, the fields changed, the rivers, the villages, and the people changed, yet Egdon remained.” (Hardy, 1952) On reading this description one would think that Egdon Heath is a symbol of “haunt waste” with its “chastened sublimity” at the same time expressing a new idea of modernity and the characters views of the universe. Egdon is portrayed as inhospitable to man, almost untouched by him. The bonfire that lightens the heath is described as “are rather the lineal descendants from jumbled Druidical rites and Saxon ceremonies than the invention of popular feeling about Gunpowder Plot.” (Hardy, 1952) This bonfire also characterizes the heath dwellers as traditional, superstitious buried in folk wisdom and who believe in “No moon, no man” (Hardy, 1952) Against this background does Hardy define his characters that are constantly in a state of flux of the modern mind? Clym Yeobright is a perfect example of modernity for which the inviolate heath offers ‘ballast to the mind adrift on change and harassed by the irrepressible New’ and whose essentially modern preoccupation is characterized by intellectual speculation, “Clyms stay in Egdon has made him realize that his business in Paris is the "idlest, vainest, most effeminate business that a man could be put to.” (Hardy, 1952) In contrast we are introduced to Eustacia Vye, the “Queen of the night and treated with ambivalent irony as the raw material of divinity” (Hardy, 1952). Edgon Heath has become an experiment for society which finds a community that is divided and confused as seen in Wildeve who checks with Eustacia if he should marry Thomasin and declares, "I wish Tamsie were not such a confoundedly good little woman so that I could be faithful to you without injuring a worthy person." (Hardy, 1952) At this stage it would be necessary to define Self Determination as the free choice of an individual’s own acts without external compulsions and who have the right and freedom to determine their status and personality. Having established self determination, analysis of the character of Eustacia and Wildeve would throw light on their inner struggle. On seeing Wildeve, Eustacia, “She let her joyous eyes rest upon him without speaking, as upon some wondrous thing she had created out of chaos” and Wildeve reply “You give me no peace. Why do you not leave me alone?” (Hardy, 1952) portrays the struggle of Eustacia who is determined to hold on to Wildeve for “She knew that he trifled with her; but she loved on.” (Hardy, 1952) Eustacia can be described as a self-determined character whose passion and motivation is concerned with the development and functioning of her personality. Her focus and behavior is volitional wherein her actions are reflected and engaged with a full sense of her choice. “she looks different from other women on the heath, she has different reasons for living there, her desires are unlike those of others, and her interests and her habits set her apart. Indeed she is “raw material of a divinity.” (Hardy, 1952). Thus Eustacia proves to be a self-determined individual whose character still shrouds in mystery, her appearances on Rainbarrow, the reputation she has among the heath folk and her effect on Johnny Nunsuch. Eustacia a woman of “some forwardness of mind,” and like Clym, is capable of thinking beyond the heath dwellers. She portrays characteristics of self-determination for she believes to be cut out for great actions and great emotions what she calls “Destiny” for not satisfying “her great desire,” “to be loved to madness.” (Hardy, 1952) Eustacia angle of looking at her relationship to Wildeve with objectivity does not stop her from attempting to deceive her. The irony is that Eustacia recognizes the fact that she knows she idealizes Wildeve “for want of a better object.” This self determined Eustacia and her relationship with Clym Yeobright can be seen as a mirrored relationship in thatbetween Wildeve and Thomasin. At this stage it must be remembered that Eustacia longs for a man who, unlike Wildeve, is really equal to her, who shares her passion to think and go beyond Egdon. Thus Eustacia dreams of Clym to be “like a man coming from heaven.” (Hardy, 1952) and for whom Paris is “the center and vortex of the fashionable world,” (Hardy, 1952). Further the fact of Clym coming from Paris strikes her as overwhelmingly exotic. Hearing Clym’s is enough to provide Eustacia with a remarkable dream, in which a mysterious male figure appears to her in “silver armor” “half in love with a vision.” (Hardy, 1952) One can state that Esutacia at this stage is exhibiting the self-determined theory which began on assumptions that individuals are active organisms with innate tendencies towards psychological growth and development and who strive to master ongoing challenges and to integrate her experiences into a coherent sense of the self. But dreams and reality are always different just as for Eustacia first look at Clym which can be described as “really one of those faces which convey less the idea of so many years as its age than of so much experience as its store” and “an inner strenuousness [is] preying upon an outer symmetry, and they [rate] his look as singular.” (Hardy, 1952) This sudden shift in tone and imagery highlights the bringing together important relationship of a woman who is “the raw material of a divinity” and a man who is prey to “an inner strenuousness.” (Hardy, 1952) Again Eustacis self determination is being fragmented as Thomasin and Wildeve are married in the presence Eustacia wherein Eustacia must be giving Thomasin away. But instead Eustacia is obviously “giving” Thomasin to Wildeve since his attraction has become an object of her desire “to be loved to madness” and has been dimmed by the appearance of Clym. (Hardy, 1952) This aspect requires to be established that Clym appears on Egdon Heath, from a reputedly successful career as manager for a diamond firm in Paris. For Eustacia, Clym represents more of a man than Wildeve did as someone who is equal to her view of life and her ambitions. Thus she disposes of her earlier lover by marrying him off to Thomasin. On the other hand for Thomasin and her marriage to Wildeve is a seal of respectability that would please her aunt and the community and for Wildeve it is mixture of blessings and the bitter taste of revenge against Eustacia for having rejected him. Eustacia first encounter with Clym wherein the young woman naturally forms the instigator, however disguises herself as a mummer as she feels that her appearance may strike Clym as merely whimsical- again displaying self-determination characteristics of having the freedom of choosing he own political status. Irony captivates Eustacia who agrees to marry Clym on the Rainbarrow that is lighted by a moon that slowly moves into an eclipse. The Rainbarrow symbolizes Eustacia self-determined view of life while Egdon Heath symbolizes Clym’s. Further Paris appears as an ambiguous symbol- it represents all that is lively and worth living for to Eustacia and all that is idle and valueless to Clym. The significance of the moon can be established wherein Eustacia makes her appearance on Rainbarrow, the moon begins to go into eclipse and by the time Eustacia has promised to marry Clym and they part, the eclipse is almost full. For Clym the moon before the eclipse can be viewed as perhaps “some world where personal ambition [is] not the only recognized form of progress” and he imagines himself exploring its solitary wildness. (Hardy, 1952) On agreeing to marry Clym, Eustacia interprets he moon as: “Clym, the eclipsed moonlight shines upon your face with a strange foreign color, and shows its shape as if it were cut out in gold. That means that you should be doing better things than this.” (Hardy, 1952). Thus one can state that Eustacia and Clyms readings are idealistic and romantic but are characterized by conflicting images. Clym’s revelation of wanting to become “a schoolmaster to the poor and ignorant.” though he is said to be a “product” of the heath still his aspirations are beyond their understanding and values- “that in striving at high thinking he still [cleaves] to plain living,” (Hardy, 1952) But as the tide has turned and Clym’s world is now literally limited: “His daily life was of a curious microscopic sort, his whole world being limited to a circuit of a few feet from his person.” His aim in coming home was to discover as to what was for him in the greater world of service. Eustacia determination leads to the subject of Paris, a hope she has never let die, though she admits Clym has made no promise to take her there and this hope will always be the bone of content between her and her husband. A self-determined individual attempts to fulfill their dreams and desires between the active organism and the social context which is the basis for Self-Determination predictions on behavior, experience and development. Similarly Eustacia realization of this hope leads her to consider Wildeve’s offer to help her escape the heath. “To Eustacia the situation seemed such a mockery of her hopes that death appeared the only door of relief if the satire of Heaven should go much further.” (Hardy, 1952) Eustacia on the barrow, standing upon the monument of death takes her last look at the world and sees nothing good: “I was capable of much; but I have been injured and blighted and crushed by things beyond my control!” She feels unworthy to return to Clym and Wildeve was not worthy of her, “Never was harmony more perfect than that between the chaos of her mind and the chaos of the world without.” (Hardy, 1952) One can trace a pattern in the shape wherein the plot follows a series of events. Events that cab described by a curve of expectation which traces the changes in the relationship between, and the aspirations of, Clym and Eustacia. Thus the Return of the Native composed by a small group of characters, each violently unique and ferociously passionate in their own manner. Every individual had approached Edgon Heath distinctively. The capacity for tragedy and human emotion compels every inhabitant to be ingrained with a fierce, inescapable relationship with the Heath: a happy prospect for some and a bleak one for others. For Eustacia, the Heath embodies Hell itself. Ostensibly, Eustacia saw it as an open-air prison whose furze and thorny bars segregate her from the romantic world of wonder which she longs for. But the Heath which represents a tortured Eustacias prison also portrays a selfish Eustacia. For Eustacis the Edgon is brooding consistency, unconventional beauty and its ambiguity frighten Eustacia along with her preconceived ideals which causes her to feel suffocated in an environment where she has more freedom to be romantic than on any street of Paris. Hardy’s narrative style makes use of several kinds of imagery, including a number of figures of speech using analogies drawn from the setting of his story. “Eustacia’s journey was at first as vague in direction as that of thistledown in the wind”; “the party had marched in trail, like a traveling flock of sheep; that is to say, the strongest first, the weak and young behind”; “[Grandfer Cantle] also began to sing, in the voice of a bee up a flue”; “Grandfer Cantle meanwhile staring at [Christian] as a hen stares at the duck she has hatched”; “in her winter dress, as now, [Eustacia] was like the tiger-beetle, which, when observed in dull situations, seems to be of the quietest neutral color, but under a full illumination blazes with dazzling splendor”; “[the settle] is, to the hearths of old-fashioned cavernous fireplaces, what the last belt of trees is to the exposed country estate, or the north wall to the garden”; “[Clym] longed for death, as a field laborer longs for the shade”; “Fairway gave a circular motion to the rope, as if he were stirring a batter”; “[Eustacia] had entered the dance from the troubled hours of her late life as one might enter a brilliant chamber after a night walk in a wood”; “the leaves of the hollyhocks hung like half-closed umbrellas.” Chance and coincidence are two ways in which this seeming indifference expresses itself in our lives. When we say an event has taken place by chance or coincidence, we are simply expressing our own view of the matter; it is simply all we are able to see at the moment. For Hardy, chance or coincidence is used as a way of showing his theme on the level of events or plot. (Hardy, 1952) References Hardy, Thomas. The Return of the Native. New York: Pocket Books, 1952. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Return-of-the-Native-Critical-Essays-Theme.id-156,pageNum-59.html http://www.helium.com/items/123526-literary-analysis-return-of-the-native-by-thomas-hardy?page=2 http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/rtnnatv3.asp Read More

Eustacia can be described as a self-determined character whose passion and motivation are concerned with the development and functioning of her personality. Her focus and behavior is volitional wherein her actions are reflected and engaged with a full sense of her choice. “she looks different from other women on the heath, she has different reasons for living there, her desires are unlike those of others, and her interests and her habits set her apart. Indeed she is the “raw material of a divinity.” (Hardy, 1952).

Thus Eustacia proves to be a self-determined individual whose character still shrouds in mystery, her appearances on Rainbarrow, the reputation she has among the heath folk, and her effect on Johnny Nonsuch. 

Eustacia a woman of “some forwardness of mind,” and like Clym, is capable of thinking beyond the heath dwellers. She portrays characteristics of self-determination for she believes to be cut out for great actions and great emotions what she calls “Destiny” for not satisfying “her great desire,” “to be loved to madness.” (Hardy, 1952)

Eustacia's angle of looking at her relationship to Wildeve with objectivity does not stop her from attempting to deceive her. The irony is that Eustacia recognizes the fact that she knows she idealizes Wildeve “for want of a better object.”

This self-determined Eustacia and her relationship with Clym Yeobright can be seen as a mirrored relationship in that between Wildeve and Thomasin. At this stage, it must be remembered that Eustacia longs for a man who, unlike Wildeve, is really equal to her, who shares her passion to think and go beyond Egdon.

Thus Eustacia dreams of Clym to be “like a man coming from heaven.” (Hardy, 1952) and for whom Paris is “the center and vortex of the fashionable world,” (Hardy, 1952). Further, the fact of Clym coming from Paris strikes her as overwhelmingly exotic. Hearing Clym’s is enough to provide Eustacia with a remarkable dream, in which a mysterious male figure appears to her in “silver armor” “half in love with a vision.” (Hardy, 1952)

One can state that Eustacia at this stage is exhibiting the self-determined theory which began on assumptions that individuals are active organisms with innate tendencies towards psychological growth and development and who strive to master ongoing challenges and to integrate her experiences into a coherent sense of the self.  

But dreams and reality are always different just as for Eustacia first look at Clym which can be described as “really one of those faces which convey less the idea of so many years as its age than of so much experience as its store” and “an inner strenuousness [is] preying upon an outer symmetry, and they [rate] his look as singular.” (Hardy, 1952)

This sudden shift in tone and imagery highlights the bringing together important relationship of a woman who is “the raw material of a divinity” and a man who is prey to “an inner strenuousness.” (Hardy, 1952)

Again Eustacis's self-determination is being fragmented as Thomasin and Wildeve are married in the presence of Eustacia wherein Eustacia must be giving Thomasin away. But instead, Eustacia is obviously “giving” Thomasin to Wildeve since his attraction has become an object of her desire “to be loved to madness” and has been dimmed by the appearance of Clym. (Hardy, 1952)

This aspect requires to be established that Clym appears on Egdon Heath, from a reputedly successful career as a manager for a diamond firm in Paris. For Eustacia, Clym represents more of a man than Wildeve did as someone who is equal to her view of life and her ambitions. Thus she disposes of her earlier lover by marrying him off to Thomasin.

On the other hand for Thomasin and her marriage to Wildeve is a seal of respectability that would please her aunt and the community and for Wildeve it is a mixture of blessings and the bitter taste of revenge against Eustacia for having rejected him.

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