Post the following (no need to explain or justify unless you want to!):
-the quotation you feel best sums up the importance of this instalment
-the stylistic or literary feature you find the most effective in this instalment
-your title for the tenth instalment
Due by Thursday, March 24th, 8 a.m.
The quotation I feel best sums up the importance of this instalment: “”Erected by Francis Troy in Beloved Memory of Fanny Robin.” Oak saw [Bathsheba], and his first act was to gaze enquiringly and learn how she received this knowledge of the authorship of the work, which to himself has caused considerable astonishment. But such discoveries did not much affect her now. Emotional convulsions seemed to have become the commonplaces of her history, and she bade him Good morning, and asked him to fill in the hole with the spade which was standing by.”
ReplyDeleteThe stylistic or literary feature I find the most effective: personification of Nature, and of the gurgoyle in particular.
My title for the tenth instalment: “All romances end…”
According to me, the quotation that perfectly reflects what happens in this intalment is "Providence, far from helping [Troy] into a new course, or showing any wish that he might adopt one, actually jeered his first trembling and critical attempt in that kind was more than nature could bear." in chapter XLVI (p309).
ReplyDeleteThe theme of fate and Nature are again explored and it seemed to me that Troy was finally punished for his acts.
As Chloé pointed out, the personification of Nature is very effective and I think that Hardy managed to build tension very powerfully by using shifts in focalisation and playing with the reader's expectations.
The title that best sums up this instalment in my opinion is: "Nature's power on a deserted woman and his deceitful man"
The quotation I believe sums up the majority of this installment is when "[Bathsheba] suddenly felt a longing to speak to some one stronger than herself, and so get strength to sustain her surmised position with dignity and her carking doubts with stoicism. [...] Might she but go to Gabriel Oak!" (Chapter XLIII, p.286).
ReplyDeleteThe stylistic feature I find most effective is the description of the characters' thoughts, feelings and sometimes even behavior though the description of nature (especially in chapter XLIV).
I would title this installment: "Old Rivals and New Revelations" (I was otherwise thinking of "Young Rivals and Mature Revelations" but it may sound a bit off).
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ReplyDeleteThe quotation that sums up what happens in this instalment is:
Delete"No further speech would need to be uttered. [Oak] knew [Bathsheba] so well that no eccentricity of behaviour in her would alarm him." (Chapter XLII, p.287, l.15-17)
In this instalment, the most effective stylistic feature is nature and its role because it develops relationships, characterizes every character in this instalment, explains the reader what happens, what has happened and what the characters feel (clarifies pretty much everything).
The title best suited for this instalment would be: "Nature's hidden truth".
Quotation : "He had not minded the peculiarities of his birth, the vicissitudes of his life, the meteor-like uncertainty of all that related to him, because these appertained to the hero of his story […] This very morning the illusion completed its disappearance, and, as it were all of a sudden, Troy hated himself." I found it quite hard to pick a quotation that combined all the important ideas, but I think this one gives a pretty keen insight on Troy's functioning and on the drastic changes that his character undergoes in this instalment.
ReplyDeleteStylistic feature : the narrator's fluttering presence, either influencing the reader through acerbic comments or delving into the characters' minds through internal focalisation and free indirect speech.
Title : "Opposing courses : a downfall for a regeneration"
Quotation : "To turn about would have been hard enough under the greatest Providential encouragement; but to find that Providence, far from helping him into a new course, or showing any wish that he might adopt one, actually jeered his first trembling and critical attempt in that kind was more than nature could bear." I thought it summed up the fall of Troy and the fury of the elements against him and his faults.
ReplyDeleteStylistic feature : The just role of Nature either protecting characters or punishing others. We just know begin to fathom all the exent of its power.
Title : A punished deceit : Regeneration
The quotation I chose is "Mind this, don't you flinch. Stand your ground and be cut to pieces. That's what I'm going to do."
ReplyDeleteAlong with the Nature imagery and links between nature and characters, effective features are the irony of the narrator and sounds (alliterations, consonances) to convey ideas.
My title would be Hide and Flight : Husband's and Wife's Regrets
"Almost for the first time in his life, Troy, as he stood by this dismantled grave, wished himself another man." Chapter XLVI, page 309.
ReplyDeleteI think it's hard to pick one quotation that sums it all up, but this one almost says it all. We understand that Troy has never really thought about his acts until Nature took a kind of revenge upon him (that we can find in "dismantled"). He is now facing the consequence of his carelessness. Though this quotation doesn't include Bathsheba's "renewal", we see how Nature has helped Troy begin his downfall (although "helped" might not be the right word to employ here).
What I found the most effective in this instalment was the role of Nature against Troy. We saw all along the novel that it always had a role to play, whether it was in describing the characters' emotions or foreshadowing an important event. Here, it is really satisfying for the reader to see that Troy finally starts getting what he "deserves", after all the bad he has done. It is also really powerful, since it is not only the narrator nor the other characters that deplore his actions, but now the natural world too.
My title for the tenth instalment would be Nature's Revelation: a Husband's Debacle and a Wife's Ascent
The quotation I thought sums up this instalment best is : "This very morning the illusion completed its disappearance, and, as it were all of a sudden, Troy hated himself." We clearly feel Troy's downfall and his loss of power in the reader's mind is emphasized by the fact that even Troy hates himself.
ReplyDeleteLiterary feature : Nature imagery and its role on the characters. Nature is used as a crutch or a referee for characters as it helps Bathsheba when she needs to rejuvenate in peace and punishes Troy by destroying his work around Fanny's tumbstone.
The title I chose for this instalment is "Natural rejuvenation ; Natural downfall"
The quotation I think best sums up the tenth instalment is this one from "Under a tree: Reaction":
ReplyDelete"The sun went down almost blood-red that night, and a livid cloud received its rays in the east."
My favourite literary feature and the one I found most effective in this instalment is irony: the whole passage of the gurgoyle's destruction of Troy's work of repentance is striking, of course, but I also appreciated more precise (thouh no less subtle) statements such as when Troy realises that Fanny has failed to keep an arrangement with him twice and he angrily "vow[s] it should be the last" - after all it will, as she has died by that point.
The title I chose for the tenth instalment is "The truth at last: Trial by nature".
Quotation: “Bathsheba was lonely and miserable now; not lonelier actually than she had been before her marriage; but her loneliness then was to that of the present time as the solitude of a mountain is to the solitude of a cave.”
ReplyDelete- Chapter XLIII, page 285.
I found this sentence extremely striking, perhaps because of its once again accurate simile making reference to nature, easily understandable – a perfect image of Bathsheba’s life.
Literary feature: The literary feature I found most striking was the use of detail in this instalment. In looking at how scenes are described in these chapters, one quickly realises how the parts described in complete detail are always in relation to Nature, linking this literary feature with the one many people have already pointed out before me – the abundant presence of Nature in the instalment. Many scenes are only vaguely described, settings barely introduced, important actions skipped (such as Bathsheba’s opening of the coffin), except when they are linked with the natural world, like when Bathsheba flees the house and ends up under a tree in the middle of nature. I think that this contrast between how different parts of the chapters are described brings the reader once again to notice the importance of the natural world, associated with Bathsheba and her farmers, in opposition with Troy, associated with modernism.
Title: Grave Irony - Desperation
Quotation: Perhaps it would be more accurately described as a determined rebellion against her préjudices, a revulsion from a lower instinct of uncharitableness which would have withheld all sympathy from the dead woman because in life she had preceded Bathsheba in the attentions of a man whom Bathsheba had by no means ceased from loving, though her love was sick to death just now with the gravity of a further misgiving.
ReplyDeleteLiterary feature: I think th personnification of Nature and all the importance that it creates through this is the most effective feature to show the mood and the events that occured in this instalment (Fanny's death, Bathsheba strengthened...)
Name of the instalment: Deathly revelations and recovery of the strength
The quote that best sums up this instalment in my opinion is:
ReplyDelete"In the sight of heaven, you are my very very wife" (Troy to Fanny)
Chapter XLIII
My favourite chapter in this instalment is chapter XLIV, "Under a Tree- Reaction".It is the main chapter to have the best stylistic feature of the instalment: the description of nature and the way nature interacts with man/characters.
The title I chose is: "Dead love and new beginnings"
"It always comes on when I have been in a public-house a little time" page 281, chapter XLII.
ReplyDeleteI think the most striking feature of this installment is the play on lighting and colors. It is most obvious when comparing the scene of Fanny's tomb, which is very dark, and the scene where Bathsheba sees the swamp with the oranges and browns and greens. I think it shows the contrast between Bathsheba and Troy.
Installment name: Francis Troy's macabre bride
Quotation : "This very morning the illusion completed its disappearance, and, as it were all of a sudden, Troy hated himself."
ReplyDeleteLiterary feature : The way Nature is presented in this instalment. It is not new, but different. Nature seemed to reflect characters' actions until now, whereas in this instalment it seems to take a bug part in what they are doing, and how they are feeling.
The title I chose is : 'Drowning in a cove of regrets'
The quotation I chose is : "Bathsheba went along the dark road, neither knowing nor caring about the direction or issue of her flight."
ReplyDeleteThe feature I thought was most striking in this instalment is Hardy's use of Nature. I'm tempted to say "pathetic fallacy" but I think it's more than just this device. The way it is described and presented conveys an image of a great power and force.
The title I chose for this 10th instalment is : 'Feelings: washed away by the marble'
The quotation which, to me, best sums up the 10th instalment can be found in chapter 43, page 293 :
ReplyDelete« It was the τετέλεσται of their union with Troy ».
Hardy's use of the Greek term « tetelestai » which stands for « All is finished » and is a religious reference which can be found in John 19 :30 makes this very short sentence even more powerful and striking, almost catching the reader's eyes from afar. It is rather unusual to find words in Greek but here it symbolises both the end of Bathsheba and Troy's union as well as the death of Fanny who, just like Jesus Christ (who uttured the τετέλεσται), died poor, martyred and suffering because of the sins of others, which then triggered their redemption or at least regeneration. It pretty much sums up all that happens in the instalment in only 9 words.
The literary features I found the most striking were the constant shifts in focalization and in time (analepsis) which enable Hardy to present the different points of view of characters and show in the same time their detachment to each other. He also uses it to present similarities and differences between Troy and Bathsheba with patterns like the quest for regeneration through the natural world.
My title : « Death and rebirth : at the dawn of a new cycle »
The quotation that I think best sums up the 10th instalment is part of chapter 46, on page 309, as Troy stands in front of Fanny's destroyed grave.
ReplyDelete"[Troy] stood and meditated - a miserable man."
The features I found most striking in this instalment were the role of Nature, and characterisation through Nature, as well as the contrast that it brings up between certain characters, especially Oak and Troy.
My title for this instalment is 'Endings and New Beginnings'.
The quote I have chosen is the the last sentence of chapter 46, on page 312.
ReplyDelete"Finally, with the superfluous magnanimity of a woman whose narrower instincts have brought down bitterness upon her instead of love, she wiped the mud spots from the tomb as if she rather liked its words than otherwise, and went home again."
The features I found the most striking in this instalment are the tone of the narrator and the character's 'relationship' with the Nature.
For this instalment, my title is 'Lost and Found again'.
Quotation for the 10th installment : "Troy, in his prostration at the time, had no perception that in the futility of these romantic doings, dictated by a remorseful reaction from previous indifference, there was any element of absurdity. "
ReplyDelete- chapter 45 page 305
Feature : The role of nature in the characterisation of key characters and also the shift of focalisation that develop the characters by being either in their thoughts or by having the narrator point of view.
Tittle : "A bit too late : Renewal"
The quotation I have chosen for the tenth instalment is in chapter XLIII, page 292 : "Capacity for intense feeling is proportionate to the general intensity of the nature, and perhaps in all Fanny's sufferings, much greater relatively to her strength, there never was a time when she suffered in an absolute sense what Bathsheba suffered now."
ReplyDeleteThe most striking features of this instalment, in my opinion, would be the contrast in colors to emphasize a particular atmosphere, and play with sounds.
Title : "Desperation : A new beginning"
Quotation : "Whilst Oak was doing as she desired Bathsheba collected the flowers, and began planting them with that sympathetic manipulation of the roots and leaves which is so conspicuous in a woman's gardening, and which flowers seem to understand and thrive upon"
ReplyDelete- Chapter XLVI page 312
Feature : How Nature develops, contrasts and links each characters in this installment to especially show Bathsheba's reempowerment and new connection with Nature.
Title : "Broken wedding rings : Reempowerment"
Quotation:"Fate had dealt grimly with him through the last four and twenty hours. This day had been spent in a way which varied materially from his intensions regarding it." -chapter 45 page 302
ReplyDeleteFeature: The presence of Nature has a whole part of the plot that takes part for or against characters and takes control over the events especially with the disappearance of Troy.
Title: A death for a new life
The quote I chose from the tenth installment,is in chapter 46 ("the gurgoyle: its doings") at page 311 : "Bathsheba was momentarily relieved of that wayward heaviness of the past twenty-four hours which had quenched the vitality of her youth in her without substituting the philosophy of maturer years [...]"
ReplyDeleteThe most important and the most effective literary feature of this installment is, in my opinion, the importance of Nature which develops the changes of each characters and their relationships with Bathsheba getting closer to Oak as she gets closer to Nature.
My title for this installment is "A solemn revelation and a hard truth".
The quotation I chose is: « She has been unable to overcome the impression that some connection existed between her rival and the light through the trees.” The focalization is on Bathsheba and it’s taken from chapter XLVI, page 311. According to me, it shows the saint-like aspect of Fanny, undergoing a deep suffering and being abandoned by Troy and some can maybe see a reflection on the afterlife. It also shows how Bathsheba has begun change and to show respect towards Fanny by the association with the light, even though the word rival is still present.
ReplyDeleteThe literary feature that I found the most striking would be Hardy’s use of associations. Indeed, he transposes characteristics of Nature and elements to characters and thus implicitly develops them. I’m thinking about Troy’s association with the sea where he swims, both are changeable and inconstant. Fanny is associated to the light in the quote above and both have their shine (Fanny’s hair) and Fanny is sweet yet she doesn’t seem to have a solid personality, echoing the immaterial aspect of light. Bathsheba herself finds a shelter among trees sharing their mysterious, solid and independent aspect.
The title I would give to this instalment is: “Mystery unveiled: palingenesis”.
The quote I chose is from chapter 43, page 292 : “[Troy] had originally stood erect. Now, in the first immobility of his frame could be discerned an incipient movement, as in the darkest night may be discerned light after a while. He was gradually sinking forwards.”
ReplyDeleteThis quote illustrates for me the entirety of this instalment, as it shows both an awakening and a collapse in Troy. For the same reasons, I have chosen “Belated realization : running away” as a title for this instalment.
The features of Hardy's writing that striked me as particularly effective are, for one his use of lights to reflect the characters' frame of mind and, sometimes, Nature's will. I also found the internal focalization on Bathsheba and Troy particularly effective as they both have changed, and they are both, in a way, suffering the consequences of their marriage. At the end of the instalment, both seem to be at their lowest point of self-esteem, and the repetitive shifts in focalizations helped make a parallel between the two characters that I found quite striking.