Feminism

In the "Feminist Criticism" one passage beings talking about how the "French feminist associate language with separation from the mother (452)"  and I began to think about how that influences young women, especially when they leave their mothers after marriage. Someone goes from being a daughter and an 'equal' part of a household to belonging to a man and in a way running the household under a husband. I think that today this is not so much the case, but in the time setting of Wuthering Heights I think this holds true. The article then goes on to say, "Language systematically forces women to choose: either they can imagine and represent themselves as men imagine and represent them (in which case they may speak, but will speak as men) or they can choose "silence," becoming in the process "the invisible and unheard sex" (Jones "Inscribing" 83), I do not like the reality of this ultimatum, I can either blend into the wall or think as a man? Why can't a be a woman, think like a woman, and speak my mind like a woman? It's funny because I do think like a woman but I also speak my mind.

Lyn Pykett's essay "Changing the Names:The Two Catherines" I found it interesting when Pykett  talks about "Catherine's fundamental inability" to pick one of two men. He then goes on to discuss the fact that maybe the novel asks the question "what is a woman? (p 470)" I never really thought of the novel in this way, but as I look back I begin to see that feminine roles in this book are a little bit different that what the norms may have been. Cathrine was raised motherless, maybe you can say she was raised without guidance on how to be a 'proper lady' and in the end she married the wrong guy. I'm not sure if that is a true statement, but I like to think that Heathcliff and Catherine could have been happy together..but then we wouldn't have a novel would we?

Critical Response --Marxist

In the beginning of the "A Critical History" section I found it really interesting that Bronte was accused writing a novel that raised moral questions. Her novel was described using phrases such as "the disgusting coarseness" or " an ill-mannered contempt for the decencies of language." (Both cited on page 334) I think I was initially surprised because today many of the things Bronte writes about are things we hear about every day on the news or by reading a newspaper. I then began to think back to what I have learned about the nineteenth century and realized that Wuthering Heights probably did raise some questions of morality.  In some places it seems as though Bronte was obsessed with evil behavior and shows that in Heathcliff almost the whole way through the novel.

Another question the Critical Analysis answered was the dispute about the message the book was trying to get across. Some believed that it's message was one of poor morality and therefore some had a problem with the book. Emily Bronte's sister tried to stand up for her sister saying that she had not known what she had written and the interpretation it received. I thought that was very interesting because usually when I write I am able to read my writing expecting what people will say about it. Once I began to think about that I realized that just because an author writes with a specific intention. My friend from Illinois has a blog and one day I read it and got really mad at what I was reading. Turns out his intention of the blog was drastically different then how I had understood it. oops! I think that if I had lived during the time of Wuthering Heights release date I probably would have questioned it as well!

Speaking of interrupting this novel I thought it was really interesting that three different people thought three completely different things about the ending of the book. It is really interesting to see what people think about this book and how different it is from what I thought about the book, it puts a lot of different perspectives on one text. I like how it helps me to keep an open mind.

Wuthering Heights 2

This is the second time that I have read this novel and this time around it was a bit easier. I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Heathcliff plotted against his family (some he didn't like and even the people he loved). I can not even imagine the amount of plotting, planning, and time that Heathcliff put into to achieving both properties.  I can almost see him in my mind sitting by the fire staring off just thinking about his plan.


Towards the end there is a scene that I even remember from the first time I read this novel. It is the scene where Heathcliff and Catherine are arguing over her inheritance. Heathcliff almost hits her but something stops him. I think that he see his one true love in the face of this young girl. I also think that he then begins to see his Catherine is every aspect of young Catherine. Because of this he no longer wants revenge.  Not only does this novel show readers that love can overcome revenge, dead Catherine's love for Heathcliff eventually saved young Catherine, but it shows that good things and love can come from very broken places. In the end everything works out. It is the way of life