In Tess of the d'Urbervilles Hardy separates his novel into phases, indicative of the changes that beset the main character over the course of her life. The purpose of this technique could be interpreted as emphasizing the cycle of womanhood, or the seasonal stages of the simple, agrarian life which Hardy glorifies in all his novels, or as simply the phases of the moon, that heavenly body which affects the Earth and its inhabitants in mysterious, ephemeral ways. The moon as a early symbol, connects the concepts of a Mother Earth, or Gaia, to the seasonal discord which is a metaphor for Tess's existence.
However in Jude the Obscure, Hardy choses to separate Jude's chapters differently. Instead of phases, the sections are titled "At Marygreen," "At Melchester," "At Shaston." Knowing that Hardy intentionally creates a metaphorical structure mirror the protagonist's nature, what purpose might Hardy have for labeling Jude's sections by town or city?
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I feel that hardy names the sections after a location rather than a phase number because Jude is a lost character. Jude has not found a place where he feels at home or he always believe that there is a "better" or more suitable place for him to dwell; therefore, the sections are named after locations to further symbolize Jude growing as a character and finding himself.
ReplyDeleteTo agree with the ladies' man, the sections in Jude are to symbolize each step in finding where he belongs and who he is. In each place, he discovers a flaw or two that turn him away from where he is. It seems as though his method of finding himself is to run away from where he is unhappy. His goal seems to be to find the "Utopia of Jude". Therefore, Hardy creates this idea through how he divides his book.
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with Krystal and "ladiesman" (aka: Courtney), I would say that each section in the book "Jude the Obscure" represents a new location, with new challanges for Jude. He has different "phases" of difficulties. First starting out in Christminster, he encounters a few problems with his first wife, Arabella and then he has problems getting into the University. But, as time progresses, he changes location and everything gets more and more complicated. Jude get tangled up in his web so much, that he is almost forced to move everytime, yet still encountering more troubles with each new location.
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