Summer part 1
"Where'd you go to?"
"Anywhere where I can earn my living. I'll try here first, and if I can't do it here I"ll go somewhere else. I'll go up the Mountain if I have to." She paused on this threat, and saw that it had taken effect. "I want you should get Miss Hatchard and the selectmen to take me at the library: and I want a woman here in the house with me," she repeated.
This passage of text provoked me because I felt like it was a defining moment for Charity's character. The way in which she demanded what she wanted and wasn't afraid to say that she would even go up the Mountain if she had to seemed to really mark her character from the beginning as a strong and level-headed girl. From the reading so far, it seems that a woman earning a living on her own was very rare, and so her character is already being set up as one who will ask for what she wants, regardless of what anyone thinks.
"It was not the fear of any sanction, human or heavenly; she had never in her life been afraid. It was simply that she had suddenly understood what would happen if she went in. It was the thing that did happen between young men and girls, and that North Dormer ignored in public and snickered over on the sly. It was what Miss Hatchard was still ignorant of, but every girl of Charity's class knew about before she left school. It was what had happened to Ally Hawes's sister Julia, and had ended in her going to Nettleton, and in people's never mentioning her name."
This passage provoked me because of the way Charity felt like she had to hold back and not go inside to see Harney. I think it's particularly interesting the way she has this inner battle with herself, building more and more tension as she is watching him from outside. I think it is another passage that shows a lot about Charity's character. Although from the beginning she seemed to be rather independent, the stigma that would surely follow if she went to see Harney would almost be too much. I think it also provoked me because it says so much about North Dormer and the kind of town it is. It seems that anything slightly controversial isn't talked about in a healthy way, but rather discussed among the gossip of the people in the town. I think this passage exemplifies the tension that Charity is feeling between her natural instincts and desires and the social pressure she is under in North Dormer. It shows her "respressed sexuality" and "small-town prejudice," as it states on the back cover of the book.
"Anywhere where I can earn my living. I'll try here first, and if I can't do it here I"ll go somewhere else. I'll go up the Mountain if I have to." She paused on this threat, and saw that it had taken effect. "I want you should get Miss Hatchard and the selectmen to take me at the library: and I want a woman here in the house with me," she repeated.
This passage of text provoked me because I felt like it was a defining moment for Charity's character. The way in which she demanded what she wanted and wasn't afraid to say that she would even go up the Mountain if she had to seemed to really mark her character from the beginning as a strong and level-headed girl. From the reading so far, it seems that a woman earning a living on her own was very rare, and so her character is already being set up as one who will ask for what she wants, regardless of what anyone thinks.
"It was not the fear of any sanction, human or heavenly; she had never in her life been afraid. It was simply that she had suddenly understood what would happen if she went in. It was the thing that did happen between young men and girls, and that North Dormer ignored in public and snickered over on the sly. It was what Miss Hatchard was still ignorant of, but every girl of Charity's class knew about before she left school. It was what had happened to Ally Hawes's sister Julia, and had ended in her going to Nettleton, and in people's never mentioning her name."
This passage provoked me because of the way Charity felt like she had to hold back and not go inside to see Harney. I think it's particularly interesting the way she has this inner battle with herself, building more and more tension as she is watching him from outside. I think it is another passage that shows a lot about Charity's character. Although from the beginning she seemed to be rather independent, the stigma that would surely follow if she went to see Harney would almost be too much. I think it also provoked me because it says so much about North Dormer and the kind of town it is. It seems that anything slightly controversial isn't talked about in a healthy way, but rather discussed among the gossip of the people in the town. I think this passage exemplifies the tension that Charity is feeling between her natural instincts and desires and the social pressure she is under in North Dormer. It shows her "respressed sexuality" and "small-town prejudice," as it states on the back cover of the book.
posted by Jenny at 7:53 PM
1 Comments:
I really like your response to the passage about Charity sort of demanding lawyer Royall to do those things for her. I agree that it was a defining moment for her character and sort of revealed to the reader her strength. I think that up to this point, I was unsure of her strength and just assumed that she was weak since women in that time were considered weak. I think you made a great point about her wanting to work and make money being something that not many women had the opportunity to do. I think that her strength that was revealed her was also shown in the way she was able to let Harvey go and the way she was able to marry lawyer Royall. In a way, her marrying lawyer Royall could be seen as a weakness that she was unable to handle what people would think...but, because of my view of lawyer Royall and the creepiness of him, I would rather suffer the scrutiny of an entire town than be married to a creepy old man...so to me, I see strength that she was able to do "the right thing" for herself and her child.
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