What have you found to enjoy in Thomas Hardy's

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Ben James                10/05/07

        Assignment 3: English Literature-Prose Pre 1914

                             English-Prose Appreciation 

What have you found to enjoy in Thomas Hardy’s “The Withered Arm’?

Thomas Hardy’s book introduced a lonely beginning with ‘The Lorn Milkmaid’. The book is set in the 19th Century in the countryside and so it is a rural setting. These times seem to have different circumstances with things such as insistence of attending church on Sundays. It appeared as a lonely morning in the milk shed where the ‘lorn’ milkmaid was milking the cows. There are many other milkers present but it seems she is ‘lorn’ as she is isolated from them for some reason. Later we learn this is because she has had a child out of wedlock.  We see it apparent that this milkmaid has had a relationship with a known ‘Farmer Lodge’ (as their names were defined by occupation) with a higher status due to his name. These two have obviously parted at some point.

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So we have a poor hard working milkmaid who has now come to find that in her beloved history with ‘Master Lodge’ she has been replaced by a new woman in his life who is apparently perfect according to her son. She then curiously sends her son in to spy on the newly married couple. After her son’s reconnaissance mission and his reporting back ‘Rhoda’ manages to picture ‘Gertrude’ and has a dream.

The supernatural is an important theme in this book and this dream seemed to conjure thought within the class. It was as if everyone saw ...

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