Country Living is about two equivalent families; the Tuvaches and the Vallins, who have lived side by side since they have had children, and the children are always playing together. Both families are exceptionally poor but are content to live in the countryside. That is, until one day their worlds are shaken by the arrival of Madame d’Hubiere who wants to adopt a child, as unfortunately she cannot have her own, to hopefully to see them succeed in life. The Tuvaches refuse the offer, thinking that it is extremely wrong of parents to sell their own child, and instead redirect them to the Vallins where, eventually after much deliberation they accept the offer after hearing the price. For the next few years the Vallins are victimized by the neighbourhood but especially to Tuvaches for “Selling their own child”. As the child returns from Madame d’Hubiere he has lived a rich life and returns to his proud family. However, an unexpected twist occurs in the story and the Tuvaches son however feels bitter and accuses his parents of keeping him in poverty, when all they did was what they thought was the right thing. In my opinion I feel the son is completely out of place as his parents have done the best they can for him, and you would think that if they HAD sold him he perhaps would have been bitter for giving him away to another family.
The final story, Stolen Bacillus, is a story set in the 19th century where people had dress codes which reflected your status in society. The dress code was formal and quite severe; it was almost as if the longer your top hat the higher up the rank you are in importance in society, which goes to show how strict the 19th century really was. In this story we meet a man who wants to help the society and quality of living at the time, whereas the other wants to destroy order as he is what’s known as an anarchist. In the 19th century anarchists were seen as political agitators and sometimes violent, obviously, as the name suggests, keen on causing anarchy. In this interesting story we see a man desperate and willing to go to extremes to get his point heard. It focuses on a Revolutionary who steals what he believes to be the deadly virus known as Cholera in a test tube. He empties the so called “Deadly virus” into the river which actually turns out to become harmless to humans and in fact instead turns monkeys blue. This final story uses a lot of humour as it is used to satirize the political folly of the Revolutionaries. I enjoyed this story as it used humour and action to great effect. I feel it is quite an unusual story for the 19th century as it has a ‘high speed chase’, perhaps one of the first ever!?
Tony Kytes is, as I mentioned earlier, the main character in the first story; he is portrayed as a handsome, serious young man who is extremely popular with the ladies. “He was quite the woman’s favourite, and in return, for their likings he loved in shoals”. He has innocence about how he dealt with his relationships with women as he was keen not to upset any of them. This then leads him into a very difficult situation. “Now he found his work cut out for him, and wondering how he should get out of this ticklish business, he looked about for a chance. His decision to marry Milly was easily regretted as he rides along with Hannah.” In short, having considered her, he warmed up, and the more he looked at her the more he liked her, till he couldn’t for the life of him think why he had ever said a word of marriage to Milly or Unity. This is what makes the story so light hearted and humorous.
Charlot, in country living is the son of the Tuvaches, who was not sold to the wealthy Madame d’Hubieres. His misery and anger at not being given the opportunity to be removed from the poverty that he lives in is clearly shown. “I really missed the boat the day I got made a sacrifice of”. He is bitter as he sees the life and wealth of the Vallins child who was given up, as he returns a healthy and educated young man. “..I blame you for being so soft in the head. Parents like you are the reason why children get held back, It’d serve you right if I upped sticks and off”. Charlot is cruel and blames his parents for not allowing him the opportunity to improve his life even though they did not sell him out of love.
The Revolutionary in “Stolen Bacillus” is described as an evil and sinister man. “The Lank black hair and deep grey eyes, the haggard expression and nervous manner”. His general appearance and his solemn interest in the test tubes of bacteria make him appear to be a character whose intentions are dubious. “It’s a deadly thing to have in your possession he said...the bacteriologist watches the morbid pleasure in his visitors expression” When he realises the test tube was in fact non deadly and turned monkeys blue the story is turned around and becomes humorous as the reader laughs at the revolutionary.
Thomas Hardy portrays a light-hearted view of the serious social etiquette of relationships in Victorian times when a women’s reputation could be seriously damaged by a flirtation with a man, especially one who turns out to be a fiend and a deceiver. The women in the Arch Deceiver are eager to please Tony Kytes as they agree to hide in the wagon to avoid confrontation with each other. Tony confronts his father about the difficult situation he finds himself in “If it had been Milly, t’would have been quite proper, but you and Hannah going about yourselves” This quite clearly shows the views of the times that it is not proper for a single woman to spend time alone with a single man unless there was an intention of marriage, extremely different from today where this is all too common.
The two contrasting relationships in Country living show on family’s willingness to sell their child for a better life out of poverty against a family who would not, because they felt it was the wrong thing to do. The similarity between them is that they both thought they were doing what was right and best for their son. The Vallins initially showed an unwillingness to part with their child, however after hearing the financial reward both they and their child would receive they agreed to it “.Then spoken to them about the future their little boy would have, how happy he would be and how much money he would be able to give them later on”
Personally my favourite story, was “Country Living” because it portrayed family life extremely well and most of all it had a much unexpected ending. I thoroughly enjoyed the 19th century stories generally, as they were something ‘a little different’. After all, essentially all stories nowadays are very similar.
