Compare 'After the First Death' with Far From the Madding crowd,' with special consideration of each author's style and characterisation.

Authors Avatar

Compare 'After the First Death' with Far From the Madding crowd,' with special consideration of each author's style and characterisation.

I have Recently read two books. The first was Thomas Hardy's novel set in the English counrty side during the nineteenth centuary. It told me a story about the arrival of Bathsheba Everdene in the village of Weatherbury to work a large, dilapidated farm that she inherited. In consequent of her inheritence she met a dashing young cavalry officer whom she found herself infanuated with; and also of her growing temptuous realtionship with the shepard-farmer, Gabriel Oak, whom she ends up marrying. The second novel was Robert Cormier, terroist act in America during the twentieth century, upon a bus full of small children and a vunerable high school cheer leader. She story contains not only fear and heroism but a psychological drama of ordinary people who are confronted with extrodinary events.

It is in this essay that I am to compare each novel noting there simularities, even though they seem very different, and there extreme differences.

Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd is a political and common cultural novel. It contains a great deal of detail allowing each reader to create a unique interpretation of the scenes described. He has used omnicient 3rd person narative and a simple chronolgical order. This makes the story easier to follow the events at hand. The chronolgy of Far From the Madding Crowd would have been benefical at the time when Hardy wrote as the novel would have been published in chapters with the newspaper.

As the novel was written during the time of the industrial revelution, Hardy has taken the opertunity to once again interject comments, analysis, and phylosophical reflection of the concerns of the period. These authorical comments are felt to be on of the facotrs that add to Hardy's novel's rich texture, as the offer the reader the oppertunity to reflect on the text and its concerns.The interjections are also thought to set the social context of the events of the novel.

It is therefore intersting that Hardy has chosen a non sterio-typical main role, Bathsheba Everdene. At the time that the novel is set, women are thought to be the 'weaker' sex. However Bathsheba Everdene is quite the opposite, as she holds are role of authority and respect. She tackles the sterio-typical expectations of fellow farmers and country men at the market in chapter 12 where they are trying to dupe her into buying poor grain. However through this chapter we also see Bathsheba's self confident side as she prompots herslef to other men for them to admire her. We get a sense here that her phylosophy it that 'you can look but u may not touch'. "Men be such a terrible class of society to look at a body," She said in reply to Liddy's comment. On her meeting with Mr Boldwood she finds it rather destresing that he had no noticable desires to 'woo' her. She finds herself in conversation with Liddy to discuss his 'sense' to not 'waste his time upon her', Later Hardy's narative voice invterjects '...as if Bathsehba and her charms were thin air.' This technique to build the character I think works well as it gives us a 'real life' sense of rejection on 'exquisit' characters.

Join now!

Hardy has however used a very sterio-typical character in contrast with Batsheba, Gariel Oak. Even his name 'oak' gives a sense of the type of character he is, and his personality. I say this as he is of the country and it rurally based, bad he is down to earth and you can imagin him being a strong soft countryman. Hardy opens the book with a chapter named 'Desription of Farmer Oak- An Incident.' He is imediately related to the 'rising sun' as his sturucture is described. This makes us voluntery be in favour of Gabriel Oak during his stroy. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay