How does ‘Old Mrs. Chundle’ by Thomas Hardy, And ‘A visit of Charity’, by Eudora Welty reflect Changing attitudes towards old people?
How does 'Old Mrs. Chundle' by Thomas Hardy, And 'A visit of Charity', by Eudora Welty reflect Changing attitudes towards old people. In this essay I will be discussing as best as I can the changing attitudes towards old people. This will involve two short stories, which are 'Old Mrs. Chundle', and 'A Visit Of Charity.' I will then describe the old women. I will also describe the conditions that the old women were living in. Finally I will also describe how other characters in the stories treated the old women. The story, 'Old Mrs. Chundle' by Thomas Hardy is about an old lady who has kept herself well away from society because of her disability in hearing. A young priest that just came to the area was out side her house painting a picture and decided to visit her house for dinner. When he met the lady, he noticed she was partially deaf. This woman had not been to mass for a long time as she couldn't hear the priest saying mass. He felt sorry for the woman so decided that he would try and help her. He thought he had thought of a good solution when he got the lady an ear trumpet. However the idea failed, as the lady still was unable to hear the priest. But the curate had another idea. He thought to put the lady directly in front of the pulpit again this created a new problem which was Mrs. Chundle had an awfully bad breath and was distracting the curate and making him
Afterwards by Thomas Hardy analysis.
Afterwards Analysis The poem Afterwards by Thomas Hardy consists of five stanzas, each one a quatrain. Hardy is anticipating his own death and questioning how he will be remembered. The use of nature, not in the abstract sense but in his own feelings towards it and the sensitivity of his observations of nature contrasts his mortality. He wants to be remembered as a man who "used to notice such things" The "Present" tense is personified in the first stanza as it "latched it's postern". A postern is a back door and a private exit giving the first indication the poet fears his death will pass quietly and unnoticed. Use of alliteration ""may month" "glad green" and assonance "dewfall-hawk" emphasise the grandeur of seemingly ordinary things and events. A beautiful description of dusty leaves being coated with "new-spun silk" creates an almost fairy like image and once again stresses the frail enchantment of ordinary things in nature. In the final line of each stanza, Hardy puzzles how he will be remembered. He uses "may think/say" because he is only using his own opinion on how he would like to be perceived and being dead he would never actually know how he would be remembered. Hardy identifies himself to "innocent" creatures, because they like him are doomed to death. The nightjar bird known in Hardy's local area as the "dewfall-hawk" makes a great deal of noise when it is
'In Tess of the D'Urbervilles Tess's passive temperament and fatalistic view of life make her, to a large extent the author of her own misfortunes.'How far do you agree with this statement about Tess's character and role in the novel?
'In Tess of the D'Urbervilles Tess's passive temperament and fatalistic view of life make her, to a large extent the author of her own misfortunes.' How far do you agree with this statement about Tess's character and role in the novel? This question about Tess has been a topic for literary criticism for decades. Critics views on Tess vary from: "She rises through seduction to adultery, murder and the gallows."1 To "As we know Tess, the milkmaid heroine, has fallen from virtue through no fault of her own."2 In my opinion of Tess, the second view is a more true and relevant quotation to describe Tess. Tess writes only a small part along with the many authors that write her misfortune. In fact I believe that you can take any of the main characters from Tess and you would find that they were either partly or largely to blame for her misfortunes whether their intentions where good or bad. For example; Jack Durbeyfield, Tess's father; he is a proud, sometimes irresponsible and poverty stricken man. It is Jack who doesn't take Parson Tringham's advice to "do nothing" and so instead of bringing his family to fortune, which are his intentions, he becomes proud and brings his own family to misfortune. "In fact from that very instant Durbeyfield begins 'doing' to such an extent that in the course of five years he completely undoes, not only himself and his family, but a number of
Through an examination of Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, discuss the role played by women in Victorian society.
Through an examination of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and The French Lieutenant's Woman, discuss the role played by women in Victorian society. One might expect women in Victorian society to be depicted as, stereotypically, pretty little ornaments to be owned by, in turn, their father and their husband, and that their future lives will continue along the same path, without significant input by themselves. Both Tess and The French Lieutenant's Woman have many female characters, which deviate to different extents from this portrayal. One difference in the two novels is in the number of main female characters in each. In Tess of the D'Urbervilles, there are principally two: Tess herself, whose progress through her life is chronicled throughout the novel, and Mercy Chant, who is a minor character. In The French Lieutenant's Woman, however, there are four important female characters: Ernestina, the woman due to marry Charles, Sarah, the eponymous heroine, Mrs. Poultney, a rich elderly woman and Mary, Ernestina's servant. 'Ernestina had just the right face for her age' tells us nearly all that we need to know about Charles' fiancée. She is the stereotypical Victorian woman; I think that Charles describes her best when he says '[she is] a pretty little thing, yet a shallow little thing'. She does see that society's expectations for her are less than thrilling, although
Why are there so many fallen women in Victorian literature?
Why are there so many fallen women in Victorian literature? To look at the reasons why there are so many fallen women in Victorian literature it is imperative to look at the history of the time and the social issues surrounding it. The Victorian period lasted for over 60 years and in that time the Victorians saw rapid change, which brought industrial revolution and great social transformation. There was a mass exodus from the country to the towns, which started in the late Georgian period. This brought about great wealth and great poverty, which affected all classes. This mass change of population distribution highlighted many social issues, prostitution being one of the major ones. Even within this context however, police figures demonstrate that prostitution was stable in 19th century England and probably even falling because of the growing urban populations. "Jeffrey Weeks suggested that working class sexuality was increasingly the object of middle class scrutiny and attempts at 'colonisation', which is how he describes systematic campaigns for the 'moralisation' of the poor."i Prostitution and women's rights was an issue forced by Josephine Butler who fought vehemently for the repeal of the contagious disease acts in the 1860's.The role of women and the women's movement was beginning to gain support and speed. Women were beginning to push the boundaries and asserting
Show how two authors, writing in two different centuries, deal with a similar theme - Thomas Hardy and Eudora Welty.
Yoni Jay Old Mrs Chundle - Thomas Hardy A Visit of Charity - Eudora Welty Both stories mentioned above are dealing with the same theme. The central topic running through them is "charity and the elderly". The two titles, despite being relevant to their respective stories, are misleading, in the way that after reading the heading one would think that in "A Visit Of Charity" the characters and the actual plot is more charitable than "Old Mrs Chundle", in fact this is not the case. After reading both short stories one will conclude that in "Old Mrs Chundle" true and honest charity is performed as opposed to the "charity" performed in the second story which in all truth and honesty is only performed to enhance the characters' own ranking with the Campfire Girls. The way "society", in our story represented by the curate and Marian, treated the respective old ladies is very indicative of the time in which both stories were written. Thomas Hardy lived in England; he was born in 1840 and died at the age of 88 years old in 1928. He lived in Victorian England, when there was contrast between the upper and the lower classes, namely between the wealthy and the poor. Despite this people were more courteous to one another than in modern day era. Eudora Welty, on the other hand was born in 1909 some sixty years after Hardy was born. Welty was born in Jacksonville, Mississippi in the
How is Thomas Hardy related to his story 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles?'
How is Thomas Hardy related to his story 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles?' Thomas Hardy was considered a fatalist. Fatalism is a view of life which insists that all action everywhere is controlled by nature of things or by a power superior to things. It grants the existence of Fate, a great impersonal, primitive force, existing from all eternity, absolutely independent of human wills, superior even to any god whom humanity may have invented. The power of Fate is embracing and is more difficult to understand than the gods themselves. The scientific parallel of fatalism is determinism. It acknowledges, just as fatalism, that man's struggle against the Will behind things, is of no avail, but does decree that the laws of cause and effect must not suspend operation. Determinism seeks to explain conditions which fatalism is content to describe. The use of fatalism for furthering the plot was a technique used by many Victorian authors, but with Thomas Hardy it became something more than a mere device. Due to his fatalistic outlook of life, Hardy presents the character of Tess as having a variety of forces working against her efforts to control her destiny. Fate approaches Tess in a great variety of forms. Fate is present through chance and coincidence, and the manifestations of nature, time, and woman. The fundamental basis of Thomas Hardy's fatalism is seen embodied in his
Tess of the d'urbervilles
Explore the ways in which Thomas Hardy uses setting to help portray Tess' feelings. In 1891 Thomas Hardy published the novel 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' which is a story based on the life and times of a farm girl named Tess. Tess is a 17 year old girl of lower class whose family horse dies in an accident and her family are struggling for money so Tess goes to visit distant relatives to ask to borrow money to help support her family. While with her relatives she meets her cousin Alec. She leaves the D'Urbervilles home pregnant with Alec's baby and goes back to live with her parents. She gives birth to a baby boy and names him Sorrow who later becomes ill and dies. Three years later Tess falls in love with a man called Angel, they get married however Tess confesses to what happened with Alec and Angel leaves her. Tess meets Alec who is a supposed changed man and he has become a preacher. Tess tells him about Sorrow and he convinces Tess that Angel is never coming back and she goes back to live with him. After a few months living with Alec, Angel returns to find Tess and tell her he still loves her. Tess murders Alec and runs after Angel and they run away together, however not long after they are caught and Tess is hanged for the murder of Alec. The story starts off by introducing Tess who's living in Marlott with her family and going to market with her horse. They have an
Tess of the d'urbervilles
Liv Gell GCSE Prose Study: "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" Hardy's provocative subtitle for "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" is probably more acceptable to a modern reader than it was to his fellow Victorians, even though he worked hard to convince them of her purity. To what extent, if at all would you as a modern reader agree with this view of the novel? 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' was a highly controversial novel when it was first written by Thomas Hardy- who, after much effort and exertion, finally had it published in 1891. It has proven to be one of Hardy's most distressing tales of rural troubles, spoiled only slightly by the debate it caused in the Victorian era; over its blunt treatment of sex and its cynical view of life. The main character, Tess, is the daughter of the poor John Durbeyfield who learns from the village parson that his family is related to ancient aristocracy, being the last of the family the 'D'Urbervilles'. In trying to make use of this connection, Joan (John's wife) suggests that Tess pursue the son of the local family of Mrs D'Urberville and due to the death of the needy family's horse while under her control, Tess obliges and ends up being employed as the poultry keeper for her wealthy old relation. However, it is presently acknowledged that Mrs D'Urberville has simply taken the name for convenience. Whilst working for the family, Tess becomes