Casterbridge was a relatively small Town; the layout of Casterbridge is rather simple as it is like that of today’s towns which are not complex; also this is another reason for my suggestion that Casterbridge is a fairly modern Town. The church in the village would certainly represent the middle of the village and this is where all businesses and shops are located. The housing seems like it would be that of rather modernized style as the windows were described as overhanging. There where general activities which took place in the village which were; the market, the harvests which took place every year, the farmers used to go to the church to prey for rain whilst crops were in the growing process but after the harvest farmers used to go to show their appreciation for the success of their years harvest again by visiting the church. The workers had to wake up at extremely early hours so they could take advantage of the amounts of sunlight as business for the farmers was difficult as the hours of sunlight was limited and modern machinery was not invented. Also in the town of Casterbridge “The Farmers as a role preferred the open Carrefour for their transactions.
The people of Casterbridge lived pretty ordinary yet different lives, we can see from the story there is a dramatic difference between the poor and the rich as there were little if any middle class people in Casterbridge. The people made a living from farming, making clothes out of poor materials, hay trussing or working for part of some ones business (which was a regular occurrence). The shops in Casterbridge didn’t have allocated times to shut at and were customer orientated meaning they shut when all of the customers in the shop had left or until there were no customers around the reason behind this was that nearly every villager was short for money. The items that were being sold there were; food farming utensils, clothes and things which come into everyday use.
Farfrae had purchased a seed drill and put it on display in Casterbridge, the people of the town had mixed feelings but most of the townsfolk didn’t accept the new idea of the “seed drill” as they were stubborn, unwilling to change the opinions they hold, and were more than happy to stick to the old ways of harvesting crops. So this immediately created conflict between those in favor for the new seed drill and those not. To no surprise Henchard arrived upon the scene and began to dismiss the idea of the “seed drill” being a revolutionizing step forward. Obviously this was done to save his business in the farming industry. In the times of The Mayor of Casterbridge is was acknowledged that after farmers had gone to pray for the improvement of their crops, they would immediately after visit the pub/inn which was called, “The Three Mariners”. This is where Henchard is when Susan and Elizabeth-Jane return back to the town.
The people of Casterbridge had lived the same lifestyle through out their life in the Town. Most of the people awoke at extremely early hours in order to start/prepare for work. In comparison to other Wessex market towns such as the people of Casterbridge had a slow pace of life more than likely the same as other towns like Casterbridge. Almost certainly corn buying and selling would’ve taken place in other towns. The majority of people in the town had agricultural jobs such as farming and worked long hour days, there were different jobs in this industry such as; being a hay trusser, a Wagoner, maid, an inn keeper and people working on farms. The difference between the rich and the poor is staggering. For instance a Wagoner roughly earns 8 shillings a week where as a maid earns roughly 12-13 pounds a year. There is a great difference between the clothes that belong to the poor and those of the rich, poor people usually bought cheap market clothes or in some cases even probably made their own, when the rich actually order their designer clothes from top manufacturing companies in London. Henchards described as wearing,
“ a short jacket of brown corduroy, newer than the remainder of his suit, which was a fustian waistcoat with white horn buttons, breeches of the same, tanned leggings, and a straw hat overlaid with black glazed canvas”
The description of Lucettas London dresses is that they were those of top class and custom made especially for her, also they were made from one of the best manufacturers in the world to that day.
Some of the activities which were part of the lifestyle of Wessex were; harvest times, market days, skimmity (not often), buying and selling and fairs which where the events taking place when Henchard committed those stupid and costly actions which resulted in him selling his wife. The Mayor then was an extremely important position and was looked upon as someone with a high status. Being the mayor meant that you had your own personal office and became well known. In order to become the mayor you have to be a successful, confident person, there were often royalty visits which required preparation for the town indicating the importance of the role of the Mayor.
Also there were social gatherings where people met up in the inns to drink and watch/participate in entertainment which included singing and playing.
Thomas Hardy was so fond of studying architecture, not that necessarily only in housing but the inventions of machines which greatly contributed to the revolutionising of our world today. He writes about the seed shop, timbered cottages, overhanging windows, flowers, and Abel Whittle’s home all in great detail. This shows/tells us about his great fascination with architecture. He also talks about the surroundings of the village which are; the Pommerle, the roman amphitheatre and the weir pool, fields of corn, dusty roads and hay barns. These things are connected with the Romans as; fields of corn was the normal sight of Roman times, as roads were simply worn paths into the countryside and very dusty. Bulls were often a regular sighting and they were left to roam freely and in those days corn was stored in barns unlike plastic containers created for today. There have been a lot of inclusions of Roman things again because of hardeys fondness in things which contributed into the revolutionising of those times. Also as was the problem then and still is know the weather being completely unpredictable. Harvesting was often disturbed by the weather show how reliant upon the weather the people of that time were.
