Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy
This blog is a task given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. In this blog I am going to discuss Thomas Hardy as a bitterest critique of his time and justify that with reference to 'Jude the Obscure', and also discuss the symbols like Christminister and little father times of the novel 'Jude the Obscure'.
Symbols like Chistminister and little father times in the novel 'Jude the Obscure'.
Chistminister-
In this novel Christminister is a fictional university town based on oxford, England. Jude learned about this town from his teacher mr. Phillotson. This town becomes Judes goal in life. He realizes the place as "The new jerusalem" and "The city of light", watching it from the roof of the brown house. In the first part of this novel Christminster symbolize as Judes hope and idealism, and Jude has a desire to make his life better because he belongs to the lower class. He had a dream to study in university, he was very intelligent, he learned a new language to compete with intelligent students.
“Why should you care so much for Christminster? ... Christminster cares nothing for you, poor dear!”
This quote is said by Sue when Jude expresses a desire to move back to Christminster Sue points out that he has done more for the city but than the city has ever done for him.
Soon he knows the reality of Christminster, he applies to get admission for his higher studies but the colleges are only open to the upper classes. Phillotson who is his school teacher has also failed and settled back into his earlier role as school master, Jude likewise remains as stonemason. In this way Chistminster comes to symbolize as Judes failed hope and dreams. After years Jude return to Chistminister for one last attempt to achieve his goals. It takes him a long time to realize that and he gives up on Chistminister as a hopeless dream. He realized that it takes two or three generations to do what he tried to do in one generation. He wanted to raised his social class through his own hardwork and his intelligence.
Little Father Times
Little Father Times is most important character in the novel. As a symbol he represents the depression and morality that Harry sees as the inevitable result in society. Father Time is driven to despair by how poorly Jude and Sue are treated for being unmarried, and by his lack of love from Arabella. He was a very serious child and he killed himself and sued the children. It is the climax of the novel. After little father times death, the doctor diagnoses his murder suicide as "in his nature " and also he sys that "This is the beginning of the coming universal wish not to live."
Satire on education, class, marriage in the novel 'Jude the Obscure'
Thomas Hardy is considered a modern novelist as he concentrates on current issues such as gender, class, social and psychological disorder, and raises the condition of education in his time. He was a supporter of class and female liberation.
Education
Jude teaches himself the classics, Latin, Greek, and many more languages in the hopes that one day he gets admission in college. It is impossible to imagine this novel without the role of education because the major setting of this novel is in a famous university. This novel strongly criticized the university structure that keeps jude from pursuing a higher education because he comes from a working class background. This is a great tragedy that despite all of Judges dreams and his goals, he never had any chance to get first place to make it in Christminter.
These are lines from the novel which represent the Education
“Those buildings and their associations and privileges were not for him. From the looming roof of the great library, into which he hardly ever had time to enter, his gaze traveled on to the varied spires, halls, gables, streets, chapels, gardens, quadrangles, which composed the ensemble of this unrivaled panorama. He saw that his destiny lay not with these, but among the manual toilers in the shabby purlieu which he himself occupied, unrecognized as part of the city at all by its visitors and panegyrists, yet without whose denizens the hard readers could not read nor the high thinkers live.”
Class
Jude is smart person, he is smart enough and dedicate enough to make it in collage, but he lacks money. In this novel Hardy creates a world in which the wealthy created a society from ever moving up the ranks. Jude is a man between two worlds. He is of a lower class but his self education and his connection to the highly intelligent Sue separates him from the people of his own class. Living between these two worlds only furthers Judes sense of isolation throughout the whole novel. That everything that Jude does and despite his intellect, it is clear that society will not permit Jude to ever really step beyond the class, the class where he born.
Marriage
The novel plot is designed to bring all the possible tragedy out of an unhappy marriage. In this novel jude is first guilted into marrying Arabella and Sue marries Phillotson mostly to make Jude jealous. Both protagonists in this novel who are Sue and Jude realize how one decision of marriage can make an effect on their entire lives. When they meet each other and fall in love with each other their pure connection is constantly obstructed by their earlier marriage. Hardy represent the suicide of little father times as a natural result of broken marriage and unhappy relationships of them.
Hardy criticizes marriage, describing it as a binding contract that most young lovers are incapable of understanding. Hardy does not believe that institution is evil but that is right for every "sensitive" soul like Jude and Sue should be able to live as husband and wife without any legal contract.
Conclusion
At the end we could say that Thomas Hardy describes very well the society of that time. In this novel there were many social issues raised like class, education, and marriage. In that time the society will not permit lower class people to achieve their goals and step beyond the class. This novel ends with Judes funeral, where only two people attended his wife Arabella and old widow mrs. Edlin. Jude suffers a lot throughout his life just because he belongs to the lower class.
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