Uh, did you just steal those questions straight out of Cliff's Notes? Plagiarism is not considered to be one of the finer things in this book club. We are far more high-brow than that.
Todd--please remember this is a high-brow blog. What do you have to say about the narrator? (Oh I forgot-you haven't even started the book yet). I really think that Nelly Dean has her own axe to grind against Heathciff. Perhaps she loved him? Or maybe she was jealous? Any thoughts?
I think that Nelly has issues with both Heathcliff and Catherine. She obviously thinks they are deplorable (who can blame her?) and I think we should be skeptical of her account. I don't think that Nelly loved Heathcliff, as suggested by KT, but I'm only 100 pages in so that may change. At this point in my reading I think that she really believes that all of the Wuthering Heights-ites are terrible people and that could cloud her story telling.
KTC, I'm very glad that you asked this question. It is exactly what I have been musing -- or more accurately fuming -- over this weekend. I do NOT like unreliable narrators. It frustrates me. Here I am reading along, believing everything Nelly Dean says because, frankly, what choice do I have? Hers is the only account we've got. Then suddenly WHAM-O--she says something that makes you suddenly realize that maybe she isn't as disinterested as she seems and maybe the story didn't happen exactly like she told it. Maybe Catherine the elder's fatal breakdown could have been prevented if Nelly hadn't been an interfering busy body! Then I spend the rest of the book doubting everything she says and feeling sort of disgusted. Ugh. Nelly Dean.
That said -- Lindy, I think you make a good point that it's Nelly's dislike of the Wuthering Heights people that clouds her story telling and makes her "unreliable." I think the Bronte sisters' use of that literary device(Charlotte uses it in Vilette, too) puts them a little ahead of their time. They were writing before the post-modern theories that history is always subjective because the facts will be slightly skewed by whoever is recording them.
Nelly grew up with Catherine and Heathcliff. Why does she believe them to be so deplorable as Wuthering Heights residents but herself untouched by the house? She doesn't paint the Linton's as angels but I find it difficult to believe that she was just a bystander in the whole thing. I mean she really did start the event that led to the catastrophe of Catherine. It is frustrating because I want to know the true story not just the one Nelly remembers!
So, I'm at the part where Heathcliff has returned after his long absence (I hope to dedicate more time the next couple of days to reading this...sorry to those who have already finished, this comment will probably seem way off base to you). From what I can tell, Nelly has a bigger axe to grind with the "self-complacent" Catherine than with Heathcliff. Nelly seems to show some concern for Heathcliff going back to Wuthering Heights, and he did save her beloved little Hareton from plunging to his death. I wonder if her disdain for Catherine is a jealousy of Heathcliff's affection or just of her status, and getting everything she wants but still being so whiny all the time. But then again, maybe she DOES resent Heathcliff in a prodigal son kind of way: they were both in similar positions as youth, and yet he gains the affection of daddy Earnshaw and Catherine. Maybe Nelly is just lonely.
As for the reliability of Nelly's narration, I agree with Abby's comment. This whole time I've been so trusting of the accuracy of her account, and now I'm starting to realize I've been duped! Of course the woman is going to have a bias and opinions (think of all the observations and information servants were privy to back then!) But I also wonder who would be the best narrator of this story. I'm not sure I would be affected much by some neutral, disinterested narrator, for better or worse. But would we really want to hear this from Catherine's perspective? Or Heathcliff's? Edgar's? Or Hindley's?
Okay, I should go read some more so I have a better idea of what's going on. Here I come, Nelly!
6 comments:
Uh, did you just steal those questions straight out of Cliff's Notes? Plagiarism is not considered to be one of the finer things in this book club. We are far more high-brow than that.
Todd--please remember this is a high-brow blog. What do you have to say about the narrator? (Oh I forgot-you haven't even started the book yet).
I really think that Nelly Dean has her own axe to grind against Heathciff. Perhaps she loved him? Or maybe she was jealous? Any thoughts?
I think that Nelly has issues with both Heathcliff and Catherine. She obviously thinks they are deplorable (who can blame her?) and I think we should be skeptical of her account. I don't think that Nelly loved Heathcliff, as suggested by KT, but I'm only 100 pages in so that may change. At this point in my reading I think that she really believes that all of the Wuthering Heights-ites are terrible people and that could cloud her story telling.
KTC, I'm very glad that you asked this question. It is exactly what I have been musing -- or more accurately fuming -- over this weekend. I do NOT like unreliable narrators. It frustrates me. Here I am reading along, believing everything Nelly Dean says because, frankly, what choice do I have? Hers is the only account we've got. Then suddenly WHAM-O--she says something that makes you suddenly realize that maybe she isn't as disinterested as she seems and maybe the story didn't happen exactly like she told it. Maybe Catherine the elder's fatal breakdown could have been prevented if Nelly hadn't been an interfering busy body! Then I spend the rest of the book doubting everything she says and feeling sort of disgusted. Ugh. Nelly Dean.
That said -- Lindy, I think you make a good point that it's Nelly's dislike of the Wuthering Heights people that clouds her story telling and makes her "unreliable." I think the Bronte sisters' use of that literary device(Charlotte uses it in Vilette, too) puts them a little ahead of their time. They were writing before the post-modern theories that history is always subjective because the facts will be slightly skewed by whoever is recording them.
Nelly grew up with Catherine and Heathcliff. Why does she believe them to be so deplorable as Wuthering Heights residents but herself untouched by the house? She doesn't paint the Linton's as angels but I find it difficult to believe that she was just a bystander in the whole thing. I mean she really did start the event that led to the catastrophe of Catherine. It is frustrating because I want to know the true story not just the one Nelly remembers!
So, I'm at the part where Heathcliff has returned after his long absence (I hope to dedicate more time the next couple of days to reading this...sorry to those who have already finished, this comment will probably seem way off base to you). From what I can tell, Nelly has a bigger axe to grind with the "self-complacent" Catherine than with Heathcliff. Nelly seems to show some concern for Heathcliff going back to Wuthering Heights, and he did save her beloved little Hareton from plunging to his death. I wonder if her disdain for Catherine is a jealousy of Heathcliff's affection or just of her status, and getting everything she wants but still being so whiny all the time. But then again, maybe she DOES resent Heathcliff in a prodigal son kind of way: they were both in similar positions as youth, and yet he gains the affection of daddy Earnshaw and Catherine. Maybe Nelly is just lonely.
As for the reliability of Nelly's narration, I agree with Abby's comment. This whole time I've been so trusting of the accuracy of her account, and now I'm starting to realize I've been duped! Of course the woman is going to have a bias and opinions (think of all the observations and information servants were privy to back then!) But I also wonder who would be the best narrator of this story. I'm not sure I would be affected much by some neutral, disinterested narrator, for better or worse. But would we really want to hear this from Catherine's perspective? Or Heathcliff's? Edgar's? Or Hindley's?
Okay, I should go read some more so I have a better idea of what's going on. Here I come, Nelly!
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