Monthly Archives: September 2015

Book-One

Nosy or Headstrong?

Book 1

Let me begin by introducing myself as someone who is not only not an English major, but as someone who does not generally enjoy reading for fun (this book was more than a little daunting for me!).  I know this is something of a sin at Hollins with our noted English and Creative Writing programs, but I hope that I can use my own major – Gender and Women’s Studies – to bring something to the discussion. My hope is that I can use analysis of people and actions that I’ve learned from being a Gender and Women’s Studies major (similar to the skills learned by English majors, no?) to be able to make comparisons between events and characters in the story and modern people and present day happenings that I am learning about.

From the beginning of Chapter One, I am interested in the more minor character Mrs. Elinor Cadwallader.  She is a woman who was born into a good family, but married someone of a lower class than herself.  To me, this indicates that she is a woman who follows the beat of her own drum.  Mrs. Cadwallader married her husband even though it upset her family; she is clearly a tough woman.  It is her affinity for playing match maker that I find most entertaining about her.  I see her as somewhat of a dignified woman, yet she spends her time trying to set up young people – interesting since she didn’t marry who others believed to be good for her.  I suppose there is a parallel there to the main character, Dorothea Brooke, who also marries the less obvious man.  You could argue that Mrs. Cadwallader is kind of a busy body as she is so invested in the personal lives of the people around her and I find it funny.

I love the contrast of her character: a formerly high class girl who married down and now spends her time attempting to set people up.  I think this makes her very human and relatable.  The other noticeable contrast is between Mrs. Cadwallader and her husband, Mr. Humphrey Cadwallader, who is not interested in being in anybody else’s business.

There is also a sense of relentlessness I get from Elinor.  After Dorothea chooses not to marry Sir James, Mrs. Cadwallader’s choice, but instead accept the proposal of Mr. Brooke, Elinor decides that she will now try to get Sir James to marry Celia instead.  Though some might read this trait as stubborn or nosy, I find her headstrong-ness almost admirable.

 

Kailey Murphy, Hollins ‘16

Book-Two

Slipping Away

Book 2

It is only Book Two and I am already feeling a little overwhelmed by the number of characters and new developments in the story.  I think my way of coping with this overload was to latch onto one character I found interesting (similar to what I did in Book One), and I think this character is a lot like my favorite from Book One.  What can I say… I’m in the social sciences – I love people!

Tertius Lydgate is certainly a man with a story.  He is the orphaned child of a man who served in the military and he is fascinated with medicine.  Lydgate, like Mrs. Cadwallader, chose to follow his passion despite the feelings of his wealthy family, who do not agree with his desire to become a medical doctor/ research scientist.  Tertius Lydgate goes to Middlemarch to practice medicine and to do his work of discovering an anatomical tissue.

Things go swimmingly for Lydgate at first.  His practice is successful and he is able to open a second hospital.  His reputation as both a good man and a good doctor do Mr. Lydgate well.  His dreams are coming true and his life is pretty great.

In similar fashion to Mrs. Cadwallader, when Lydgate falls in love with and marries Miss Rosamond Vincy, he is following his heart.  Unfortunately for him, Rosamond is a woman with high class aspirations.  She marries Lydgate because he comes from an upper class family and she believes he can provide her with the lifestyle she dreams of.  I do not believe Rosamond to be villainous, but I do think she is a little bit idealistic, almost selfish.  Lydgate finds himself in an increasingly large sum of debt due to Rosamond’s expensive taste.  He is still a good man and a good doctor, but his dreams appear to be slipping as quickly as his finances.

 

Kailey Murphy, Hollins ‘16

Book-Eight

Money!!

The major theme that has been seen throughout the book is MONEY. Money is the determining factor for everything within this world both  present and past. Although money itself is an insignificant element within the world, it becomes significant when humanity or the leaders of our government puts a price value on it and when others also agree with that value. Money then becomes a part of society but also a part of the interactions between individuals. As the people around can reflect the kind of person you are, money can also be used as a tool of reflection. Acceptance of tainted money from an individual who is a criminal reflects badly on you as an individual, it shows others that you have no morals and that you do not know the difference between right and wrong. The most important point that it shows is that you can be bought with money, a person that can be bought is an insincere and untrustworthy person to be around.

Lydgate: Bulstrode loaning money to Lydgate is a great example of the consequences that follow individuals who take money from an untrustworthy person. I understand that Lydgate did not know outright that Bulstrode “killed” Raffles however he did come to the deduction that Bulstrode had a hand in the death of Raffles. Lydgate taking the loan that Bulstrode was not willing to give him in the beginning shows to Bulstrode and the community that he will not speak up about the wrong Bulstrode committed.

Lydgate was already on a tightrope when it came to the community, most of the community never fully accepted him because of his partnership with Bulstrode, along with his medical practice. Him turning a blinded eye for Bulstrode is the last straw for the community, they want someone that they can trust. Looking deeper into understanding why Lydgate ignore the suggestion of Bulstrode “killing” Raffles we see his desperation. Lydgate had a huge debt that  he could not pay off by himself because of the lack of money management, his business and his wife spending money like it is water. At the end of the day, he was trying to provide for his family and desperation sometimes make people do something they would never have done otherwise.

 

The role between husband and wife in this book is very important to analyze. There is no separation between husband and wife, wives are indirectly connected to their husbands. The success of a husband equals the success of a wife, throughout the book the wives were always the last to know anything about what their husbands did. Harriet Bulstrode was the last to know about the secret her husband was hiding from her. For this, I do not understand why the husband feel as though they need to hide things from their wives. Is it a manly feeling that they need to protect their wives from unsavory situations? If this is the excuse, I cannot agree at the end of the day their wives will still experience unknown complications due to their husband’s actions.

 

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell

 

Book-Six

Men versus women

Why does Dorothea wants to know more about the Farebrother’s household? Is it in connection to Will? Does Dorothea have any feelings for Will?

 

Caleb Garth… This character is the most genuine character in the book he has no grudges for anyone within the community. His major flaw is that he is so naive and trusting of others. I do not believe that after someone has taken money from you to pay off his debt, money that was very beneficial for your family can turn over a new leaf so quick. I am proud of Fred for actually going to get his degree however I do not believe he actually realizes fully the consequences and suffering he caused. Fred is still too caught up on his feelings for Mary and the fact that she will not marry him.

Mr. Vincy: Finally he has put down his feet when it comes to his son. He is telling him that he is no longer his responsibility, he has fed, gave him an education and now its time for him to stand on his own. Vincy will no longer bail Fred out of his debt; this shows Vincy’s breaking point as a parent. He has done everything for his child and that child brush aside that parent concern and opinions.

 

Men versus Women: Eliot shows the difference between men and women that is still seen in today’s society. Women are always seen as inferior to men- e.g. a perfect example of this would be the educational difference between  men and women. Men can go out and learn a trade and get an education on anything they want, through hard work men can improve their status within society. Women, on the other hand, has to use marriage and their husband to improve their quality of life, they are not allowed to have an education similar to that of men. The kind of education they receive is all  about how to be the perfect housewife for their husband, it is nothing beneficial for living in the real world. For a woman their reputation is everything- e.g. Dorothea. Although Dorothea did not commit any foul play while married to Casaubon, the condition in his Will led to her downfall. Due to how small and connected everyone is within Middlemarch there is no such thing as a secret. The people closest to Dorothea tried to save her reputation, however, the number one person I would have to blame about this gossip on Dorothea is Mr. Brooke. If Mr. Brooke had listened and not invite Will to Middlemarch I believe everything would have been fine with Dorothea’s reputation intact. Looking on the other hand, Featherstone has an illegitimate son who he gave wealth and property to with this Rigg’s can become a gentleman that can now be considered part of high society. Having an illegitimate son does not affect Featherstone’s reputation, it would be frowned upon, but no one would shun him. It’s sad that although things have changed between the time Eliot has written the book to today for men and women there are still some things that are not equal between the two gender.  

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell

 

My-Life-in-Middlemarch

The magic of Books

The author Rebecca Mead talking about Mary Ann (George Eliot) in her teens was my connection point of the story. I remembered the way I was when I was a teenager although, this was not that many years ago, I was floating on clouds thinking I had more knowledge than all the adults. Most days, I felt as if it was my way or the highway, no one was going to tell me I was wrong. Gordon S. Haight criticism of Mary Ann’s letters before 1842 was harsh, I am sure that if we all sat down one day and read some of the letters we had written we would all be questioning ourselves. We would say how naive and innocent we were about the world and how lacking in knowledged we were to have said these things.

The teenage years are all about exploring and finding ourselves. Some of us rebel because that was what we needed to get our parents attention or because we needed to explore the possibilities. Some did not rebel because we felt what would be the point, especially when you understood where your parents were coming from. At the same time, it was all about finding our voices, our personality and who we wanted to be when we could make our decisions. To this day, although I am in my early twenties I still do not know who I am and where life will take me. I am living by thinking about the pros and cons of each action and decision that I make. With this said, could we see ourselves in Mary Ann’s time period where it was so limited for a woman to get an education, for a woman to struggle to even have a voice. I do not know about you, but I might cry, feeling the frustration of it all, knowing that I want better for myself while society is denying me this possibility.

 

Books are always amazing, from the time you were little to the time you grow old, books are the one constant companion you can count on. As you age, the genre of books you like change base off of your experience and the knowledge you gain. At the end of the day, books were there to enlighten our imaginations from the time we were you and gave us wings to fly when we got older. There is that one English teacher that really loves us and would encourage us to read would always say that books can take you anywhere you want to go and I found that to be true.

Rebecca Mead’s My Life in Middlemarch helped me see that you can find that one book or that one author’s story that speaks to you and how it can forever change your life. It’s almost a parallel of your life, e.g. in the beginning of the book, Mead talks about how her cover of the MiddleMarch book she received had a scene that looked like a part of the countryside in which she resides. That to me is a moment in which you feel as if the scene described in the book just jumped right off the pages and came to life.

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell  

Book-Five

Doomsday

The doom of Lydgate and Rosamond marriage results in the lacking of understanding between the two. From the first moment they met there has been miscommunication between the two- eg. Lydgate did not want to get married right away, he wanted to wait until he was financial secure. Rosamond wanted to get married right away to a man that was not born and raised within the Middlemarch community, someone who would show her the world. Due to Rosamond’s insistence and plead Lydgate decided to get married right away. The major misunderstanding comes from both side, neither understands what the other wants.

Lydgate views on marriage life are highly wrong. He believes that there is some form of separation between his marriage and his career within the community. Usually, it is the wife who is the reflection of her husband, in this case however Lydgate’s interaction within the community affects Rosamond. Lydgate might believe that wives are supposed to be passive creatures within their husband’s life, but that is where he is wrong. If a husband is successful it results in a higher status for the wife in society, more money results in more luxury.     

Lydgate ignores the importance of interaction and network with his fellow doctors. In understanding is resistance when he comes to politics he does not realize that diplomacy is important in his field of work. There is no separation between social relations and colleagues especially when it comes to a community such as Middlemarch. Due to this there is a general mistrust between Lydgate and those in the community, although he has treated some difficult cases it does not clear the mistrust. He does not recognize that the community is an active body that cannot be treated as a passive body if he wants to succeed as a doctor.

Rosamond’s expectation and ambition contribute to the unhappiness in her marriage. Rosamond expected that due to Lydgate’s connection she would be able to finally leave Middlemarch, what she did not expect/understand was that Lydgate does not depend on his connections for help. Rosamond wants to live the lifestyle of those in London, going to parties, meet the duchess etc. This ambition for more in her life and the restriction placed on her because she is female that cannot have a proper education forces her to use her charms to get where she wants in life. In this, she uses marriage as a way for her to force her ambition, her goals and dreams on her husband. In general, I wonder if they really loved each other at one point. Did Rosamond just viewed Lydgate as a means to an end or was there more to it. her ambition and the fact that her husband does not compile to her wishes leaves Rosamond frustrated and miserable.The way in which they both treat each other does not show any affection between the two he treats her as a doormat and she views him as someone to be manipulated to get her further in life.  

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell

 

Book-Four

Shocker

The shocker of all shocker Celia’s engagement to Sir James Chettam, I did not see this coming. When Sir James was introduced by Eliot he was fascinated by Dorothea and her ideas, Celia explained that Sir James would be the best choice for Dorothea in terms of marriage because of his love. The marriage between Celia and Sir James is a shocker because I did not believe they would get married to each other. I do not know how I would feel if  the man I am about to married was once in love or even fascinated by my sister. I wonder what led to this mutual consent between the two, did they realize that with Dorothea out the way they final saw what was in front of them.

 

The fact that Featherstone had two wills made up, leads me to question why he needed two and why he wanted to burn one. This was not a shocker but still, the fact that Featherstone was on his death bed and everyone was arguing about his wealthy. Did anyone really care about this old man? I cannot imagine how sad it would be to know that the people surrounding you, mostly family, only care about your wealth and trying to inherit it. The shocker that everyone received by Featherstone was that he did not leave anything to Fred, and he had a son- although illegitimate, but still a son. It makes me wonder if he had a son and was thinking of leaving everything to him why did he make people fight over his wealth and how could no one know about this son.

 

The Brooke’s: It is very important to talk about the Brooke’s house, not just their house but the location in which their house resides. The fact that they can watch Featherstone’s funeral from inside their house speak so much about their wealth and their position within this community. It seems as if Mr. Brooke is somewhat overlooked in their status within the community. Eliot talks about Bulstrode and his control over the community because he controls everyone’s finance and his use of this for personal gain. But I do not believe Eliot has yet talked about Mr. Brooke’s role or control within the community. Brooke is an erratic man who is all over the place with his ideas and you can never understand his train of thought but I never did understand his place.

 

The betrayal between Mr. Brooke and Dorothea is something that should be analyze or even pay close attention to. I cannot say this was a misunderstanding at all between the two characters, Dorothea specifically asked her uncle to respond to Ladislaw and tell him not to come. The fact that Brooke ignored Dorothea took it upon himself to personal invite Ladislaw and hide him speak louder than anything else.In this sense I believe Mr. Brooke really only cares about his opinions and his feelings, he did not stop to think about how this might come off to other people or even affect his niece. If he really thought about it, he would have understood why Dorothea refuse to invite Ladislaw to Middlemarch, he could have even gone out of his way to have either Casaubon explain why this might be a bad time. This I believe will lead to a huge misunderstanding between Dorothea and Casaubon.

 

Dorothea and Casaubon: This is a couple that I believe was not a good fit with each other and the belief that Casaubon did not care one bit about Dorothea. In this book, I saw something that have lead me to revise my words, Casaubon in his own way cares about Dorothea. His belief that he needs to protect her from Ladislaw, the fact that he is insecure in his relationship with his wife is a huge show of affection (my belief) that he cares. It is sad to say that he does not trust his wife and believe she is conspiring against him. His lack of trust lays on his shoulder, he locks himself away in a library and barely communicates with his wife. Dorothea on one hand has too many people in her head, she is believing everything everyone (Will!) is telling her except her husband. The lack of trust, communication and listening to each other can be their downfall.

 

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell  

 

Book-Three

Fred…

Fred, Fred, Fred…….

I do not know what to say about Fred other than say his name over and over again. In this, I believe that his actions speak so much louder than anything he says. One of the major problems that Fred has is that he’s spoiled to the max. Throughout his life he has always had his family to fall back on, he never had to worry about anything- money wise. His parents worked hard to give him the opportunity to go college and he basically turned around and threw it in their face. He does what he wants without worrying about the consequences and how it may affect the people around him.

Parents: They have worked to give their children the best either education or whatever they want. The fact that he is worried about telling his father about his debt because he will be yell at tells me he knows that he did wrong. Although he knows he is in the wrong he continues again and again. This not the first time that Fred has gotten into debt where he had to turn to his parents to get him out. However, this might be the first time he tried to solve it himself, but it turns and bite him.

Caleb Garth: On one hand I had to laugh at this choice because as we learned from the story Fred is in love with Garth’s daughter Mary. For that reason, I cannot understand why he thought it would be a great idea to go the father of the girl you “love” and ask for money. In Mary’s point of view, I see that as irresponsible, you cannot take care of anyone not even yourself, and you cannot solve the problems you cause. On the other hand, I was highly disappointed with Fred because he had a lot more choices within his circle to ask to co-sign his loan and ask for money. This family is struggling to make ends meet, they worked really hard to save money so that they can afford to send their son to learn a trade. This was an important goal for them, it could have changed a lot for them in terms of money.

Fred selfishness was brought to a whole new level in this book. We realized that he always look out for number one himself. He does not care about the consequences and the cost that his actions may have on others. We can not calculate fully how his selfishness have affected the Garth’s family, it is basically immeasurable and because of that we can not measure their suffering. In this sense Fred is the same as Bulstrode, Bulstrode uses his financial control over Middlemarch for personal gain. Fred uses and manipulates his social network for his personal usage- He used his connection with the Garth’s to pay off his second debt, he got a letter from Bulstrode to prove that he did not take out a loan, which was a lie. He depends and survive off his network to live his life.

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell

 

Book-Two

Rosamond V. Dorothea

The second book introduces us to some other characters that are a part of the Middlemarch community, we meet the Vincys, Lydgate and others. In this book, we get to know more about the community of Middlemarch as well as the hierarchy.

 

Starting this book was anticipating reading more about Dorothea and Mr. Casaubon marriage life and if it was everything that Dorothea image. At the end of book one we learned that Mr. Casaubon did not care about Dorothea as much as she thought, all he cared about was his research. In book two we get to see this, all of their honeymoon was spent with Dorothea by herself touring while her husband locked himself up in the library. This image given by Eliot made me feel sorry for Dorothea, which newlywed wife would like to spend her honeymoon virtually by herself. What makes even sadder is that she looks at her husband as though he was a God. With him basically ignoring her, we realized her admiration of him was slowly dimming. The shocker  was Casaubon reaction to his nephew visiting his wife when she was home alone. Casaubon seems jealous for no reason at all, the way it ended in book two with regards to his feelings I thought he did not care about Dorothea, this scene makes me wonder. I question whether he actually care about Dorothea or is it his pride talking.

 

Rosamond vs. Dorothea: Rosamond is an example of a young lady during that time. Young ladies who only care about their marriage and their social standing within society. The right kind of marriage changes their lifestyle and change their social standing. They only care about pushing up their husbands, getting married and having children. Dorothea is an in between of traditional and almost modern, she wants an education that the men at that time receive, yet being a woman puts a limit on her. She wants to understand information about the world and different theories and she wants to help, but at the same time she seems a little ignorant.

 

The character that is a little questionable for me is Lydgate, we do not know a lot of information about him, where he’s from and who is family is. There are rumours, but no one knows if it is true or not. He seems as though he is a very intelligent young man who is working his way up by using any form of connection he can make. At the same time he is trying to keep out of the power struggle that is going on in Middlemarch, but that later gets thrown out the window. He talks about not wanting to get married, but he is sending the opposite signal to Rosamond who is determined to marry someone who is not from Middlemarch. In general, there is some confusion about who he is, his intentions fully to Rosamond and what he really wants because what he says sometimes contradicts his actions an example would be that of voting for Mr.Tyke.    

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell

 

Book-One

The Struggle

Book 1 was somewhat of a struggle for me. In reading the description provided on many sites, I was immediately intrigued by the main character- Dorothea in the book. However in starting to read it was a struggle to want to continue reading and understanding the characters. Dorothea’s personality I believe is what kept me going. She was a fascinating character to learn more about, the way in which Eliot wrote this character you can tell she is sincere and believe what she is saying and doing is the best. Yet, as I continue it made me question where she got these ideas from, where did her extreme come from and did losing her parents push her to this extreme.

 

One of the first description provided by Eliot of Dorothea was the fact that she a beauty who did not wear expensive clothes to standout. I was taken, believing that she was going to be a modest even humble character in the book. But as I continued on reading, I learned that it was her religious devotion that lead to her choices in clothes. I was hoping more than anything it was the understanding of the world and how it worked that lead to her decision. Leaning that it religion was a large influence on her made me question if she was using religion as a defense for her extreme ideas, especially as a female.

 

Something I love about Dorothea is her want to help the poor and belief in her ideas that could help them. At the same time I wonder if she ever seen actual poor people in her community, have she ever asked these poor people what they want. You cannot be in your castle and expect to know what is best for a group of people. A lot of questions came to mind about her intention and what lead to this obsession to help these people.  

 

One scene that stood out for me was her reaction to her sister Celia when she asked about splitting their mothers’ jewelry. Dorothea was very passive aggressive in this scene when it came to her sister, instead of understanding where her sister was coming from she just critic her the whole entire time. I felt as if she was putting her sister down or even sitting on top of her high horse and looking down her nose on her sister. I found it funny that most of the scene she looking down on her sister for gushing over the jewelry but once she saw the emerald jewelry her tune change. It was shocking how fast her mood change but once she realized her love of the jewelry she turned the critic internal and try to justified it to herself.

 

Sir James Chettam vs. Mr. Casaubon- These two characters are polar opposites but when choosing who’s a good choice of husband for Dorothea, I would have to agree with Celia and go with Sir James Chettam. He seems to be the logical choice in the sense that he will indulge her with her extreme ideas. He will give her the time and attention that she needs and follow anything she says, lets not forget he’s head over heels.  


Keulesia Webley-Sewell