Great Books Project

Emily Bronte (1818-1848) was a member of a literary family—sisters Charlotte and Anne, brother Branwell.

Her mother died when the children were young. Her father was a strict, severe minister.

Miss Bronte wrote one book of poetry and one novel, Wuthering Heights.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Heathcliff seems irresistible , dark, and wild. “ . . .his unwavering passion for Catherine Earnshaw . . . is as inexplicable and terrible as it is unalterable, a passion that generates in him and his beloved the belief that the two of them are one: one life, one soul.” Susan Fromberg Schaeffer.

Their obsession spans and dominates three generations with tragic results.

Catherine and Heathcliff-kindred spirits or pawns of obsession and revenge?

Emily Bronte hoped to show that “wild, wolfish, pitiless passions lead to wild, wolfish, pitiless lives… that after such lives, even death can bring no peace, that such wild passions, such godless lives, inexorably exile all one believes to be decent, banishing all hope of love, kindness, forgiveness: peace.” Schaeffer

"Wild, Wolfish, Pitiless Passions"

Heathcliff is the catalyst of disaster. With his absence comes hope of redemption and happiness.

The moors, barren and cold and desolate, provide the perfect setting for tragic characters and plot.

“Wisdom and reason may tell us that savage passions bring destruction, yet the savage passions are what we remember when we think of Wuthering Heights.

Wild Hearts, Wild Moors

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is an author whose driving motivation was poverty and penury.

Hunger , weariness, and debt defined his childhood and motivated his success as an adult.

The dichotomy of poverty and wealth is a constant in his literary works.

He published fifteen major novels and many minor works, was involved in the theatre, and entertained audiences with lively readings.

Great Expectatins by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations focuses on the expectations that Pip has for his life as well as the expectations his mysterious benefactor has for him.

In Victorian England, there are strict expectations and restrictions for each level of society.

“In no other of his romances has the author succeeded so perfectly in at once stimulating and baffling the curiosity of his readers. He stirred the dullest minds to guess the secret of his mystery . . . .” Atlantic Monthly

What are your expectations? For yourself? For others?

“Pip, the hero, . . . .Weak, dreamy, amiable, apprehensive, aspiring, inefficient, the subject and the victim . . . .”

“Joe is a noble character, with a heart too great for his powers of expression to utter in words, but whose patience, fortitude, tenderness, and beneficence shine lucidly through his confused and mangled English.”

“Magwitch . . .in whom a life of crime had only intensified the feeling of gratitude for the one kind action of which he was the object . . . .”

Atlantic Monthly

Dickens – Master of Characters

Miss Haversham is a prisoner of her own making.

Mrs. Joe and Biddy are locked in their tier of society and represent the best and the worst of personalities.

Estella, both prize and prisoner, is offered a future of “ great expectations” as is Pip.

Victorian Women

Recalled to Life – old secrets and mysteries are released from prison just as is Dr. Manette.

The Golden Thread-revenge and restitution are woven just as surely as the scarf of the crazed Madame Defarge.

The Track of a Storm-old crimes, old secrets, old hatreds, old obsessions merge into a hurricane of recriminations , blood, curses, salvation, and redemption.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—” Dickens

Dr. Manette- “One Hundred and Five, North Tower.”

Lucy Manette-” turning her eyes lovingly to him . . .”

Charles Darnay-”had yesterday pleaded Not Guilty”

Sydney Carton-”He resorted to his pint of wine for consolation . . .”

Madame Defarge-”Her knitting was before her . . .” Dickens

Two Cities, Two Societies

“It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” (Dickens)

Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880) seemed to keep thoughts of God and religion ever before her.

In her youth she experienced a time of “evangelical piety.” Later her studies in philosophy and her friendship with “ religious freethinkers” influenced her to break with traditional religion.

After settling in London to begin a literary career, she met George Henry Lewes, the love of her life. They considered themselves married although he was legally married to another.

(Introduction)

Silas Marner by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Ms. Evans began writing fiction with Lewes’s encouragement in 1857.

She published under the pseudonym George Eliot , “’George ‘because it was Lewes’s name and ‘Eliot’ because . . .’it was a good mouth-filling, easily pronounced word.’”

She was recognized by her peers as “the greatest writer of English fiction.”

(Introduction)

Silas Marner-”there might bee seen, in districts far away among the lanes . . . Certain pallid undersized men, who, by the side of the brawny country-folk, looked like the remnants of a disinherited race.”(1)

Molly-”But she would mar his pleasure; she would go in her dingy rags, with her faded face, once as handsome as the best, with her little child that had its father’s hair and eyes, and disclose herself to the Squire . . . .”(108)

Eppie-”The heap of gold seemed to glow . . . .his fingers encountered soft warm curls.”(112)

(Eliot)

The Miser and his Neighbors

Dunstan Cass-”So he stepped forward into the darkness.” (37)

Godfrey Cass-”Everything comes to light, Nancy, sooner or later. When God Almighty wills it, our secrets are found out. “(162)

Nancy Lammeter Cass-”I wasn’t worth doing wrong for—nothing is in this world.”(163)

Dolly-”No, to be sure; you’ll have a right to her if you’re a father to her, and bring her up according.”(125)

(Eliot)

The protagonist survives betrayal, accusations, abandonment, greed, loss to receive restoration, redemption, acceptance, affirmation—love.

Master Marner

Tolkien (1892-1973) served as a scholar of ancient languages and myths. He was a member of a group of literary friends such as C.S. Lewis known as The Inklings.

In creating Middle Earth for the novel The Hobbit and the trilogy The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien also created a unique language for the elves and a series of illustrations of Middle Earth.

Published in 1937, the novels noted the courage needed for troubled times—then and now.

J.R.R. Tolkien- Master of Middle Earth

Bilbo Baggins-”In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. . . .it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” “’My dear Bilbo!’ he said. ‘Something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were.’”(1)

Gandalf-”’But I have no time to blow smoke rings this morning.’”(4)

(Tolkien)

Quests, Treasure, Dangers, Songs

“’Of course!’ said Gandalf. ‘And why should not they prove true? Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!’”(303)

(Tolkien)

Prophecies and Old Songs

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York, NY: Penquin Books, 1847.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Logan, Iowa: Perfection Form, 1859.

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York, NY: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Doughan, David. “’Who Was Tolkien?’ .”J.R.R. Tolkein: a Biographical Sketch. The Tolkien Society, web. 14 Dec. 2009.<http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html>.

Eliot, George. Silas Marner. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1861.Googleimages.Web 17 Dec. 2009.“’Great Expectationa’.” Atlantic Monthly September 1861:433-

436. Print.Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. New York: Ballantine Books, 1937.

Works Cited