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... Mrs. Rutter's social environment has little effect on her. In the 1800 s, there were strong social class divisions. Farmer Lodge personified the segregation.
Other people from this time may have been distant from different classes but Gertrude (his pretty young wife) crossed the boundary, therefore couldnt he? Years ago he had used Rhoda, but was reluctant to have any responsibility for his actions, in this case Jamie, the product of their affair. He refused to let Gertrude go and see Rhoda Brooke, as he was scared that she would find out his secret. He told her repeatedly in the video, not to mix with the villagers. He feared public opinion and loss of respect if the secret became formally open. His up bringing had molded him irreversibly into someone who thought he was above those who were poorer than he was.
As with all stories, a lot is revealed by what a character says and does. Farmer Lodge remains aloof to most of the other characters, not getting emotionally involved. This is a shield to protect his superiority. Near the beginning of the story, Farmer Lodge is being driven along by the horse and cart, next to Gertrude. She is unnerved at the sight of Jamie, staring at her constantly. When she mentions this worriedly and Farmer Lodge dismisses him as One of the neighborhood.
I think he lives with his mother a mile or two off. This is a lie to cover himself, as he knows full well who he is and where he lives. He warns Gertrude to stay away from the superstition of the village people and doesnt allow her to use alternative methods for a cure to her arm. He only advises learned solutions such as the doctors and medicine. This shows he is a firmly grounded man, who is smart/ enlightened. He doesnt like her dabbling in the village quackery.
He shows little sympathy for Gertrude, and comes to despise her for her disfigured left limb. This is a man for whom appearances are very important. He stopped loving his wife when she showed an imperfection, when she needed him most. How Farmer Lodge treats others is another key way of showing his character. The only simile used is, The driver was a yeoman in the prime of life, cleanly shaven like an actor. This gives the reader the chance of implicit interpretation.
It means Farmer Lodge is false, that he is pretending to be something he is not, like his treatment of Gertrude. She is only really a showpiece, he couldnt have really loved her. For him, Gertrude is too independent. She takes boots to Jamie and Rhoda's cottage, for the boy.
This was an act of pity, highlighting her kindness. This is a visible contrast to Farmer Lodge who is angered by her visit. One day, he catches Jamie poaching on his land. Instead of charging him for the offence, he lets him go. This shows that he does have some morals, as the punishment would be hanging for the boy. However, he only shows consideration for Jamie when he doesnt actively or publicly have to show responsibility.
Another example of this is when they are on the road and he seemed annoyed at the boys persistent presence, but did not order him to get out of the way. He is also characterized by how people react to him, both to him as a person and to his position as squire. The villagers respect his position of authority, for example his reserved place in church, the front row. Unlike Jamie, he neednt arrive early to get a place in the front, but comes almost last. He grabs the opportunity to arrogantly parade down the aisle, showing off his new wife. Gertrude feels uncomfortable and shy, when he makes the obvious point of superiority The well-to-do Farmer Lodge came nearly last; and his young wife, who accompanied him, walked up the aisle with the shyness natural to a modest woman who had appeared thus for the first time.
When Jamie is caught with the hare on Farmer Lodges land, he is scared of the man as the yeoman Farmer, whose land he has been poaching on and not of him as a person because he doesnt have any personal and emotional attachment to him. Rhoda's experience of the Farmer has left her bitter. He used her and left her completely to provide for Jamie and herself on her own. When Gertrude visits, she says, Men think so much of personal appearances. Rhoda answers, Some do he for one. This is an explicit insight into Farmer Lodges character from the point of view of the women affected by him.
The village people aren't so respectful behind the Farmers back, about him personally. The milkmaids right at the beginning gossip about his new wife, He do bring home bride to-morrow, I hear. Only the dairyman, who employed the milkmaids and a closer connection to the squire, hushes them, now then, what the Turk do it matter to us about Farmer Lodges new miles? At the end of the story, there is a twist surprise to the plot, which is that Jamie is hanged. This has a profound affect on Farmer Lodge and is there for Rhoda at the trials and execution, the first public display of responsibility.
He becomes a recluse and out of his guilt tries to make amends by offering a small annuity to Rhoda Brooke although Rhoda refuses this. Thomas Hardy shows that his character changed by explicitly stating in narrator form, he eventually changed for the better, and appeared as a chastened and thoughtful man. He tries to repent by giving up his lands to a reformatory for boys. As an overview, Farmer Lodge is very much motivated by his environment. He had changed his attitude to responsibility by the end but it was too late. Two people had died and one mentally scared by the time he had converted from his old ways.
In conclusion, the social environments were different for the characters in The Darkness Out There and The Withered Arm. Due to the time periods in which the stories were set, the hierarchical society that motivated Farmer Lodge into the person he was, in contrast, didnt have an effect on Mrs. Rutter, who lived in an egalitarian society. They did however; both have prejudices against different groups of people, for example Mrs. Rutter and the Germans, and Farmer Lodge with the poor. There is a big difference in the revealing of characters between Mrs.
Rutter and Farmer Lodge. In The Withered Arm Mrs. Rutter was misleadingly portrayed as a nice, homely old lady. Her dark side was made explicitly apparent until her anecdote. There were little implicit hints previously, but were hard to pick up on yet the evidence was there. So the end surprise was only a revelation, not a change to her character as it had always been there.
In The Withered Arm Farmer Lodges dark side had always been present, and his reform at the end was a genuine change of character. A reason why the original thoughts of Mrs. Rutter were so misleading was because Sandra didnt realize her disguise. The Darkness Out There was a collaboration of 1 st and 3 rd person text. Unless the audience was very analytical and close readers, they would generally go along with what Sandra was thinking, they wouldnt know any better. When Mrs.
Rutter is exposed by her evil characteristics the audience learns and was guilty with Sandra. They make the same mistakes of stereotyping as her. As a result, they are more emotionally involved and effected by the moral ending message. Unlike in The Withered Arm, the authorial voice distances the reader from the action. They dont get an insight into what the characters are actually thinking, just from what they say and do.
It is hard to identify with the characters as much in a 3 rd person narrative like The Withered Arm. Penelope lively is more implicit in her way of characterization. She gives the translation more to the reader than Hardy, who tells the reader exactly whats happening. Such as the lists of lovely trinkets owned by Mrs.
Rutter, mixed in with the strange smell of cabbage. Thomas Hardy doesnt leave much to the readers imagination, preferring to use more explicit uses of language to detail what is going on. Thus, the reader is more engaged in The Darkness Out There and its characters.
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