On Monday we started the lesson with having to do a drawing of Lockwood, labelling it in terms of what the other characters, readers and Lockwood, himself, thought about his own character.
We found out that firstly Lockwood viewed himself as a person that was a reserved man “I felt interested in a man that was more exaggerated reserved then myself”. From this we referred back to the narration of Nick from “The Great Gatsby” in which his opening words to the novel “I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores”- When the reader of the novel reads this we automatically assume that both our narrators are people that are reserved and do not pass judgment, but this is not the case with either of them...
Similarly to Lockwood, we discussed that Nick also passes judgment when discovering facts about “Gatsby”- through the notion of gossip and private conversations from Jordan Baker, the readers also recognise the narration in the “Great Gatsby” to our filters. Lockwood a man that claims to be reserved in the start of the novel proves to be the complete opposite of this. The whole novel is based on the diary entrees of Lockwood and him pursuing Nellie in to telling him what happened at the Heights before he came even when it is time for Nellie to take rest.
Looking at what the readers thought of Lockwood the majority of us viewed him as being unreliable because of the many mistakes that he makes in narrating the story. Lockwood firstly mistakes a bag of dead rabbits for a cushion of cats, and then he assumes that he knows the relationships of the people at the heights by thinking that Cathy is the wife of Heathcliff and that Hareton is the son of Heathcliff. Lockwood also misjudges the weather by thinking that it will be a light snow shower when it is a heavy storm shower. From the misjudgements made us as the readers a forced to take all information given, into question again; as we are continually being misguided.
Thus, all the information we got is from letters and then from what Nelly overheard and then finally from Lockwood who acts as our frame narrator. We know that everything we are told might not be the whole truth because of the influence that people have had on to this information. For example Nelly is not fond of Heathcliff as she refers to him as a “gypsy” so when Nelly is giving account about Heathcliff this might be tainted with her emotional feelings towards Heathcliff.
After that exercise we looked at an article by Sue Hemming which looked at the similarities between Lockwood and Nick Carraway.
The main points that we took from this article were that both Nick and Lockwood enter the stories in the middle of things and have to learn about the past in order to understand the present.
From this article we also looked at the fact that both Nick and Lockwood are outsiders. This means that they are emotionally detached and both make mistakes in thinking what is happening has something to do with them. This provides the reader with a bit of comedy and intrigue.
We then took the point that both narrators in the end go back to where they came from because they find out that coming to these new places was not the new start that they where hoping for.
The main point that we took was the last point that the article made which was in the direct words of Sue Hemming “If the distorting prism of the narrator is removed and the focus placed directly on the central characters (as it so often is in film and television adaptations) the stories tend to degenerate into melodrama lacking the moral questioning and ambivalence of the originals”.
This means that if the stories did not have these narrators, the stories would lack mystery and excitement that we gain from finding out the whole picture through bits and pieces.
sorry guys here is the home work!!!!!!!!
Home work
Read chapter 3
1.What does Cathrine Earnshaw's diary add to the narrative?
2. How does the portrayal of Hinley and Francies's relationship contrast with that of Heathcliff and Cathrine?
3. How is the extent of Heathcliff's anguish (sorrow)reveald when he hears of Lockwood's dream. what is Lockwoods /your reaction to Heathcliff's feeling here
4.How is suspence built up in this chapter?
I agree with what you say about neither Nick or Lockwood being reserved characters and altough they both they are 'inclined to reserve judgement' we see throughout both novels that they are both pretty much outspoken and opinonated men, while neither of them show the passion of Heathcliff or Gatsby; both our narrators are keen to make quick judgements on the people they meet.
ReplyDeleteI also agree thinkin back to Gatsby the two stories have a lot in common including the narrators similarity.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the questions tho? it looks like i wont be able to do the work :(
The two stories are surprisingly similar, which you don't expect if you don't look into them in such detail. though the narrators of 'the great gatsby' and 'wuthering heights' are very similar, i feel that maybe Sue Hemming is looking too deeply at them, and in fact, the similarities could just be a coincidence.
ReplyDeletewhere are the questions? i don't have them and cant do the work without them
Yesss well done Abdi...but would like a thankyou for my contribution..lol...no but i do agree nick and lockwood are similar; we the readers are the physical representation of these narrators, as we too travel and seek to find knowledge....well done thanks
ReplyDeleteYepppp really detailed, well done! AND the questions are there...
ReplyDeleteI think Lockwood and Nick are similar, but the environment that surrounds them demands different things from each man, however similar they are the fact still remains is that their opinions on the people they are surrounded by are mainly affected by the time and environment rather than their personal beliefs or attributes.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe for a second that if we were to drop nick into wuthering heights he would have the same reactions as Lockwood due to his upbringing. I think these men are similar but of different generations and therefore have different expectations and limitations on their reactions to society.
HOWEVER...... It is a very detailed blog and is very well presented, thank you :)
Good work Abdi. Some interesting comments on the comparisons between the two narrators. Perhaps Hemming forces her points a bit but her analysis certainly illuminates aspects of both 'mundane' narrators characters. Interesting when read in line with Punter's view of the 'uncanny of the monumental'.
ReplyDeletenice one :)
ReplyDelete