Rutherfurd’s Forgotten Character Connections Starting at the bank of Thames, from 54 B.C. to present day, the historical novel London, by Edward Rutherfurd, charts the two-thousand year old tale of families through ever-shifting fortunes and fates in England’s capital from the time of the Druids to the occurrence of the Blitz. The novel follows the family history of seven fictional families who interact with one another throughout the novel as a way to depict the events that have made English history for more than two millenniums. The families stem from Celtic, Anglo-Saxon,Norman, and Danish decent, creating a diverse culture within London.Furthermore, Rutherfurd intertwines the lives of these fictional families with appearances from historical …show more content…
To try and keep the reader from being overwhelmed by all the new characters consistently being introduced, Rutherfurd gives certain families distinct characteristics to help label them to their ancestors. The specific depictions begin when the reader first meets Segovax in “The River.” The first feature he portrayed was “On the front of his head...grew a patch of white hair… Such hereditary marks were to be found amongst several families dwelling in the hamlets along that region of the river” (6). The second feature he rendered when he spread his fingers was “a thin layer of skin”, that looked like “the webbing on a duck’s foot”(6). Further along in the novel, in the chapter labeled “The Conqueror” the next character from the same decent as Segovax, Alfred, is introduced. He is welcomed as “The boy with the white patch in his light brown hair”(178). In these two examples, you can clearly distinguish that Alfred comes from the same line of decent as Segovax. Another prominent example of these familial attributes across generations can be found in the Silversleeves family. When the Silversleeves family is first introduced to the reader in “The Conqueror”, Rutherfurd goes into great detail to describe the Norman as having a “long”, “rounded at the tip”, and “shiny” nose
...even traumatic things, turn out all right in the end. The desire for closure at the heart of the historical vision of Middlesex, I believe, is common to many aspects of American culture after 9/11”(Cohen 376). Eugenides provides a new view of American history by showing an account of an immigrant’s travels from a far away country to America and how they, as well as their children, live and continue to exist.
The characterization of women, depictions of brotherly love, and symbolism of Heorot Hall show that loyalty is vital to keeping harmony in a society under constant attacks. Loyalty is important to have, not only in Anglo-Saxon society, but in the world in general. Loyalty will help build trust, friendships, and love. People in today’s world would benefit if they learn a thing or two from the Anglo-Saxons.
2) Gretel - Gretel is a 13 year old Caucasian female and she shares her brother’s ethnicity. She is the same as her brother in regards to education, social status and health but has differing roles and activities based on gender. Gretel manages the house while her father and brother are out; her stepmother however, does not assist her when promised.
The City of Dreadful Delight starts with some cultural analysis of the historical background that helped to produce the social landscape of Victorian London. In discussing the transformation of London, Walkowitz argues for seeing more than merely a shift from one type of city to another but rather a conflicted layering of elite male spectatorship, the “scientific” social reform, and W. T. Stead's New Journalism. Here Walkowitz investigates the “Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon.” The “Maiden Tribute” consisted of a series of articles, authored by Stead and presented in the penny press, which exposed the sale of girls into prostitution. According to Walkowitz, these stories relied on the new scientific methods of social investigation, but the...
The setting is London in 1854, which is very different to anything we know today. Johnson’s description of this time and place makes it seem like a whole other world from the here and now....
The setting for “The Fatal Sisters” is an eleventh century, war-ridden Ireland. The nation’s fate appears to rest upon the shoulders of a few bloodthirsty monarchs who are entangled in a never-ending conflict. Their massive armies wage battle after battle and therefore tint Britain’s outlook upon society and its future. It is at such a troublesome time that twelve mysterious women are observed to “weave the web of war” and in such a way create the future of their nation. This very day is ironically...
He also demonstrates the validity of constructing a microhistory around a particular focus upon an individual – and this deviates from most commonplace forms of writing microhistories. Throughout his book, Wrightson manages to challenge the idea of the Plague being truly as bleak as most of the pessimistic writings of the times suggest it as being. A complete abandonment of camaraderie, spurred by the fear inspired by the Plague, is often touted by such literature. Wrightson questions the validity of this vision of the Plague, at least of the one Ralph Tailor lived through. His conclusions are much less severe, and offer a brighter alternative than the one predominantly suggested – of a people, in some cases, united in a time of great need, and he cites several examples to support this. As has been previously discussed, a methodology involving the writing of a microhistory allows for many advantages when it comes to viewing evidence from a new perspective. To name one, it allows for readers to properly engage in an understanding of the everyday lives of the people involved by viewing them from a closer or more comprehensive perspective. Not only this, but in Wrightson’s case, it has allowed him to proceed from looking at a single individual to the city that surrounds that individual. As Rab Houston comments, “[Wrightson’s] approach is scholarly yet at the same time imaginative and deeply sympathetic”. Wrightson makes a bold yet effective approach with this work in many respects. This methodology’s usefulness and worth, then, cannot be underestimated, and is doubtlessly of great
Clements, Victoria. Introduction. A New-England Tale. By Catharine Maria Sedgwick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Beckson, Karl. London in the 1890s: A Cultural History. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1992.
Ford, Boris, ed, The Pelican Guide to English Literature volume seven: The Modern Age, third edition, Penguin Books, Great Britain, 1973
George Eliot’s novel Middlemarch, presents the story of an entire community in a rising town around 1830. However, this essay will primarily focus on the interactions between Nicholas Bulstrode and Will Ladislaw. Nicholas Bulstrode is a respectable banker, however he made his fortune through shady business practices. On the other hand, Will Ladislaw is a struggling artist with very little to his name. Bulstrode arranges a meeting with Ladislaw shortly after Bulstrode learns that one of his former employees, Raffles, had discovered the origins of Bulstrode’s wealth and has been blackmailing him. Ladislaw’s mother, Sarah Dunkirk, ran away from her family at a young age after discovering the dark secrets of her father’s family business. After her father’s death, Sarah would have inherited some of the wealth from this business, however her mother did not know where to find her and Bulstrode saw marriage to Ladislaw’s grandmather as an opportunity to acquire all of the family’s fortune. Consequently, Bulstrode is pressured by Raffles’ knowledge of his secret and believes that he owes Ladislaw a great deal as Bulstrode essentially took Sarah’s money for his own and made no attempts to locate or assist Sarah.
The novel is about people who are predestined for a life of wealth or the lack of it. The Schlegel family represents the intellectual, literary and cultured upper class, the Wilcox family represents the materialism of the upper class, and the Basts represent the lower middle class of English society. The underlying theme is about developing human connections and embracing differences.
Eds. Keach, William, Carroll Moulton, John Richetti, and Bruce Robbins. Introduction. Adventures in English Literature. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1996.
Lambert Jr., Stephen. "Blake's London." Explicator 53.3 (1995): 141. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 May 2014.
The rural elite of Austen’s novels are members of the upper middle-class. They are not the aristocracy (although Mr Darcy belongs to the aristocracy), but their connections and education give them the right to mix with high society, as well as to marry with people of h...