What was Thomas Hardy trying to show through his characters in The
Withered Arm?
In this essay I will write about what Thomas Hardy was trying to show
through his characters in 'The Withered Arm'. The characters I will
write about are Rhoda Brook, Gertrude Lodge, the boy and Farmer Lodge.
I will write about these characters because they were the main
characters in the story.
The short story 'The Withered Arm' is written by Thomas Hardy. 'The
Withered Arm' is a lady called Rhoda Brook who was partners with
Farmer Lodge and they had a child together, which Farmer Lodge leaves
Rhoda to bring up on her own. Later Farmer Lodge weds to Gertrude
Lodge. Rhoda Brook becomes jealous because Farmer Lodges' new wife was
younger and more attractive than her and also angry because Farmer
Lodge was not interested in the son that they had together. Rhoda has
a dream that Gertrude Lodge came to her house and that she had thrown
her to the ground by her arm and had permanently left finger marks in
her arm. After she becomes good friends with Gertrude, Rhoda finds out
that she dreamt actually came true. When Gertrude finds out who cursed
her by a wizard she is shocked and her friendship with Rhoda Brook
begins to seriously deteriorate and the story continues with Gertrude
Lodges' quest to heal her arm.
The first three chapters are mainly focused on the character Rhoda
whoyou realise is emotionally isolated. As the paragraphs continue
Rhoda doesn't join in and there you see how lonely and different she
is from the rest.
"He hadn't spoke to Rhoda Brook for years"
This shows that Farmer Lodge never cared for Rhoda Brook and had
showed no feelings towards her, which would make emotionally hurt.
Also how she doesn't ...
... middle of paper ...
... to his child, the boy. Also he doesn't stand by his wife,
Gertrude when she is dieing. Or help Rhoda look after the boy. But his
loneliness shows in the last chapter. He is shown by Hardy to suffer
by ignoring his son, by stopping his love for his wife and not helping
his ex. He loses everything he has and dies a lonely old man. Hardy
leaves us the reader to realise the death of his son had an effect on
him because he leaves his "property to a reformatory for boys". This
showed the death of his son had an effect on him.
Through all the main characters Thomas Hardy was showing loneliness
and suffering. Each character became lonelier through the chapters and
were shown to all be friendless. Thomas Hardy may have written in this
manner because he may experienced that during his life. I think that
because he wrote many stories about the place he grew up in.
the end of the novel when Finny dies, he feels like a part of him dies and that it’s his own funeral
In this way the novel ends on the course of despair that it began in
On his uncle to make him feel the vulnerability his father felt when he was murdered and taken
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The one of the main themes in the epilogue, and in the entire novel is
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