"Cliff Notes - Return of the Native, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

and sanitation; and programs to help the poor, the ill, and the
elderly. Many of the ideas in the air could fairly be called
"liberal," and they probably have much to do with Clym Yeobright's
ideas in The Return of the Native.

The nineteenth century also faced Darwin's shocking (or exciting,
depending on one's point of view) theory of evolution. The Bible
seemed to be brought into question, as Darwin suggested that man had
evolved from a lower animal rather than being created by God in God's
own image. Organized religion staggered from this blow. And
evolutionary theory was just one of many scientific discoveries that
were changing the way people thought about the nature of existence.
Hardy was well aware of these intellectual trends. Though he wrote
about uneducated rural characters in lonely hamlets, he wrote from
the point of view of a thinker who questions traditional beliefs.
This voice is, clearly, that of an agnostic. He does not know
whether or not God exists; he does not know if the universe works
upon principles of justice.

Grim as his philosophical views may be, Hardy delights us with his
lively individuals and his love of the English countryside. Like
Shakespeare, he has a fine ear for local dialects. He had a
painter's eye for dramatic scenes in nature. His heart goes out to
the enduring decency of simple country people who work hard and do
not indulge themselves in idleness or selfishness.

Is he too hard on characters like Eustacia Vye, who yearns for the
city life Hardy spurned, or on Damon Wildeve, who cares for little
but money and pleasure? Perhaps. Hardy often seems to be a stern
and rigorous moralist. To balance this, however, he finds some hope
in the homely virtues of characters like Thomasin Yeobright or
Diggory Venn.

Though Hardy isn't exactly a cheerful writer, his novels are hard to
put down. The reader is gripped by a sense of life rushing
irrevocably onward. We become involved in the characters' dilemmas,
and with them we feel torn between what people think they want and
what life actually brings them in the end.

Unquestionably, Hardy speaks directly and powerfully to some need
within us all. We, too, question fate. We, too, hope that
unselfishness will be rewarded. The Return of the Native, condemned
by critics when it first appeared, may be Hardy's greatest novel. It
has faults, many of which may strike you right away. But the story
and its unforgettable characters will lodge in your consciousness.
You may find yourself thinking, "Yes, this is how life is." You may
even begin to see the eternal questions which Hardy ponders cropping
up in your own daily life. You are about to read a tale of country
life, but it is really a story of the greater world in which human
beings have always lived, and will forever live.