Narrative Patterns in Wuthering Heights

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Narrative Patterns in Wuthering Heights
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AH, YES, THE FLASHBACK

• Everyone who has seen very many movies
  understands the technique of the flashback.
• When an author uses the flashback, he usually
  begins in the present (Mr. Lockwood has rented a
  house, Thrushcross Grange, and is mightily
  intrigued by his rough and gruff landlord and
  neighbor, Mr. Heathcliff (first and last name the
  same)

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The present . . .

• When Mr. Lockwood visits the house known as
  Wuthering Heights both of his visits are
  unwelcome he is trapped there by a snowstorm and
  strange things begin to happen as he gets ready
  to go to bed
• A tap, tapping at the window, a little voice that
  cries Do let me come in, and an icy little hand
  that grabs Mr. Lockwoods as he tries to shut the
  sash of the window set the stage for an
  intriguing story.

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Mr Lockwood unnerved

• Well, of course, Mr. Lockwood is unnerved he
  thinks that he has had a horrible dream UNTIL
• Mr. Heathcliff rushes in, throws open the window,
  and howls for Cathy to haunt him.

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Whats a man to think?

• Naturally, Mr. Lockwood wants to know the whole
  story behind the ghost, the unidentified girl who
  lives with Heathcliff, and whatever other
  mysteries surround the harsh environment of
  Wuthering Heights, but how is he to find out what
  happened twenty years ago Heathcliff certainly
  isnt going to gossip

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But Nelly Dean will gossip

• In the house that Mr. Lockwood rented for the
  year there is a housekeeper, Nelly Dean. When Mr.
  Lockwood comes down with the flu ( he really
  should have stayed in during the storm) Nelly
  Dean promises to stay by his sick bed and tell
  him the WHOLE story about all of the strange
  goings on at Wuthering Heights BECAUSE

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NELLY THE NARRATOR

• Nelly lived at Wuthering Heights and worked for
  Catherines family (and later for Catherine) all
  of her life, and she was around to witness AND to
  participate in all of the events.
• SO as Mr. Lockwood recuperates, Nelly Dean
  entertains Lockwood by telling him the tragic and
  violent story of the love between Heathcliff and
  Catherine

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THE PAST

• Now, through Nellie, the reader is taken back
  (flashback, get it) twenty years to the time when
  Mr Earnshaw brought home a waif from Liverpool
  and named him Heathcliff.
• The reader will now, with the help of Nellys
  narration, progress through the past and will
  eventually (toward the end of the book)
  permanently return to the present.

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But there is a catch

• Remember reading the Great Gatsby in 11th grade?
• Sometimes the narrator of a story may not be
  reliable or truthful. . . .

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Veracity of the Narrator

• Veracity of the narrator is a literary term which
  indicates that the reader must judge whether or
  not a character who narrates a story is truthful,
  is untruthful because he is deliberately lying,
  or is untruthful because his perception is skewed
  by his own experiences and personality

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FOR EXAMPLE

• Mr. Lockwood indicates to us (the readers) that
  Heathcliff is crude, crass, rough, and illiterate
• HOWEVER
• We soon see that Mr. Lockwood is a city slicker
  who is just a little (no, a lot) effeminate SO

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MR LOCKWOOD

• Of course he sees Heathcliff as a BRUTE
• However, Nelly Deans story seems to confirm Mr.
  Lockwoods perception
• EXCEPT

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Dastardly NELLY?

• Watch for what Nelly says about Heathcliff. She
  states that she ALWAYS-- from the very first day
  of his arrival-- hated Heathcliff
• In fact when he was a young child stricken with a
  severe case of measles, and she was his nurse,
  she secretly took the child out on the cold
  stairs hoping that the chill would kill him.

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DEMON CHILD

• And when the freezing air didnt kill the young
  child, she pronounced him a demon child.
• ( I just ask you, whos the demon here?)
• But what about Joseph, the bad tempered gardener,
  who CONSTANTLY tells us that Heathcliff and
  Catherine are products of the devil?

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Joseph

• However, as you read you should see that Joseph
  believes that EVERYONE (except for him) is doomed
  to down under
• ULTIMATELY

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YOU

• The reader must draw his own conclusions about
  the story and especially about the people who
  relate the events.
• Be suspicious. See if you can make a case for
  Nelly Dean as a principal villain

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Some other things to think about

• What factors will motivate whom you marry?
• Will you marry for love, security, social strata
  or passion?
• What about Catherine? Who will she marry?
• Decide which if any of her decisions are wrong.

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Heathcliff

• What about Heathcliffs total disregard of all
  the conventions of society? Is he a free spirit
  that lives a genuine, authentic life without
  regard to what other people think?
• OR
• Is he a horribly destructive force that
  threatens the fabric of society?

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Revenge

• AS YOU READ, EXAMINE
• Does Heathcliff ever want revenge?
• Whom does Heathcliff have a grudge against?
• Does he punish anyone?
• What are the results of his revenge?
• Does it satisfy him?

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Nature vs. Nurture

• An age-old question why do we become who we are?
  Is it because of our naturewe were born to be
  what we become
• OR
• Is it because of the environment in which we are
  brought up?
• What makes Heathcliff SOOOO bitter?

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LOVE STORY

• Why are Heathcliff and Catherine the ARCHETYPES
  of masculinity and femininity ?
• Why is their story so enduring?
• Why do girls ALWAYS choose the bad boys who
  NEVER treat them well
• Why do girls NEVER appreciate the suitors who are
  REALLY in love with them?

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Unconditional

• Is this story so appealing because Heathcliffs
  love is unchanging and unconditional? Be ready to
  share your view at the end of the reading of this
  novel.

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R for Violence

• Watch out as you read -- how many scenes of
  violence can you identify? (Be careful, you may
  get so used to all of the scenes of violence that
  you began not to notice them.)

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Moorlands
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Walker on The Bronte Way
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