Love and Work
Introduction
The story Far From the Maddening Crows is instrumental in showing the perspective of the author about life. Despite the book appearing to depict, the country life, the themes of love and work are integral in the plot of the story. The depiction of these aspects in the life of individuals is melodramatic, and the author attempts to delve into the psychology involved in the different emotions and experiences humans experience. Hardy uses work as a platform for the interactions, which lead to love. Work is synonymous with the lifestyle in the countryside. This is apparent in the involvement of the community in the setting in keeping sheep herds. It is evident that the rural community is involved in agriculture, and this requires labor input from the community. The author is successful in intertwining the two elements to develop the story’s plot. Gabriel who works for Bathsheba appears to win her love in the end. This is despite the numerous disappointments and trails which were experienced before the triumph. Work appears to influence the perceptions of individuals and this percolated to love and marriage. For instance, the proposal of Gabriel was turned down due to his position in society while it influenced the interactions between Bathsheba and the other suitors. The setting of the story presents a platform for the author to depict the influences of love and work in the society.
The plot explores the life of Gabriel Oak, a young shepherd who is determined to enhance his life. The character through his savings and a loan, acquired enough funds to lease a farm stocked with sheep. This facilitates his interaction with a newcomer, Bathsheba Everdane and leads to Gabriel falling in love with Bathsheba. This leads to Gabriel proposing to her, but leads to disappointment when he is turned down. The fate of the two characters will again be intertwined by the author when Gabriel loses his sheep flock and ends up penniless. The fortune of Bathsheba contrasts this since she inherits a fortune. In the quest to secure employment, Gabriel ends up being an employee of Bathsheba despite the awkwardness of the situation from their previous interactions. Hardy introduces another character who courts Bathsheba. The character William Boldwood is lonely and withdrawn. He contrasts with Gabriel in that he is a prosperous and wealthy farmer. Bathsheba is curious why Boldwood has not bestowed her with the admiring glances she is used to from male admirers. This spurs Bathsheba to initiate contact with Boldwood in the form of a valentine coupled with the words marry me. Boldwood is not sentient to the fact that Bathsheba was acting in jest. This leads to Boldwood obsession with Bathsheba, and he decides to propose. Unlike the situation of Gabriel, Bathsheba is not in love with the suitor. Despite this, she toys with the idea of accepting the proposal of Boldwood when considering the status of the suitor. Bathsheba keeps postponing her answer to the proposal through vague and evasive answers. She is confronted by Gabriel and ends up firing him. Bathsheba ends up marrying troy, a soldier despite the reservations of Gabriel. Bathsheba realizes that her husband loves her servant who is pregnant for him. When Troy disappears and is presumed dead, Boldwood resumes courting Bathsheba. She consents but waits for 6 years to ensure that Troy is declared dead (Hardy, 135). However, Troy is alive, and he learns of the plot of the impending marriage. He makes his return startling Bathsheba and Boldwood and ends up being shot dead. The death of her husband and the confinement of Boldwood made Bathsheba realize the worth of Gabriel in her life. This leads to the character realizing her mistakes and her true feelings. When Gabriel attempts to live for California, he is confronted by Bathsheba and this leads to Gabriel proposing again. This time he is successful and the two quietly Wed. It is evident in the plot that love is a prominent theme. The author ties this theme intricately with work hence creating a correlation between the two aspects.
When exploring the events in the plot, it is evident that Hardy centers his story on the emotions of love and the endeavors of human beings through work. For instance, it is work, which facilitates the interaction of Bathsheba with Gabriel, a relationship that ends up triumphing at the end. The view of the author on love is fascinating. The characters in the story react divergently to the emotion. The reaction by the characters is instrumental in depicting their personalities. For instance, both Gabriel and Boldwood depict inexperience in love and approach the issue naively. Despite this commonality, they behave differently when in contact with Bathsheba. Boldwood appears to be obsessed in his efforts to win over Bathsheba. This makes his character jealous which is a negative trait (Hardy, 109). When comparing this to the approach of Gabriel, it is apparent that the character is gracious when he is turned down and maintains his friendship with Bathsheba. He always considers the interests of Bathsheba despite being rejected by the character. The depiction of love by Hardy is that love entails satisfying the needs of others since love is not egocentric.
Hardy in his representation of a worker and a woman out of inevitability he embraces the substance that she employs to in expressing and objectifying herself. In referring to a woman as a “she”, it is not just a reference to the physical body, but also the earth upon which she strides, and where she works the character of Michael Henchard as well portrays a distinct relationship between his work and love life. To evaluate and recognize Hardy’s rationale in presenting these characters in this way, it is imperative to summon the larger context of representation, and which can be made in a summary of two declarations. These two include that work, as a subject has been an issue of immense discussion in both the nineteenth and eighteenth century, and an expected theme in the novel. Secondly, it is exceedingly difficult to achieve an accurate representation of work as a theme.
What distinguishes and differentiates is not just the fact that he included the theme of work in the novel, but his acknowledgement and reaction to the inherent challenges of representing the theme. In an attempt to resolve this challenge, he restructurers the narrative such that all action entails the physical development of humans and work. Hardy points out that the twentieth century habit of not giving the concept of work the attention it requires is a result of increased desire and obsession for courtship (Rougemont 46). A more startling fact of this obsession is that the very reasons that cause people to be preoccupied with courtship also make them get obsessed with their work. This is evident in the character of Gabriel who engrosses himself in his work for Bathsheba in the efforts to cure his constant heartache. The character is resigned to seeing Bathsheba prefer other suitors to him, but work appears to offer the character an escape from reality. The obsession to work by Gabriel also appears to be an effort by the character to stay close to Bathsheba (Hardy 166).
Hardy’s representation of issues that are synonymous with courtship can be well described as infatuated. Indeed few people would find it pertinent to seek instruction on issues such as desire, how to initiate love, and how to propose for marriage. What would be of importance to a majority of people is creative instruction on issues such as how to perpetuate love, how to sustain marriage vows, and how to keep the promise, but the courtship aspect continues to be an intriguing concept to many people for reasons that are ingenious and ceremonial. The contract of marriage is perceived to be a product of powers of fiction making in man as exemplified in other aspects of human creativity such as works of art. With such consideration, then it is essential to recognize that just like other forms of creativity in work, marriage is indeed a mental and social construct that is not an end in itself, but a manifestation of inherent desires and obsessions.
To be able to evaluate the intricate internal aspects of courtship, then it is imperative to view courtship as an object that has an interior composition. To this end, an exploration of human labor and work would be essential. Indeed it calls for a shift in logical perspective to consider “making a marriage” to be the same thing as “making a chair”, or “making a toy”. In the twentieth century, the most critical factor has been the labor. In consideration of the labor factor, what comes to perspective is space for labor in the form of factories, mines, or fields (Scarry 86). However, more importantly is the power to make or create that is inherent in human imagination. Work in essence, is a manifestation of the inherent human powers of creativity, and which are demonstrated through outward activity such as mining, or farming.
In the rural setting through which the plot is based on, it is apparent that work is an integral part of the community. Representations of continuity in work such as tailoring, weaving, and brewing are again exemplified in places the market where stories, rituals, superstition and family chronicle arise from immediate activity in labor, and becomes an influence in other areas of life such as courting and marriage. Love in essence, is a construct of the mind, similar to a merchant’s labor and the act of exchange which emerges out of agricultural activity, and which at the onset are imaginary activities (Rougemont 53). This is evident in the perceptions of Bathsheba that Boldwood was an appropriate suitor based on his status in the society. This is also instrumental in creating the perception on Gabriel, whom despite his likability his proposal was shunned due to his social class. This depicts the influence of work in love since the perceptions about individuals were based on what and individual posses rather than the feelings.
Hardy’s perception of courtship goes to extensive lengths to demonstrate the relationship between material things and love. His argument resonates the position that courtship and desires are largely influenced by material possessions gained out of meaningful work. In his opinion, a person who desires another in effect desires the entire world that is embodied in the individual. The world in which an individual inscribes and projects herself or himself is the determinant of the relationships one develops, and the success one achieves in maintaining these relationships. According to hardy, affection and attachment are not only exemplified in relationships between n individuals, but between people and the marital possessions they have accumulated from their labor.
The relationship between individuals and their material possessions, according to Hardy, is almost asexual. Possessions provide a significant impression of their owner, and the owner’s character and lifestyle are largely determined by their possessions. This, in turn, determines both personal and work relationships one develops. The depiction by hardy is unquestionable as indeed the things people grow and build, or “work” and invent, do speak and express for them, and in return, people speak and express on behalf of their materials of work. This pattern is mostly depicted in work that individuals are most familiar with in their daily experience. Hardy points out that, in literature for instance, the words in poems and novels speak on behalf of the writers, and essentially portray the love or distress that apparently is clear of speech. Inventions and innovations go to extraordinary lengths to demonstrate the creative powers that individuals possess while creating opportunity, for critical evaluation from other people.
The credit that workers, or innovators and creators get from their pieces of work in the end determines their relationships, ranging from love to marriage, and even business relationships. This is exemplified in the character of Boldwood who becomes wealthy due to his farming. This determines her relationship between him and Bathsheba, since, despite the proposal of Bathsheba through a valentine and a note being a jest, his advances were considered by Bathsheba. This is also evident when troy impresses Bathsheba with his rank and sword skills. It is apparent that his work was instrumental in the marriage. This contrast with Gabriel who is turned down since he was perceived not worthy to marry Bathsheba because he was an ordinary farmer. It is clear from the position of the aforementioned characters that work is intricately connected to work in Hardy’s work,
The challenge that arises in employing the aspect of work as a determinant of a person’s relationships is that, the benefit or significance of a person’s work may not be easy to objectify. Regardless of whether a form of work is of value to an individual, it may as well lack relevance in a period.
Conclusion
Hardy is instrumental in depicting the intricacies of work and love in the society. This is evident in the story Far From the Maddening Crows where the author explores the theme of love and work using the characters in the aforementioned story. The author uses the rural setting, which is synonymous with a farm work and other manual activities. It is evident that work influences love. This is because work determines the status of individuals in the society. This percolates to the perceptions of the society, which determines the eligibility of an individual form love and consequently marriage. Therefore, the story by hardy is instrumental in exploring the themes of love and work and their influence in the society.
Works Cited
Hardy, Thomas. Far from the Madding Crowd. London: HarperPress, 2010.
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Rougemont, Denis , and Montgomery Belgion. Love in the Western World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. Print.
Scarry, Elaine. Resisting Representation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Internet
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