Jude the Obscure Critical Reading Journal

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Alex Thiedmann Mr. Hahm 9/9/12 Journal One Block 3A “Though Farmer Troutham had just hurt him, he was a boy who could not himself bear to hurt anything. He had never brought home a nest of young birds without lying awake in misery half the night after, and often reinstated them and the nest to their original place the next morning. He could scarcely bear to see trees cut down or lopped, from a fancy that it hurt them…This weakness of character…suggested that he was the sort of man who was born to ache a good deal before the fall of the curtain upon his unnecessary life should signify that all was well with him again.” (Narrator, chapter two). In the first few chapters, Thomas Hardy shows many examples of foreshadowing. Throughout the novel, we see how Jude struggles in his life to battle the social mores that have been put into place. Hardy exposes Judes character early in the novel. “…that he was the sort of man who was born to ache a good deal before the fall of the curtain upon his unnecessary life…” Hardy is foreshadowing that his protagonist will face hardships throughout the novel, and die after they are through. We see this with Jude unhappily married to Arabella, his rejection to the university based on his self-educated background, and his impossible affection for Sue. Jude’s obsession with Christminister remains throughout the novel. Jude believes in the town, it is where he placed his hopes and dreams. The irony Hardy uses is that Jude dies in this place, having achieved none of his dreams. Alex Thiedmann Mr. Hahm 9/13/12 Journal Two Block 3A “The Boy is crazy for books, that he is. It runs in our family rather. His cousin Sue is just the same -- so I’ve heard; but I have not seen the chile for years, though she was born in this place within these four walls, as it happened. My niece and her husband, after they

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