Wuthering Heights, Reading Log

David Bornudd SA13 Reading Log: Emily Brontë’s ”Wuthering Heights”

The second log - the characters:

Heathcliff, defined as the misunderstood romantic is the highlight of the book and the person whom was described as the ssperfect misanthropist during the exposition of this tale who plays out in an area of England of which I am foreign to. Retrieved from the cold and wet streets of Liverpool was a colored boy of which nationality the reader is not enlightened with. Heathcliff is, to begin with, an extremely silent boy who relies on his body language and small gestures to be understood with. Yet as Heathcliff grows older, he slowly integrates into the 18th-century farm society of which this book embodies, although remaining somewhat silent, is not afraid to speak of the controversial and awkward.

Catherine Earnshaw is the youngest daughter of the Earnshaw family would be described as a troubled and flawed child, but some aspects from our futuristic perspective would consider her demeanor to be completely normal. At first Cathy (her nickname throughout the book) is hostile towards Heathcliff but is shortly thereafter wooed by his wild and foreign nature. With her curly brown and rough hair and (as described) sweet eyes you could say she is a typical girl with tasks that involve a lot of housework as was a normality during this point in time. One would describe her as a very understanding individual.

The father of the family who goes by Earnshaw would be described as the ideal christian. He gets introduced as he finds and retrieves Heathcliff from the streets of Liverpool thus drawing the conclusion of him being a good man and a good christian. He replies to his questioning family ones returned: ”It was the christian thing to do”. Earnshaw perishes in an unknown disease early on in this book thus making it challenging to describe him in depth.

Hindley is the oldest son and the rightful eire to the farm. Hindley is and was extremely hostile towards Heathcliff throughout due to the color of his skin. Earnshaw lectures him multiple times in attempt to make him a more understanding individual and a better christian, in vain unfortunately as he would continue to be a hinderance of Heathcliff’s wellbeing. One would say Hindley is not a very nuanced thinker as a result of his hostility and aggression towards people originating from a different culture. He is a slight definition of a passive-aggressive racist.

The Linton siblings; Isabelle and Edgar are from a family of means. Edgar is a guy with a lot of ”soft features”, a kind hearted man who cares for Cathy’s wellbeing thus making him differ a lot from Heathcliff. I myself would describe him as a withdrawn person with a very thin backbone, so to speak. Isabelle is much like her brother but also a lot more shy, yet when push comes to talk is not afraid to put her differences aside and speak her mind. ”You are worse than 20 foes, you poisonous friend!”. This was taken from a dialogue between Isabelle and Catherine during the love-quadrant that is between Heathcliff, Cathy, Isabelle and Edgar.

The third log - the environment:

Out of the small arsenal of books that I conquer, Wuthering Heights takes the prize for being the most ”environmental-book” I have ever read, with constant descriptions as to what the characters are wearing, the scenery, landscape, smells, you name it. The wardrobe selection looks ambiguously the same throughout the book; with the women wearing a variety of white dresses with attributes that could be described as aprons, no matter the weather, always a dress. The men wore ruffled shirts accompanied with some sort of vest, mostly leather.

As one could guess, hygiene is not the number one priority during the time of the story thus making the author describing smells as musky, muddy and many more adjectives that belong in the disgusting category. Wet, grassy hills as far as the eyes can see, only the neighbors could be seen in the distant. ”Catherine shivered as a brisk breeze flew by”. As this is England, the author would constantly use words that would be associated with there being rain and wind outside. Cathy and Heathcliff would ”inconspicuously” go on walks where their path would be filled with leaves, flowers and biological variety.

The fourth log - the conclicts:

Ones Earnshaw perishes due to disease, the rightful eire returns from education and becomes master of the farm, making Heathcliff’s stay so much more worse, he basically turned in to a slave. After some time, Heathcliff runs away from his tormentor for a few years when he overheard Cathy talking about it being a disgrace to get married to him. In his absence, Catherine marries another man. ”And on his return, passions are unleashed that refuse to be tamed...”. The quote is actually a very accurate description of the main conflict concerning the story. In order to create some sort of jealousy, Heathcliff marries Edgar’s sister; Isabelle who is deeply in love with Heathcliff, a quite sad happening if one were to feel sympathy towards Isabelle whom is tormented by Heathcliff’s desire to be with Catherine.

Heathcliff spends an unusual amount of time at the Linton mansion which does not go unnoticed. After a lot of going back and forth with Catherine and Heathcliff’s complications, Edgar comes forth and exclaims anger and distrust in Catherine forcing him the offer her an ultimatum; himself or Heathcliff.

Heathcliff decided to leave and return to Hindley’s house as he had a place to stay there for a small amount of rent. He returned a few weeks later only to find out that Catherine has gotten sick ever since he left. ”You and Edgar broke my heart, it is your fault that I am sick.” The quote speaks for itself. Catherine shortly perished due to fever thus making Heathcliff go into a state of depression and the same goes for Edgar.

There are numerous conflicts surrounding the main conflict of which I cannot go into any further detail.

3/10.