Reread this book again since high school, and I am surprised at how much more of the emotions resonate. It’s such a heartbreaking book because everything just sort of… happened. The mentioning of the coaches at every important turn in her life seems like a foreshadow of this point. That all this tragedy was just going to happen, as a result of centuries of doing. You can’t blame Tess– she was helpless – with her bedroom occupied, the role she had to play, the innocence she had to give up. She had absolutely no choice but to shield her heart, to numb her emotion. Which she did, though unsuccessfully. How often have you been able to control that flatter in your heart?
You can’t blame Angel(which btw how ironic is the name)– as a man who has abandoned dogma, it seems difficult for him to comprehend and understand Tess’s history. To me, he (and Alec) seemed like a person who resembles the conflict between theology and morality. What informs one’s morality of what is good or bad without theology? Mind you this was the time before all ethical theory and theological morality still dominate.
Also, can we take a minute to appreciate Hardy’s writing?? That man makes me FEEL!!! The anguish the hopelessness the love Tess’s final letter was. The internal turmoil when Tess was thinking about Angel. The anxious, pacing after she told Angel. And the “borrowed happiness” at the end. The contrast of Lady Day in the beginning with the white flock and “the private little sun for their soul to soak in” contrasts with the gray cashmere gown, under the same sun. WhAo!
BUT OFC ALEC? EW!!!!!!!!!!
by Zealousideal_Draft31