What?!!! She died?! Oh, man . . .

I think it would be instructive to look back over this blog and see how we all speculated on the end of this novel. No one, I'm sure, expected this! I admit it is a little cruel to make you spend so much time with a story that has no ending, but I wanted you to feel, as much as possible, how it might have felt to Gaskell's readers in 1866 when part 18 was not followed by part 19. This is certainly an interesting way to study serial fiction--and maybe wonder why its popularity waned.

Sure, we can speculate, but we can never know for sure, how Gaskell intended this to end.

Now that the whole class knows how the novel ends--and I do want to thank those of you who DID know for keeping it to yourselves, because I see that some of you were surprised--I want to know how you feel about it. How much of reading a novel is connected with the closure that ending provides? Think about all the other novels we have read in this class. Do they all aim for the last pages to be a conclusion rather than an end?

This discussion has been excellent, even when the prompts have been pretty lame. You faked interest well, if you were faking it! I think that you all got invested in the characters and story and the reading of this novel required much more of you, perhaps, than the others.

What about Roger?

Roger has been gone for a great deal in this novel. How is he still present? And. . . on another tack, what do you think will happen to Osborne, as now we have positive proof that he is unwell?



I got to admit, I am having a hard time coming up with new things to ask you to discuss.

". . . and he gets all his gloves from Houbigant!"

We found out, finally, the "power" Preston has over Cynthia. Do you find her a more sympathetic character? Does your opinion change in the passage where she brushes off Roger's accounts of his travels as she is packing to go back to London. And what of Mr. Henderson?? Oh, and what do you think will come of Mr. Sheepshanks seeing Molly?

High Society?

How does the narrator emphasize the changes that Mrs. Gibson has brought to the Gibson home in this installment? Have Molly, Mr. Gibson, and the residents of Hollingford been reconciled to the change? What does Molly and Mr. Gibson's behavior when Cynthia and Hyacinth are in London reveal about their characters?

Oops--late again, and I don't have the "no computer" excuse this time. I do have the "no my own computer" excuse! Want to hear it??

Why such a secret?

We all know that Cynthia wants to keep her engagement to Roger a secret? Do you think she ever gives a good reason for it? What does she tell Roger? Why does she react as she does when Mr. Gibson says he will tell the squire? Are you convinced by her answer? Why will it cause her "a great deal of distress if it gets known"(407)?

So many questions . . . but it is time to speculate again!

I have the same apology for the late post on this blog as the last. Do you know there are places in this country with no cell service??????

Let's predict . . .

Okay, it may have been the time change, or the class after spring break syndrome, but I sensed a little weariness with our old friends at Hollingford. So, in the spirit of the serial, let's do a little predicting.

1. We know there is something ominous and almost sinister about Mr. Preston. What do you think is his deal? What power might he have over Cynthia and why would his moving to the neighborhood make her want to go out to work as a governess? That throwing the flowers into the fire was perhaps the most passionate and spontaneous thing we've seen in the novel (well, Osborne's pursuit of Aimee is pretty sponaneous, but we hear about that via the narrator). Does the text give us any more clues to his personality that we didn't discuss in class?

2. Back to Osborne. What do you think will happen with the little French wife especially after two more references to French-bashing? What might (or should!) make a milque-toast like Osborne stand up for his family??

Another Shoe Drops

The mystery surrounding Osborne Hamley deepens and Cynthia arrives. How do the dynamics of the Hamley home and the Gibson home change in this installment of the novel? What is your first impression of Cynthia? Do you find her sympathetic or not? What specifically makes you respond to her the way you do?

The Plot Thickens

The newly married Hyacinth Gibson comes to her new home. The even more in disgrace Osborne Hamley leaves his. What specifically do we find out about Osborne that reveals more of his character? What does Mrs. Gibson do and say that reveals more about hers? How do you as a reader respond to those characters?

Of Characters Old and New

In this most recent installment we met, as we noted in class, new characters (Mr. Preston.Osborne Hamley) and got to know some old characters better (Sally and Phoebe Browning, Lady Harriet). We also noted that authors reveal character in a number of ways, one of which is what the narrator says about them. Looking carefully at the narrative description of each of these new characters (focus on language here--how the narrator not only describes what the characters look like, but how the narrator reports how they speak, not what they say). What about each character is revealed by what the narrator says about them?

This is also a friendly reminder that you must post twice weekly--once to this prompt and once in response to a classmate. We are getting good participation, but not everyone posts twice. Don't forget the other discussion either.

Roger's Advice to Molly

When Roger Hamley finds Molly distraught over her father's engagement and his abrupt departure, he tells her, "One has always to try to think more of others than of oneself" (121). After the rather tense conversation between Molly and Mrs. Kirkpatrick (the proposition that Molly go back to Ashcombe before the wedding, the cheese incident, the dig about Molly's governess), Molly doesn't find much solace in that remark. She says to Roger, "It will be very dull when I shall have killed myself, as it were, and live only in trying to do, and to be, as other people like" (139).

What do you make of this advice? This early in the novel we see much of Molly's personality and so we can sympathize with her dispair. What do you think it will mean to her? You can, however, also think about the characters in DeFoe and Austen as you look at how many of them should or do heed this advice.

Who is this Woman?

In a seminal study of Victorian serial publications, Linda K. Hughes and Michael Lund note that in the serial, readers could watch and sort of participate in character development. We are beginning to meet many of the characters in Wives and Daughters. What do you think about Hyacinth Kirkpatrick? What do you think might happen with her character as the novel develops?

Society in Hollingford

From the first pages of the novel, Gaskell establishes the importance of the social norms and traditions that guide the community of Hollingford. How is social status introduced and reinforced in the first two parts of the novel?

My edition of the novel indicates the chapters as well as the original publication parts. I am trying to have us read the parts as closely as possible to the orginal when it began publication in August of 1864. Chapters 1-3 are part 1 and chapters 4-6 are part 2. Typically parts 1 and two were published together.