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?