We are in the last month of the year
2024, so was the end monthly activity of #TBRChallenge with the prompt “Holiday
CLASSIC”
A holiday classic is a book
that is popular over a long period and is considered to be exemplary or
noteworthy. Some examples of holiday classics include:
A Christmas Carol by Charles
Dickens: A story of redemption and forgiveness set in Victorian
England. It's considered a masterpiece on generosity and empathy.
The Grinch by Dr. Seuss: The
Grinch plots to steal Christmas from Whoville, but discovers the simple joys of
the festival.
The Life and Adventures of Santa
Claus by L. Frank Baum: A story about the beginning of the popular
character Santa Claus.
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
by E. T. A. Hoffmann: A story about bravery and dreams in a fantastical
world.
Google suggests the above
list, but for me, A sense of
timelessness — or the fact that many people have enjoyed a work over time and
continue to enjoy it many years later — contributes greatly to something
being considered a classic. Classics also tend to become part of the cultural
landscape.
I’m planning to bid adieu to the old
copy of the book TESS OF THE D’UBERVILLES as it was almost worn out. Before that,
I thought to re-read it one final time before it went out of my bookshelf.
So I treat this book as a holiday classic
and share a few highlights of the novel - Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas
Hardy
Tess of the D'urbervilles is an
epic tale of Tess Durbeyfield's tragic life, her disasters in love, her
tear-wrenching experiences with death, and her painstaking efforts to grow into
a 'proper' woman. Tess Durbeyfield is the main character in the book and you
see her grow as a person over several years.
Social hierarchy, modernity,
history, free will and fate, gender, and injustice are all themes found in Tess
of the d'Urbervilles. The novel's moral is that the cruelty of society and
human beings can lead to tragic results.
The title of the novel Tess of the
D'Urbervilles:
A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented
is both ironic and defends the morals and moral standing of its main
character, Tess.
The novel generally follows the
moral structure of the traditional English novel - that virtue is rewarded,
immorality is punished and good people learn from their mistakes. Victorian
society would have considered Tess a 'fallen woman', rather than a naive young
woman assaulted or taken advantage of.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by
Thomas Hardy is considered a modern novel because of its radical ideas and
realism. Some say that the novel's themes are still relevant today,
including:
Empathy for women
The novel portrays Tess as a
victim of Victorian society, mistreated by men and society.
Nature vs. industrialization
The novel is set during a
transition from agriculture to industry, with rural towns, farm women
representing nature, and machines and upper-class men representing
industrialization.
Injustice of Social Law
The novel highlights the injustice
of social law, the hypocrisy of social prejudice, and the inequality of male
dominance.
Tess is a courageous woman who
stands up for herself, defies the Church, and connects with nature. Her
leanings towards Paganism show her disconnection with Christianity, and Hardy's
move away from traditionalist views.
Tess's eventual death, one of the
most famous in literature, is a direct result of human cruelty and as
such represents one of the most moving indictments of the lives of
19th-century English women in all of literature.
Tess of the d’Urbervilles is a
novel with perfect classic features that can be read at any time.
(This blog post was part of Blogchatter's #TBRChallenge monthly activity. More details here:https://www.theblogchatter.com/blogchatters-reading-challenge-tbr-challenge)
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