Book report: Far from the Madding Crowd
------By Pu wendan
Preface：
To be honest, before I knew my major was English, I hadn’t read any foreign author in the original. But ,because my major is English ,so I decide to read English novel as many as I can. In the year whenI was a freshman, I just read theChinese version of the foreign novel. This year I began to read the originals which I have read the Chinese versions .Jane Eyre is the first English original I have read ,which lend me to a more broad and fantastic literary world. Gradually ,I know more and moreexcellent foreign authors and their wonderful works . I think I fall in love with Thomas Hardy’s amazing works at the very first sight. I appreciate his literary style which is filled with a strong local flavorand I can be absorbed in his wonderful stories for hours without an interruption. So I what to introduce the excellent author and his fantastic works to you.
Content
Part1. About the author and relative the background;
Part2. A brief introduction to the story;
Part3. The analysis of the major characters and the connotation of this novel;
Part4. From the angle of love to analyze this book and my reflections.
Part1.1 About the author
Thomas Hardy(1840.6.2----1928.1.11) was born in a town located in the southwest area of England. He was an English poet and novelist ,famous for his depictionsof the imaginary country “Wessex” , where he grew up.so his works are filled with a strong local style.He was also the last important novelist of the Victorian age.In his later years , he developed English literature in twentieth Century with his excellent poetry. His period of literary creation can be roughly divided into three periods and in every period he had his famous representatives works.The first period is romantic and pastoral time.
Under the Green Treeand Far from the Madding Crowd are regarded as his representative works.The second period is the social tragedy of Wessex, such as The Return of Nativeand The Mayor of Casterbridge.
The third period is the pessimistic fate of the villagers in Wessex, Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscureare the famous works in this period.After he died, he was also thought highly by his countryman, which can be evidenced that he was buried in the Westminster Abbey.
Part1.2 About the background .
The reason why I wanted to read this book was that I was attracted by this beautiful book name. I knew it came from a beautiful poem----Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. It is like this: Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife;Their sober wishes never learnd to stray;Along the cool sequesterd vale of life;They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.on my part, this poem has a reflection of that time. Furthermore, the time of Vitoria's prosperity began to wane. the moral values of that society were crumbing and many other new ideas were gradually be accepted.
Part2. A brief introduction to the story
Gabriel run a small farm, he fell in love with Bathsheba who came to help her aunt at first sight, and he asked her to marry him but he was refused. An unexpected accident happened, he lost his whole property, became homeless and went to another country. When he came to the Witherby farm, to his delight, he discovered that his owner is Bathsheba , who he missed day and night.
The Bathsheba’s maid Fanny loved Sergeant(中士)Troy ,and they had an engagement ,but Fanny went wrong church, Troy refused to hold a second wedding.When Fanny became pregnant, Troy abandoned her. At that time ,he had married with Bathsheba ; Bathsheba didn’t know everything until Fanny died.
Bathsheba’s neighborBold wood was madly in love with her just for a joke which Bathsheba made to him ,but Bathsheba didn’t love him at all. Bold Wood killed Troy in impulse, he had been sent to the court finally.In Bathsheba’s three suitors, only Gabriel left. After went through so many life tribulations(艰难）, Bathsheba finally married with Gabriel who was always here keeping company with her and helping her .
Part3The analysis of the major characters and the connotation of this novel;
From the summary of the story, I think that you already have a comprehend of the main characters. So let us have a more clear understanding about these animated figures.
“Her biggest problem is vanity”; “She often make rash(鲁莽)things with a cautious approach”as the author described.From these description we can see that Bathsheba is arrogant, conceited（自负）, frivolous(轻佻）butpretty charming .
It was her vanity that made her put Oak’s true love at one side, and run to the dandy(花花公子的） Troy’s arms, so that she was deceived and had an unhappy marriage;It was her impulse that made her on Valentine’s Day send a card wrote“please marry me”to Boldwood ,so that Boldwood involved in tragedy vortex(漩涡）.
Gabriel Oak: a altruistic image(利他主义形象），a traditional Wessex character;
In the quiet, beautiful nature , he herd sheep, played the flute(笛子）for entertainment; his life was full of a kind of peaceful and happy mood. He was industrious(勤劳的）, simple and kind. All in all, Gabriel Oak is a altruistic image(利他主义形象），a traditional Wessex character. Maybe we all agree that he deserves a happy life. In the end ,he indeed live a happy life with Bathsheba.
Tory was the representative figure of modern capitalism ;he is a frivolous（轻浮的）, dissolute（放荡的）and cynical（玩世不恭的） person.He was an egoistic image(利己主义形象）.Based on his description ，the author revealed bourgeois’ veil of hypocrisy(伪善） in the late Victorian period.
Boldwood was the typical figure in the Orthodox patriarchal society (宗法制社会).He was honest ,rich and respected.Through the destruction of Boldwood, Hardy again reveals the turbulent(动荡的） life under the Wessex’s Orthodox patriarchal system.His fate increased the sad atmosphere in this novel.
Hardy wanted to express his idea of running away from the industrial civilization through this book, but in this quiet place , disputes and noise , love and hate happened between the major characters all the time .So we can draw a conclusion that under the industrial civilization, no one can really far from the madding crowd.
From this novel, we can see Hardy’s pessimistic fatalism(悲观宿命论）.
Part4.1 From the angle of love to analyze this book.
There are three different attitudes towards love.
No.1:Gabriel Oak: if you love a person, you should make he or she happy. His love was true love;
Gabriel ,accompanying Bathsheba all the time ,has a good character. His devotion to her was marked by a patient acceptance, both of her faults and her process to mature. Though he loved Bathsheba all the time, he never entangled her after her refusal to his proposal. When he became an employee in Bathsheba’s farm, he never showed his love again, what he did was to help her run the farm silently. He loved her deeply, but he never lost his dignity and principles. As a female, Bathsheba was vain and was eager to be praised by others. However, Gabriel never flattered her to gain her heart. However badly she treated him, he still loved her and was anxious to help her. His love was true love.
No.2: Boldwood: if you love someone ,you should possess he or her by all means ;
His love for Bathsheba was expressed by an over whelming desire to posses her. In his eyes, Bathsheba was everything. Without her, his world seemed not to be rotate. He allowed his farm to run down. His wild joy and fear at losing her caused his workers to pity him. As a result, he couldn’t bear Troy’s returning and shot him to death. He himself was mad and was put into prison. All in all, Boldwood’s love for Bathsheba reached a ridiculous morbid degree and wasn’t true.
No.3: Troy: love is a game.
Troy was attractive but superficial. He regarded love as a game, and he took little responsibility. For Fanny whom he once promised to marry, he destroyed her completely. Finally, pregnant Fanny died in Casterbrige Union because of her poverty and illness. For Bathsheba, he never matched his title---husband. He enjoyed his authority as the master of the farm, but it was only a role for him. To sum up, Troy was such a bad guy who played a game named “love”.
Part4.2 my reflections
As for me, I approve of Gabriel’s attitude. That is to say, to love is to make the person you love happy, not to possess wildly, or not to treat love is a game. If you really love a person, maybe not only the person you love can feel happy, but also you yourself is happy.
I believe that everyone wants to find a true love, but before the true love comes, we should learn to judge it; when it comes, we need to put aside the vanity and prejudice, and cherish it. Besides we should learn to love others rather than wait someone all the time.
I also feel that everyone wants to live a quiet and happy life which is away from the hubbub(喧嚣) of the city. However, perhaps in the real society, such pure land no longer exists, but we can still keep it in our own heart and to build a house of no contamination, no strife(纷争）.
Part1.1 About the author