Mr_Shank

In the beginnging of this book, Thomas Hardy is describing the scenery of the wild known as the Edgon Heath. He describes it as having dark vegetation, no trees and it wears a dress of brown, which implies it is pretty bare with just dirt. The day turns to twilight at the heath and the scenery is “majestic, impressive, emphatic, and grand.” An old man came along walking on the road. He has white hair, and he looked like he would have been a naval officer in his day. There was a “single atom of life that the scene combined,” which turned out to be the reddleman off in the distance. The old man eventually discovers that there is a young woman in the back of his van, or wagon, and tries to find out some things about her. The old man gets a little personal and the reddleman has to tell him that he needs to mind his buisness. After that, the reddleman rides away and the old man sees a woman off in the distance. The woman was profiled against the sky, “like an organic part of the entire motionless structure.” The woman leaves, but a group of locals replace her. They are building a bonfire ontop of a hill. Some of the locals are Grandfer Cantle, Timothy Fairway, and Christian Fairway, and Susan Nonsuch. They talk about the recent news, the marriage of Damon Wildeve and Thomasin Yeobright. Later, we find out that the woman in the back of the reddleman’s man was Thomasin Yeobright. We find out that Thomasin’s aunt does not approve of the wedding and the aunt’s son is in Paris. The reddleman returns and asks where Thomasin’s aunt lives, and he leaves to go to her house. Right after he leaves, she arrives at the local gathering. When Thomasin’s aunt is walking back from the gathering, she runs into the reddleman, who is Diggory Venn, and he tells her that he has her neice in the back of his van. There was a problem with the marriage liscence and she got very upset and ran away. In this communtiy, being married is a very important thing, and if something goes wrong in the marriage, it is a big deal. Thomasin’s aunt goes to the hotel where Thomasin’s fionce is and she insists that they go through with the wedding and Damon agrees. The woman that the old man saw earlier was looking through a telescope to look in a ligthed window down in the heath, and joins a nearby fire and is wating for something. After the boy who is tending the fire leaves, Damon Wildeve, Thomasin’s fionce, joins her. It is obvious that they have something more than a friendship and he left her for Thomasin Yeobright. Her name is Eustacia, and she is why the marriage between Thomasin and Damon did not happen that day. Eustacia thinks that Damon still loves her, but Damon does says he does not love Eustacia more than Thomasin. Now, the author talks about Eusatcia, the Queen of the Night. He described he and said her hair was a facy to see, she was somewhat heavy, and soft to touch like a cloud. The boy who was tending the fire before Eustacia had come, who is Diggory, finds out that they have an affair going on and he tells Eustacia that he knows that she is going to run away with Damon to the U.S. He plans to force Damon and Thomasin’s marriage, because he was once in love with Thomasin and wants her to be happy. Eustacia says that should have not have cared for him because there was a better person nearby. Damon goes to Mrs.Yeobright (Thomasin’s aunt)  and says that he wants to marry Thomasin. Mrs. Yeobright says that there is another man that Thomasin is interested in to make Damon jealous, and it works. Damon says that he still loves Eustacia, and he tells her that. Eustacia doesn’t like that she is his second choice. The end of this chapter ends with a foreshadowing of Clym Yeobright returning to the heath from Paris.

If you haven’t noticed, this book uses a lot of vocabulary this is very hard to understand. In the chapter that described Eustacia, the book says, “during the trip thither with her father.” In this context, thither means to or toward a place or point. I chose this word because it’s not a normal word that people use every day and it is part of the difficult context that this book frequently uses.

Another word that i chose was languor. It means a lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness. It is used when the author is describing Eustacia standing against the sky and being one with the scene. I chose this word because it is new to me, and it is not commonly used.

The next word is reddleman. The reddleman in this story is the guy that is red and has Thomasin in the van. A reddleman is a person who dyes sheep red. I chose this word because it is repeatedly used and I wasn’t sure what it meant.

The next word is archipelago. It means a chain of islands. It is used in a similie when then hills were compared to archipelagos in a log-formed AEgean (AEgean islands or AEgean sea). I also chose this word because it is new and uncommon.

The last word is inducement which means the act of leading by pursuading or influencing. I chose this word because it is not a familiar word to me. Also, because it used in a sentence when Eustacia is repelled by something, which is it’s antonym.

FIRST OF ALL, SORRY THIS IS SO LONG!

SECOND, I AGREE WITH BRIAN! BEING ABLE TO DO A VIDEO BLOG WOULD BE PRETTY SICK. I THINK YOU SHOULD CONSIDER IT, THEY WOULD BE MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE TO WATCH INSTEAD OF READING A MILLION OF THESE THINGS! JUST A SUGGESTION! =)