The Setting for Thomas Hardys The Withered Arm and Other...

The Setting for Thomas Hardys The Withered Arm and Other Wessex Tales In the following essay I seek to show evidence of how Thomas Hardy was acutely aware of the social status of people, how village and town life was conducted, how men and women reacted to their own sex and to each other and the part religion played in peoples daily lives. Social class is raised a lot in Hardys pieces. Even though these stories were all written at a different time and then put together, you can see it is a strong theme in the book. In the Withered Arm, there is instantly a strong sense of upper and lower class. You learn of a milkmaid named, Rhoda Brook, and hear of her story among gossipers at the farm. She†¦show more content†¦This also shows that Mr. Twycott really cares for Sophy, as marrying someone from a lower class is like, Social suicide. Sophy and Mr. Twycott move to London where people would not know of their sin, Mr. Twycott dies, leaving Sophy a large sum of money, a son and in a higher class. London is described as a snobbish place and the people living there do not get on with Sophy because of the way she speaks, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but she still held confused ideas on the use of was and were, which did not beget a respect for her among the few acquaintances she made. This shows the city folk to be of a higher class compared to the lower class country folk, and how they are snobbish and vain. In country life it does not matter the way you speak, but who you are inside. A big comparison has been made in this story between men and women. Even though Sophy was older and the one to inherit her husbands belongings, the son takes charge, She was left no control over anything that had been her husbands beyond her modest personal income. Her own child would soon take over being the man of the house, The completion of the boys course at the public school, to be followed in due time by Oxford and ordination, has been all provisioned and arranged. This shows that in these times a womans job was none atShow MoreRelated Women play victims in Thomas Hardy’s short stories, roles that were1788 Words   |  8 PagesWomen play victims in Thomas Hardy’s short stories, roles that were typical of Victorian women in general â€Å"Women play victims in Thomas Hardy’s short stories, roles that were typical of Victorian women in general† Discuss with references at least three of Hardy’s short stories Thomas Hardy in his short stories â€Å"The Withered Arm†, â€Å"Tony Kytes, the Arch Deceiver† and the Winters and the Palmleys† presents his readers with a series of unsettling visions of the relations between men and Read More An Essay on The Withered Arm, by Thomas Hardy2241 Words   |  9 PagesThe Withered Arm, by Thomas Hardy ‘The past is a foreign country. They did things differently there.’ ‘The Go Between’ by L.P. Hartley. Thomas Hardy, a Victorian novelist, based his stories on experience of growing up in rural Dorset. Growing up there, he became familiar with the language, customs, practises and stories of the country folk. These stories draw up on his experiences enabling him to write ‘Wessex Tales’. Among many pieces of work is ‘The Withered Arm’. ‘The Withered Arm’