By George Eliot
★★★★☆
Our title character is a good man and a simple one. He
sees the world in black and white. Work hard, take care of your family, and you
will lead a good life. He falls in love with an impetuous young woman named
Hetty. Unfortunately, Hetty has fallen for the wealthy Captain Arthur
Donnithorne, a man above her station, but one who is still susceptible to the
young woman’s charms.
I loved the character of Dinah. She could be perceived as
a killjoy or prude, but she never cane across to me like that. She is Hetty’s
cousin and is a Methodist preacher who travels the countryside serving in local
communities. Keep in mind, this was at a time when it was unusual for a woman
to travel about on her own, much less to serve as a leader in the church. She
has a fierce strength and independence and doesn’t give into the pleas from her
family to give up her calling.
When she is asked about being a woman preacher, this is
what she says…
“When God makes His presence felt through us, we are like
the burning bush: Moses never took any heed what sort of bush it was—he only
saw the brightness of the Lord.”
****SPOILERS*****
Dinah: When she does finally fall for Adam, she still
doesn’t agree to marry until he declares that he will never stand in the way of
her duties as a preacher and he fully supports her. I was a bit heartbroken
from Adam’s brother Seth, since he’s the one who originally pursued Dinah.
Hetty’s story is so heartbreaking. I can’t imagine
feeling so hopeless and abandoned. In the midst of her panic about her
pregnancy she didn’t trust anyone with her secret and so she was unwilling to
look for other options. Even though her life was spared, her future was still
going to be full of grief and guilt no matter what.
SPOILERS OVER
BOTTOM LINE: I loved it. It reminded me so much of Tess
of the d’Urbervilles and The Return of the Native (both of which were published
decades after this one). It’s an intense look at the desperation of one woman
and the man who loved her. I appreciated the rich depth of characters like
Dinah and Adam. I also liked that Arthur wasn't a one-note cad. He easily could
have been, but instead we see the situation from his point of view as well.
“What destroys us most effectively is not a malign fate
but our own capacity for self-deception and for degrading our own best self.”
“What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to
feel that they are joined for life--to strengthen each other in all labor, to
rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be
one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last
parting?”
“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our
deeds.”
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