Victorians! discussion

Welcome to our second Read of 2020, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy!

Those who joined the previous Read of Jude the Obscure by the same author, may find a comparison of the two books of particular interest since marriage laws play a part in both. Beyond that, I have found Casterbridge to be a fairly quick & accessible read, so those new to Hardy May find thus a good place to start.

Ch. 1-4
In an unusual opening scene, we meet Michael Henchard, his wife, and infant daughter, Elizabeth-Jane traveling towards the town of Weldon-Priors and looking for both work and shelter. The young family stops at the local fair and, after drinking enough to make him quarrelsome, young Henchard offers up his wife to the highest bidder. A sailor unknown to the locals steps up and makes an offer, taking both wife and child with him after ascertaining that Susan Henchard is “willing.”

Upon waking the next morning, Michael remembers what he has done, pledges on a bible to give up alcohol for 21 years, and searches several months for his wife and child, only to find they have emigrated with the sailor. Michael gives up jus search and heads for Casterbridge.

Many years later, Susan Henchard returns to the road near Weydon-Priors with her 18 year-old daughter, to seek information about Michael, who has been described only as a relative who might help them. Both are wearing black, since the sailor, Richard Newson, has been lost at sea. Elizabeth-Jane has been raised to believe her parents are Susan and Richard Newson. Before long Susan discovers that Michael has left word that if anyone comes asking, they will find him in Casterbridge.

When they arrive in Casterbridge, they learn that there is some contention over the bread in town. And we see that Susan is cautious. She is unwilling to connect themselves to Michael Henchard until she learns something more about what he has been doing since last she saw him.

1) What do you think of the opening? How has Hardy succeeded in capturing the reader’s attention?

2) What is your sense of Susan Henchard/Newson in these first chapters?

3) Michael spends months searching for the wife & child he sold to the highest bidder. What is your sense of his motivation? Is he truly contrite or motivated by pride? What about the decision to swear off alcohol?

That should get us started. :)
A summary & questions for chapters 5-8 are forthcoming.

Updated 2/25
Ch. 5-8
Susan and Elizabeth-Jane are drawn to a gathering at the Kings Arms Inn, where they learn that Michael has become Mayor & primary distributor of grain. (Like the “grown” wheat mentioned previously.) Susan also learns of Michael’s oath of temperance, the character of Donald Farfrae is introduced.

The women go to the Three Mariners Inn, and E-J contracts to work at the inn to pay for their accommodations. The women overhear a conversation between Henchard and Farfrae in which we learn more about the Scotsman, including the fact that he can restore the tainted wheat and, perhaps, some of Henchard’s reputation. The outsider, Farfrae endears himself to the other guests through his singing & E-J seems to feel a kinship with the stranger destined for America.

4) What are your thoughts on the success Michael has achieved over the last 18 years? What might this mean for Susan and Elizabeth-Jane?

5) How might their appearance affect Michael’s reputation?

6) Do we have any indication that the damaged wheat is the result of some action on Michael’s part? Is this another example of him making a mistake in haste and regretting it at leisure?

7) What do you make of the exchange between Michael and the Scotsman?

8) What are your thoughts on Elizabeth-Jane and Donald Farfrae?

I wonder if you are open to different interpretations of this book. Not saying that there is only one our that only one is right, but i have heard that this book is a political allegory about England and America (colonies). Would you allow my notes on this in your discussion? I don't ask for agreement but, curiosity.

What do you think of the opening? How has Hardy succeeded in capturing the reader’s attention? Michael Henchard has his arm through a basket and is looking at a ballad. He is ignoring his wife.
Bread Basket
https://study.com/academy/answer/what...
National Anthem
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...
American colony
(Speaking of Susan Henchard ) one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except, perhaps, fair play. The first phase was the work of Nature, the second probably of civilization.

Interesting, if unexpected, interpretation, Cosmic. Do you see Michael as representing England & Susan, the American colonies? To what purpose do you think Hardy would have embedded allegory into this novel?

Renee wrote: "Interesting, if unexpected, interpretation, Cosmic. Do you see Michael as representing England & Susan, the American colonies? To what purpose do you think Hardy would have embedded allegory into t..."

Yes, I see Michael as representing England and Susan as American Colonies....and the sailor as https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_....

Allegory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory

I think allegories can be a unique way to cloak truth! History helps us see where we have been and lets us know where we are and possibly we can see where we are going. Those that control it through the printing press, can distort our view of the world. Perhaps in Hardy's day he was recording a history of the relationship of America and England that isn't what was taught in school but might be closer to the truth.

Henchard: If we look at England as a mother hen with all her colonies.

When they go in the Frumenty tent instead of the tent with the red flags, he is being served rum under the table, into his bowl of porridge. Rum is made from sugar cane and that doesn't grow in England but is an import. Who would be importing it from the colonies where sugar cane was grown?, but the https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_...

I think that when a writer impregnate his book with allegory it is more powerful story. Besides he could get it published and get past the sensors.

I guess in reading the book this way you can discover for yourself what the purpose is. I don't believe all books or his books are allegories, but i believe this one is.

Hello all, I’d love to join in with The MofC, I sat out Jude as I’d read it last year.

WHAT IS YOUR SENSE OF SUSAN HENCHARD/NEWSON?...she’s certainly spoken of well by the people in the furmity tent, and Michael Henchard feels her loss for one reason or another. She’s also described by Henchard/the narrator as having “extreme simplicity” of intellect, and that this explains her acceptance of the pseudo-transfer to Newson.

It’s been a long time since I read a Hardy novel, but I am struck by the richness and depth of the language. I found myself looking up words regularly, such as furmity. Not sure if that word has completely dropped out of usage in England, but it was new to me. I love reading about the rural customs of Hardy’s Wessex—he really does render a complete world that is detailed.

I like the construction of the opening two chapters—the young family going to the fair, and then the mother and daughter returning and finding the same temptress lacing the furmity. She helped the Michael to drunkeness in Ch 1, and helped Susan and E-J find him in Ch 2.

In a way, it’s odd that Susan would seek Michael at this point in her life. He abandoned/sold her once—now that she is without her sailor, why seek him out, especially since she assumes he’s still a lout. They have enough money to travel and E-J is a bright, capable girl, which means they do have some resources.

I like Donald Farfrae, and I assume he doesn’t travel but stays put and figures in the story.

I haven’t read Jude, but I have read Middlemarch many times, and when I’ve thought about Mayor of Casterbridge, what I know about the story, not having read it before, I always think of Mr. Bulstrode and his secret early dubious actions that haunt him later in life.

That’s an interesting connection, Jane. I had similar thoughts about the character of Jean Valjean from Les Miserables, who essentially changes his life through hard work & clean living, rising to become a the mayor of Montreuil. Of course, Valjean has a different kind of past, but still strives to overcome an indiscretion in his past. Hugo’s novel was published almost 20 years prior and I wonder if it was read by &/or influenced Hardy in the creation of Michael Henchard.

Dee- I wonder if Susan is thinking more about how Michael might help/support his daughter, Elizabeth-Jane. At 18, she may be in need of a dowry. Or at least the support of a father. I guess we will see as the novel progresses.

Hi Renee, I think your reply might have been meant for Jane but I fully agree, Mrs and Miss Newson don’t have enough money, they’re in a “strait-waistcoat of poverty” and the “strictest economy was indispensable”. Elizabeth Jane is very keen to better herself, I wonder how it will work out for her, you can never tell with Hardy.

Yes. I just reread & it was a reply to Jane.

This one is definitely to you... :D
No, you never can tell with Hardy!

Hi, All. I’ve updated the opening summary to include chapters 5-8 and added a few more questions, just to keep the conversation rolling.

Chapters 5-8. I haven’t been reading for allegory as yet, Cosmic, but we do have an image now of America as the place to go if you want any “of the prizes of life”, as Farfrae puts it. We also have mention, on the other hand, of Botany Bay - NOT a good colony to have to visit, you’d be a convict. It does flag-up (really no pun intended!) colonialism and imperialism.

I wonder what is going to change Farfrae’s mind about going to America. Hmm...Henchard? Elizabeth-Jane...?

Maybe a combination?

I am back into reading the book again.
I was thinking about the names of the Inns and the meanings that might be attached to them. Will write more soon!

Furmity is sometimes called frumenty. I'd heard of it before because we'd made it from this recipe. I see at the bottom that it mentions _The Mayor of Casterbridge_!

http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/gr...

I haven´t read Hardy in a while, and I´m glad to join in.

Just finished the first 8 chapters, and loved the description of nature in the beginning. The story of Michael and Susan not even looking at eachother ends with him selling his wife, who´s even glad to be able to leave him, even if she´s described as being very naive. At this point I already had the impression of the story being finished.

I didn´t quite believe that Michael could keep to his oath, as he wasn´t really a drunkard, but near to it. I´m not sure why he looks for his wife, and why he´s so well looked upon in his position - or why he even got it. Wonder if he gets back to drinking after the promised 21 years of absence.

Susan is obviously poor, and - after the "drowning" of Newson - is looking not only for a provider, but also for someone to tell her what to do; at least that was my impression. Her daughter seems to turn out well, and is more self-conscious than her, and has more sense for propriety.

I can well imagine that Farfrae will not go abroad, and remain mostly because of Elizabeth-Jane, and perhaps also because of Henchard. I didn´t quite understand the discussion between the two men at the hotel - obviously the Scotsman gave Henchard some good crop, but how he came to know him, and if there was a trick of the latter about the corn I cannot decide.

I have read this book once as a political allegory, but although it did make sense to me i realized there were things that i haven't yet put together. I was excited that you are reading this because i wanted to go back and look more in-depth at what Hardy knew and was trying to convey.

Jane you mentioned the richness of Hardy's language in this book. I think this is so true! I also looked up https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frumenty.

After hearing that Susan and E-J go back to the same fair i found it had changed a lot in 18 years.

One of the things that i noticed was what was being offered in the tent with the red flag was Beer, Ale, and Cider, all grain and fruit based and probably local.
When Susan and E-J attend the meeting they have three spirits offered Sherry, Port and Rum. These were all imported.
It was the Rum that intoxicated M-Henchard and influenced him to sell his wife and child for five banknotes.
The five banknotes were interesting to me and i went on a wild goose chase looking at how or where they may have come from.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknote

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK...
Even the comments here are interesting

Still didn't find enough about how America or Canada was involved, because we know that Susan went to Canada. So i found this interesting:

https://people.howstuffworks.com/cult...


I at first thought that Susan represents America before the American Revolution and her child afterwards. I wonder if that will still be my opinion?


Now Farfare is described as follows:
"a young man of remarkably pleasant aspect—who carried in his hand a carpet-bag of the smart floral pattern prevalent in such articles at that time."

So i had to look up carpet-bagger.

"In general, the term “carpetbagger” refers to a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel (or carpetbag) of possessions, and who attempts to profit from or gain control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants. After 1865, a number of northerners moved to the South to purchase land, lease plantations or partner with down-and-out planters in the hopes of making money from cotton. At first they were welcomed, as southerners saw the need for northern capital and investment to get the devastated region back on its feet. They later became an object of much scorn, as many southerners saw them as low-class and opportunistic newcomers seeking to get rich on their misfortune."
https://www.history.com/topics/americ...

It is interesting how this word is used in the UK:
In general, the term “carpetbagger” refers to a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel (or carpetbag) of possessions, and who attempts to profit from or gain control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants. After 1865, a number of northerners moved to the South to purchase land, lease plantations or partner with down-and-out planters in the hopes of making money from cotton. At first they were welcomed, as southerners saw the need for northern capital and investment to get the devastated region back on its feet. They later became an object of much scorn, as many southerners saw them as low-class and opportunistic newcomers seeking to get rich on their misfortune.
In the United Kingdom at the end of the 20th century, carpetbagger developed another meaning: in British English it refers to people who join a mutual organization, such as a building society, in order to force it to demutualize, that is, to convert into a joint stock company. Such individuals are seeking personal financial gain through such actions.[3]


So i wonder what kind of proposal he made to Mr. Henchard?
Also what did you think of how Henchard treated the other guy that was promised an interview, but dismissed .

I often find Hardy’s novels give a detailed and fascinating glimpse into not only a different time, but also place and social strata. Of course, I have an additional sense of novelty/difference as I read from the US in the 21st century.

"What about the bad bread, Mr Mayor?"

What makes bad bread?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...

https://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wi...

This sight talks about The East India Trade company and its relationship to America. This may also give us a hint for the name of Elizabeth-Jane.

"The Virginia Company was the first British colonial enterprise in North America, following on the naming of that state after the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. The Virginia Company founded the colonial port of Jamestown on Chesapeake Bay, now a Colonial Heritage site."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliza...

Elizabeth 1 granted the first charter to East India Company:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...

And here I think is Jane:

https://www.samaa.tv/culture/2020/02/...

https://books.google.com/books/about/...

Cosmic-
I love the article on modern day bread crisis. What a great connection! I like a variety of bread types but I’ve never baked any so I really have no idea what all goes into making it. Or growing the grains. Or the associated markets. Thank you for sharing links to all your great research!

Chapter 5 starts with a band playing The Roast Beef of Old England.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTH5g...

1:35 minutes in is about Queen Elizabeth 1

sows nuzzling for acorns
https://www.farmersweekly.co.za/anima...
I think the point of this reference is that these were global customs. Shows these men were part of the global economy. Also what they drank Port, Sherry, and rum (see comment 19.)
grog: NOUN spirits (originally rum) mixed with water.
They really didn't care about the locals, and found Henchard's swindler story funny.
Tis that growed out that ye could a'most call it malt, and there's a list at bottom o' the loaf as thick as the sole of one's shoe."

Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as "malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.[1
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt

"You must bear in mind that the weather just at the harvest of that corn was worse than we have known it for years."
Most likely this meant the what sat in the field, it rained and the wheat sprouted.

Chapter 6
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott...
Scottish Americans

Large-scale emigration from Scotland to America began in the 1700s, accelerating after the Jacobite rising of 1745, the resulting breakup of the clan structures, and the Highland Clearances. Displaced Scots went in search of a better life and settled in the thirteen colonies, initially around South Carolina and Virginia, and then further in successive generations.

Snows in Scotland in the Summer. I didn't know about this before reading it in this book. So i wondered how they were doing now.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/snowpat...

Chapter 8
I enjoyed hearing about the ballads sung by Donald Farfrae . I tried to find and research the ones mentioned. On my journey i came across this history of the Scott - Irish and their journey to America. They didn't take much but their songs were a way to bring and preserve their heritage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHOyY...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_...

One of my favorite quotes in chapter 6 is:

The kings arms
At length he (Henchard) went back to the door of the dining-room, paused, and found that the songs, toasts, and conversation were proceeding quite satisfactorily without his presence.

To me this was his job. He was there as a politician to make sure everyone was politically correct.

And who was the Everyone? The Corporation or also know as The Company and all the business men and old money. They didn't really get along, except they were lubricated with liquors imported by The Company.

"The Corporation, private residents, and major and minor tradesmen had, in fact, gone in for comforting beverages to such an extent that they had quite forgotten, not only the Mayor, but all those vast, political, religious, and social differences which they felt necessary to maintain in the daytime, and which separated them like iron grills."

Might these entities sell their interest like Henchard sold his wife?


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_...
The Corporation? Or better known as The Company.
The East India Company (EIC), also known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), East India Trading Company (EITC), or the British East India Company, and informally known as John Company,[2] Company Bahadur,[3] or simply The Company, was an English and later British joint-stock company.[4] It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with Mughal India and the East Indies, and later with Qing China. The company ended up seizing control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia, and colonised Hong Kong after the First Opium War.

Then i started thinking about the Mayor and all the different political positions, and i was reminded of something i learned from the singer Prince in an interview. He said, "Did you know that George Washington was not our first president?"

So who was the first president? And what was his connection to the East India company?

In writing this, i was reminded that the revolutionary war was not just fought over tea and taxation without representation. I remember my history teacher telling us that the revolutionary war was fought because Washington and Jefferson had land interest in the Ohio Valley and Britain was planning to give this to France.

So keep that in mind....and i will try to find it.
Plus i have some things to say about the first president.

The first president of the US was John Hanson:

His picture
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_...

https://archive.org/stream/strangesto...

JOHN HANSON AND OXON HILL MANOR John Hanson, first President of the United States, was born at Mulberry Grove, Charles County, Maryland, on April 3, 1715, Old Style, or April 14, 1715, according to the New Style calendar adopted by Great Britain and her American colonies in 1752. He died on November 15, 1783 at Oxon Hill Manor, Prince George's County, the Maryland estate of his nephew, Thomas Hawkins Hanson, where he was visiting at the time.

Oxon Hill Manor from 1685 to 1810 was the ancestral seat of the aristo- cratic Addison family which for generations played a leading role in South- ern Maryland life. The original land, which later became the hub of the manor, was a colonial grant to Col. John Addison. From the mid-18th century the manor has been a Maryland landmark and, since the organiza- tion of the District of Columbia, one of the most notable and handsomest estates in the vicinity of Washington.

There is a tie between Oxon Hill Manor and the Old World unequalled, so far as we know, by any other historic shrine in America
Col. Addison, before he came to America, fought for King Charles I in England's 17th century Civil War. His brother, the Dean of Lichfield, was the father of Joseph Addison,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josep...

famous English essayist, author of The Spectator papers and creator of Sir Roger de Coverley. What's more, his older brother was the Rev. Anthony Addison, chaplain to John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, the victor at Blenheim and direct-in-line ancestor of Winston Churchill, Britain's leader in World War II.

Col. Addison was also the uncle of Gulston Addison, long in the service of the East India Company and governor of Madras, another son of Lancelot Addison. Lord Macaulay, in his essay, The Life and Writings of Addision, mentions how Joseph Addison ''inherited the fortune of a brother who died governor of Madras." It was this fortune that enabled the gifted writer of the cele- brated Anglo-American family to espouse the Countess Dowager of War- wick, the lady of illustrious Holland House in Kensington. 11 The London Fire of 1666 While still residing in England. Col. Addison engaged in shipping as a ''merchant adventurer." All but wiped out financially by the great London fire of 1666. he. then 38. took the remainder of his fortune and sailed to Maryland. This was in 1667. He became prominent in Maryland affairs, served in the Indian wars as a colonel and was a leader of the Protestant Rebellion in Maryland. Marrying as he was nearing 50. he had one son. Col. Thomas Addison. While on a business trip. Col. John Addison died in London in 1706. He had returned numerous times to England on business, having built up with the mother country a considerable import -export trade in American tobacco and furs and such British trade goods as brandy, firearms and cloth.


Hansonland: 1781 and
Why was John Hanson elected first President?
It was partly in recogni- tion of his impressive and untiring services during the Revolution. But, more importantly, because, as one of Maryland's elder statesmen, he was her chief spokesman, both back home in Maryland and on the floor of the Continental Congress, for the doctrine that the undeveloped western lands, beginning with the valuable Northwest Territory, should be the republic's first public domain. Truly, the Old Northwest of history, song and story, north of the Ohio River — today comprising the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and almost a third of Minnesota — may well be called Hanson- land.

Maryland, the lone non-signer of Constitution I, refused to complete the first federal union until this domain was assured the United States of America. Only the ratifying signatures of John Hanson and Daniel Carroll, his Maryland colleague in Congress, made the union, so long delayed, a reality.
Interest in Oxon Hill Manor and Mulberry Grove is certain to mount as the John Hanson story becomes better known.

And let us remind our readers that November 5, 1956 will be the 175th anniversary of John Hanson's election as first President, a red-letler date bound to stimulate further curiosity in "The President We Forgot," as Seymour Wemyss Smith used to term John Hanson so graphically.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_F...

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...

In case you were taught that the Revolutionary war was about Taxation without Representation, think again,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisk...

Great piece of trivia on John Hanson! I can’t wait to share that!