College Idealism: Jude the Obscure Part 1 (11.1.2005)

Reading Jude the Obscure, I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy Thomas Hardy’s writing. He uses language and symbolism to mirror the common feelings many of us feel in our explorations of the world.

Maybe it is just me, but I think we’ve been reading quite a bit about birds lately. Joyce uses birds to mirror Stephen’s escape from poverty, while Hardy uses birds to relate to the reluctance of entering the world. In the beginning of the novel, as Jude completes his job of scaring birds away, he reflects on their similarities to him. One day at work,

“He sounded the clacker till his arm ached, and at length his heart grew sympathetic with the birds’ thwarted desires. They seemed, like himself, to be living in a world which did not want them. Why should he frighten them away? They took upon them more and more the aspect of gentle friends and pensioners—the only friends he could claim as being in the least degree interested in him, for his aunt had often told him that she was not. He ceased his rattling, and they alighted anew” (9).

Similar to Jude’s dislike and discontent with the world that surrounds him which causes him to view his daily ventures reluctantly, the birds see the reality of their world as a fearful prospect. Just as Jude undesiringly enters the world each day, the birds don’t wish to fly into their world. Their feelings mirror those of Stephen. Jude recognizes this parallel, reflecting that “a magic thread of fellow-feeling united his own life with theirs. Puny and sorry as those lives were, they much resembled his own” (9). I, too, felt reluctance in going to college and entering the “real world”. Later in this section, Jude is forced to slaughter a pig. He isn’t looking forward to doing this, feeling that he is killing his own because he has raised the pig. Reluctantly,

“he went out to the sty, shoveled away the snow for the space of a couple yards or more, and placed the stool in front, with the knives and ropes at hand. A robin peered down at the preparations from the nearest tree, and, not liking the sinister look of the scene, flew away, though hungry” (58).

The birds’ actions mirror those that Jude would like to take. Although Jude would like not to not slaughter the pig, he feels the outside pressure of his wife. Unlike the birds who feel no connection to anything in their choices, Jude is being held down by his wife. This recognition is necessary in understanding Jude’s dislike of the marriage.

This understanding of Jude’s contempt with his marriage brings up some interesting questions about his priorities. When Jude met Arabella, he immediately forgot about his studies and goals. Stephen proves to be easily distracted. By the end of this section, the distraction of Arabella has been virtually eliminated. Jude regains his passion for learning, but will new distractions arise? Will Jude continuously give himself up easily to new passions and infatuations?

My Discussion Board Responses

Rachel Sibley

I think the connection you make with the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is interesting—it’s always neat to bring in other pieces of literature to understand the common themes.

While I agree with you that Jude feels withdrawn and is a weak character, I can’t help but question the assumption that he doesn’t think he will amount to anything. I think Jude recognizes the reality that many people do not advance far from his position, but he also realizes that with work, he can go far. For example, after Jude is punished for feeding the birds the narrator recognizes Jude’s acknowledgement that he can change his situation by commenting, “The man pointed north-eastward, in the very direction where lay that held in which Jude had so disgraced himself. There was something unpleasant about the coincidence for the moment, but the fearsomeness of this fact rather increased his curiosity about the city” (13). Jude’s recognition of his past failure pushes his curiosity in his path to become more accomplished.

Like you said, Jude is a weak character in that he allows one aspiration to overtake his entire self. While this might be viewed as a weakness when the passion shifts from intellectual pursuits to an obsession with love, is the assumption about his weakness really subjective? If Jude was consumed entirely with intellect or entire with serving others, would we then consider him a worthwhile and inspiring character? Does this say something about society’s expectations?

Thomas Lopez

Your entry brings up an interesting point about the depiction of discovery learning or learning through experience. While Jude believes he is growing up, he never really changes because he hasn’t gone through the process of learning through experience and discovery. He never really internalizes any lessons. On the other hand, Arabella does learn through experience. She went out into the world and learned about herself and other through her experiences. Otherwise, she would have never recognizes the she needed to trick Jude into marrying her. You question Hardy’s depiction of Arabella- she is perceived as being a negative character. She, however, ultimately triumphs in tricking Jude into marrying her. Arabella’s learning through experience allows her to prevail over the naïve Jude who never really grows up. This marriage, however, is the first time Jude learns of his shortcomings, and, interestingly enough, it is also the first time he has really experienced a lesson. At the very least, Hardy is providing a comment on the effectiveness of experience in growing and learning.

Mita Lakhia

I couldn’t agree with you more about Jude’s obsession and idealization of Christminister. I think Hardly depicts this well when he compares Jude’s infatuation to an infatuation with a girl, commenting that “he was getting so romantically attached to Christminister that, like a young lover alluding to his mistress, he felt bashful at mentioning its name again” (18). I think this description provides critical insight into Jude’s character. Not only is he a boy obsessed with a place, but he is also a boy who is easily infatuated and obsessed with new discoveries, whether it is a girl or intellect.

I also think your comment about uncertainty in college is interesting. I’m sure most of us felt like we were unprepared for college, similar to how Jude feels he is unprepared for learning. This feeling also mirrors Hardy’s uncertainty with religion when he is in London. According to his biography, his uncertainty causes him to lose religious faith, similar to how our uncertainty sometimes causes us to lose motivation.

Sharon Liao

I, too, found Jude’s tendency to be distracted an interesting factor in prediction the remainder of the novel. If Jude continues to be this easily obsessed with certain people or aspirations, will he ever stay on track long enough to get anything done? On one hand, I have hope that he will learn from his mistakes, but given his difficulty with growing up, I’m not so sure. Will Jude learn with each mistake he makes? Does he now know to not become completely infatuated with a girl? But, even if he does learn, how many more mistakes does he have to learn from? How many distractions and infatuations will he find before he settles on one path? But then again, is this really going to be an issue? Or are we just overreacting? Is Arabella just a simple distraction that offers no insight into the remainder of the book? I guess only time will tell, but it will be interesting to see how this possible foreshadowing will play out in the rest of the novel.