Class Discussion Notes: 11.1.2005

• “One of the ideas which he explored is that the grotesque manner enables the artist to approach, through play and irony, matters which he would be unable to confront directly.” (449F)

• stone
• Thomas Hardy’s biography
• studied architecture
• (449B)
• Jude
• as a stone mason—aspiring to move into a part of the elite

• Jude- Arabella
• what distracts you from school?
• (May) nothing
• why’d he drop everything for Arabella?
• (May) school and Arabella should not be mutually exclusive
• (Ben) sacrifice—either the birds suffer or he suffers—if he moves away from school, something will suffer—its all or nothing
• Arabella’s options
• prostitution
• marriage
• spinster

• Arabella vs. Jude- foils of each other
• killing the pig
• experiential vs. scholarly learning
• Jude
• (Brian) had never before dealt with the conniving nature of people
• (Brian) learns a lot from one huge failure: his marriage
• (Brian) he hadn’t had the little experiences that most have to prepare them for an experience like that
• (Bump) do people actually learn from these mistakes? Will Jude learn?
• book learning as a game vs. book learning that you internalize into your life
• Arabella
• (May) not really a learner—just needs someone to take care of her
• (Susan) she’s learned what she needs to learn from the world
• who “wins”?
• (Anush) Arabella—scholar of the body, not a scholar of the mind
• (Susan) can’t always trust your intellect
• (Genevra) Arabella is possible more unified—she acts based on her goals, she had a clear drive, whereas Jude is easily distracted

• Birds

• Jude in the Bible