Lit Circle Journal #2

This week our lit circle read up to chapter 18. This middle section of the book by far mitigates the darkness of the beginning. We have further investigated the past of Heathcliff and learned the extent of his evil nurturing. Rather, though, than empathize with his condition, we are nearly as desensitized from his pain as he is from his emotions. When we read of Catherine’s death we learned a frightful truth in his reaction. “I thought the very intensity of his gaze would bring tears to his eyes; but they burned with anguish, they did not melt” –P 155. Although he had lost the one thing he truly cared for in life, he couldn’t express his emotions. The pain had made him stereotypically strong in the masculine perception and allowed him to grow into a man indifferent to pain, but through the eyes of a human he was weak and destroyed. He became even more obsessed with preventing the loss of the little he had. He prayed that Catherine “not rest as long as [he is] living” - P 163. He was so lost that he wished her to “be with [him] always” and “not leave [him] in the abyss where [he] cannot find [her]” – P 163. Our group discussed this and debated the definition of love; is it always healthy, or is it an obsession we obtain with others that we must learn to balance? Is it because Heathcliff’s life is so out of order and lost that his love has taken this misguided form, or something deeper?

            As mentioned earlier, the novel also delves deeper into the divisions of class we assert upon ourselves and the distinction of man and animal. Heathcliff’s wife Isabella often asks “Is he a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he the devil?” P 134. Throughout the novel his apathy leads us to believe that he is more of a fiend than anything else. The reason for this can be found through his treatment of Isabella; “ [she] gave him [her] heart, and he took and pinched it to death, and flung it back to [her]. People feel with their hearts, and since he has destroyed [ours], [we] have not the power to feel for him” P 168.  The cruelty he has shown is short of barbaric, and as human we are hard stricken to forgive. Because of this both the characters and we have lost the ability to sympathize with him, which makes him appear all the more cruel. Our tendencies to label and categorize the world around us make us blind to the existence of multiple aspects to identity; instead of seeing a building with a multitude of varying infrastructures that allow it to exist cohesively, we see a single piece of plywood. Instead of realizing it is capable to fix a single structure and save the larger identity, we see a hole that must be patched. Normally our humanity to drive us attempt to patch it anyway, in Heathcliff however, the hole appears to outdo the value of workable material; he is to hard to patch.

            In conclusion our group decided that pain does bring growth, but in the way a muscle is strengthened. Pain destroys the weaker portions of us and allows our strengths to fill the gaps, however if the pain exceeds the capacity of the person, it takes away our strength as well. If we can find redirection or intervention it is possible to make a recovery over a period of time, if not the pain often consumes us. As if Heathcliff wasn’t enough proof, Hindley lives example; “Grief, and that, together transformed him into a complete hermit. When we have no where to turn, we often resort to the dark recesses of our humanity, we weave a shell of mistrust and hatred and don’t give others the chance to hurt us as we hide behind it.

            I feel our group was particularly effective this week with our discussions. We all contributed and challenged each other’s ideas, which allowed us to understand the essential questions to a deeper extent and see the different ways we interoperated the character’s identities. My goal for next week is to ask questions more closely related to the EQs as apposed to individual quotes and wording as I felt the best understanding came from analyzing the text in relation to a EQ.