the "christian carnivora" and an unexpected executor...
Week 7 | analyzing week six and getting into our next chapters
Welcome to the Closely Reading book club, where we closely read classic literature together and discuss assigned chapters each week. Right now, we’re reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch. You’re welcome to join us any time!
let’s talk chapters 34-39
I mentioned in a Note earlier today that I found these chapters sleep inducing — moreso than any other section we’ve tackled so far. And it invited me to wonder a few things (as I often wonder when the reading gets tough…)
What am I bringing to this reading experience?
When I feel bowled-over with boredom in a story, I like to ask myself: What’s my mood and energy like today? Am I in the wrong mood for reading this story right now?
What about this is boring for me?
Is it the call of the day, pulling my attention elsewhere? Is it something about how the story is written? Is there a particular character I’m not interested in?
What do I want to do to find a new layer of investment or interest?
If I want to stick it out, what should I do? Try reading aloud? Look back to a previous chapter to remind myself of a thread I want to trace? Try reading at a different time of the day or week?
I grappled with all these questions this week as I struggled through this section. I ultimately decided that I just really wasn’t feeling there was anything new arising in the story — there were, instead, some nuanced developments in some of our key storylines.
We already knew (from last week) that there would be drama with Featherstone’s will — I was so excited to learn what Mary had decided against burning! The arrival of Riggs, and the somewhat anticlimactic announcement of his inheritance, felt a little emotionally numb compared to how much Eliot had created some sensation and mystery around it.
I did love the description of the “Christian Carnivora,” absolutely hilarious and it totally paid off my connection, last week, to the film Knives Out!
We already knew Dorothea was lonely and sad; her interactions with Casaubon this week were just plain depressing. That guy is the worst. I feel like I already knew he wasn’t a great man, and I’ve appreciated the narrator working hard to give us a fair view of him. But we know Dorothea is unhappy; we know Casaubon is a selfish workaholic; we know Ladislaw loves Dorothea. I am not sure what developed here other than just what a yucky situation it seems to be for everyone involved.
We already knew Fred wasn’t making the most of himself and his lack of inheritance has now put him in an uncomfy position of having to make a life for himself (instead of one being handed to him). We kind of already knew that Mary wasn’t sold on Fred as a husband, whether he inherited or not—we’ve had great banter between them and I’ve enjoyed their connection. But we kinda already knew it’d be a while before anything was resolved there; I wasn’t surprised at Fred’s outcome.
We already knew about Rosamond and Lydgate facing some uncertainties about their love; I appreciated some of the developments this week surrounding her family’s wishes for her and the general reception of Lydgate within Middlemarch.
Now, what we are still treading water around seems to be this larger question of Reform in the closed society of Middlemarch. There are people in favor of reform, change, and social upheavals. And there are people staunchly not in favor of any change occurring and things remaining as they are.
It reminds me of something my therapist likes to say:
People tend to desires known pains over unknown pleasures.
That is, given a choice for reforms and change, people are likely to prefer keeping things the way they are simply because familiarity feels safer than the unknown.
I think this concept applies to Middlemarch in a lot of ways.
We’ve seen how Dorothea’s pursuit of an unknown pleasure has brought her unexpected pain and loneliness; we see how Celia’s decision to go with the known safety of an established gentleman has brought her relative happiness and stability.
And now we have Uncle and Ladislaw bringing in a major wave of change to the town by buying and operating a newspaper — covering all kinds of topics, including Reform, and bringing new tensions to the surface.
favorite quote
Each week, I share my favorite quote from our assigned pages. If you had one this week, please share it in the comments!
Here is my favorite from this week:
“‘What is your religion?’ said Dorothea, ‘I mean—not what you know about religion, but the belief that helps you most?”
In early chapters, we learned of Dorothea’s piousness and extremity of religious belief. We saw her worrying about the pleasures of horseback riding and willing herself not be ensnared by a love of shiny beautiful gemstones.
This quote, from the conversation Will and Dorothea have in chapter 39, suggests that something has begun to soften in Dorothea. She is learning not just about Casaubon and their failed connection but about her own desires, needs, and beliefs. I read the scene and felt a bit emotional — the Dorothea I met seven weeks ago, when we began reading the novel — is not the same Dorothea who speaks to Will about beliefs and goodness in chapter 39.
Even if the section as a whole felt rather dull to me, this was a section that really made me feel something. The patience of the character development. The way we aren’t seeing every event Dorothea endures, but do see her altered over time. The obvious affection bubbling between herself and Will. It’s all so good.
what we are reading this week (week 7)
Here we go into week 4! Here’s your assignment
Week 7: Monday, July 7
Read chapters 40-47 this week
You can view the full reading schedule here.
You can pose your questions here (or in the comments of today’s post!) The FAQ will be updated later this week.
let’s keep reading!
Head into the comments to share your thoughts on the reading.
And remember: be nice and do not spoil anything we haven’t read yet!
Some questions to guide you:
What was your favorite sentence? Did you have moment that stood out to you in this week’s chapters? Maybe full scenes you enjoyed or that made an impression on you?
Are you learning anything about your readerly self? What have you learned about yourself in the last 7 weeks? Are you holding onto any new habits moving forward?
thank you!
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I love Mrs Cadwallader's one-liners. This week it was "I wouldn't talk of phlebotomy, I would empty a pot of leeches upon him."
I also liked this one in chapter 37: "we mortals have our divine moments, when love is satisfied in the completeness of the beloved object."
I'm actually enjoying the slow burn!
In tracking several ideas triggered by these chapters, one is tugging at me most forcefully. In those chapters that seem to drag with all the political, religious, and even medical conversations, there is a constant undercurrent of imminent change and reform.
This quote clarifies this situation for me:
“The country gentry of old time lived in a rarefied social air: dotted apart on their stations up the mountain they looked down with imperfect discrimination on the belts of thicker life below. And Dorothea was not at ease in the perspective and chilliness of that height.”
Dorothea was introduced to us designing houses for tenants, impatient with her uncle’s way of “letting things be” on his estate, making "her long all the more for the time when she would be of age and have some command of money for generous schemes.”
In this section, Mr. Brooke becomes not quite so benign a character. It might have been seen as eccentricity when he was described in the first chapter where "it was only safe to say that he would act with benevolent intentions and that he would spend as little money as possible in carrying them out." But it is now clear that he is one of those gentlemen living in "rarified social status". He intends to run for political office espousing liberal policies, for example his opposition to hanging. Others call out his hypocrisy because he spends as little as possible on the well being of his tenant farmers. At the end of chapter 39, Brooke's confrontation with the farmer Dagley takes him by surprise. "He had never been insulted on his own land before, and had been inclined to regard himself as a general favorite." Farmer Dagley demands to be seen. He calls to mind the characters from Yonnondio whose work is unseen and unacknowledged by those who benefit. I wonder if Eliot is going to lean into commentary on the social structure that makes possible the lives of the characters of that upper strata that we've been following. The Garths seem to straddle both worlds. I already like this family and this makes me want even more of their story. I'm also uneasy for them. Mr. Garth's emphasis on doing work well rather than getting paid for it leaves the family balanced on a precipice.
And on a personal note, because I am traveling I've found this part of the story very convicting. I see the ways that the ability to travel for pleasure puts me in "rarified social air" and want to actively try to see and acknowledge the workers who make me comfortable while doing so. Haley, your selection of readings to share with us this year is taking me on quite a reflective journey.