Post—reading reaction of Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a great works and it is praised as “the most peculiar novel”.
After I read it ,I have to admit that it leaves me a deep impression on me .The fates of the characters in the novel control my pleasure , anger , sorrow and joy .
Firstly, the background that the whole story is set in is quite unique.” Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one-may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge ,by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house ;and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way ,as if craving alms of the sun .” The whole environment made few depressed .Before I read it over, I guess it must be a tragedy.
Then, about the characters and plots .The whole novel tells us the dispute of two generations. One is about Catherine, Edgar and Heathcliff, the other is about
Linton, Hareton and Cathy. Heathcliff and Catherine had been in love since they were very young .But the social tragedy of Heathcliff and Catherine is that
Catherine realized the disparity of their social status, but she fancied she could depend on the wealth of Edgar to “ aid Heathcliff to rise and place him out of her brother’s power”. This is of course impossible, which you can find from when
Heathcliff reappeared, Edgar advised him to sit in the kitchen instead of the parlor .This led to a huge mistake and she fell into a net she knitted herself .However ,after she agreed to marry to Edgar ,she still said plainly that:

“ My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff” s miseries and I watched and felt each from the beginning :my great thought in living is himself .If all else perished ,and he remained ,I should still continue to be ;and if all else remained ,and he were annihilated ,the universe would turn to a mighty stranger :I should not seem a part of it .my love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods :tome will change it ,I’m well aware ,as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary .Nelly, I ma Heathcliff! He is always, always in my mind …”But she betrayed her beloved and herself, so she could only struggle to die in the net knitted by herself .Before she died , Heathcliff scolded her:” Why did you betray your own heart ,Cathy ?…You have killed yourself …misery, and degradation ,and death and nothing that God or saton could inflict would have parted us ,you ,of your own ill ,did it .”This led to the tragedy of Heathcliff ----he revenged at any cost .He was abandoned by the system of private ownership but still used the means of the system to revolt. He had no wealth but he deprived that of others and become a manor owner. When he was young, he was scoffed, abused and degraded to be a servant. Years later, he revenged on his son in the same way with a result that his victory only led to the fail of spirit.
As for the younger generation, I think they were the victims of the dispute of their fathers .Linton, resembling his uncle in person but not in mind, were destroyed by his father. If he was brought up by his uncle, he would grow up to a

kind youth, though weak in body .Unfortunately, he grew to a coward and selfish guy .His affection for her cousin is not as deep as hers .Cathy, a lovely beautifully girl, was looked after and educated carefully by her father .She had a sincere emotion for everybody. She was somewhat willful but she loved her father, Nelly,
Linton and even took Heathcliff as a kind person at the very beginning. Hareton was the biggest victim of the retaliation of Heathcliff, but he admired him so much that “he sat by the corpse all night, weeping in bitter earnest .he pressed its hand, and kissed the sarcastic, savage face that every one else shrank grief which springs naturally from a generous heart, though it be tough as tempered steel.” The love among the three youths is not as complex as that of their fathers .After
Linton’s death, with considerable efforts, the love between Cathy and Hareton made them tie the knot .When Heathcliff Hareton seemed as a personification of his youth, and Hareton’s aspect was the ghost of his immortal love, he wouldn’t raise his hands to strike them .Because the “eye for an eye” way necessarily lead to loneliness and emptiness.
However ,in the terms of that era ,Heathcliff is a pitiable character .For years ,the ghost of Catherine paced back and forth and cried ,waiting for
Heathcliff .At last ,Heathcliff died .They were not alone any more and they walked on the moors and under the rock…Of course it is a fantastic talk ,but just as the author wrote “ I lingered around them ,under that benign sky :watched the moths fluttering among the heath and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind

breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.” Their unyielding and loyal love is an indomitable revolt at the era they lived in .Although their revolt is powerless, their love finally defeated death and rose to a higher level.
I am reading Jane Eyre by charlotte Bronte, who is the sister of Emily Bronte.
There is a large difference between the two great novels .When Charlotte was writing, she said “I love”, “I hate”, “I suffer” with eloquence ,luster and enthusiasm .Her experience ,though intense ,but is still at the same level with ours .However ,in the Wuthering Heights ,there was no “I ” , no governess, no employer. There is love but not the love between men and women .Emily was encouraged by some common conceptions and she said through her characters that “we, all human beings” and “You, ever-present power…”instead of “I love” or
“I hate”.
In terms of the end of the novel, although Emily had tried her best to break away from the conventional way that authors in that era always put a wedding as an end, she still hinted the marriage of Cathy and Hareton as well as the reunion of Heathcliff and Catherine .It’s hard to say it is good or not, but for my part, I like this happy ending which may also be the best ending.