Wednesday, October 29, 2008
So You Say I Have a Chance?
A belief in determinism engenders a lack of chance in life. Things happen for a reason to determinists. There are no coincidences or random occurrences. We just finished reading Hardy’s poem, “Hap,” which personifies the idea of Chance. The character rails against god (line 1) and Fate (Casualty, line 11) who are making his life miserable. Find some examples of “chance” or happenstance that occur in Jude the Obscure. Post them here for all to see.
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6 comments:
Now I may be incorrect in my assessment of the text, but I believe that a great example of chance is Jude's marriage to Arabella. Jude sees Christminster as something out of his reach, unobtainable if you will, and yet in Arabella he sees something that is within his reach and is instantly gratifying. However with the instant gratification comes with a price; as Arabella wishes to marry Jude, but Jude speaks of leaving. Arabella then manipulates the situation by telling Jude that she is pregnant, thereby trapping him a marriage -- his youthful mistake that he feels he must live with.
Being one of the examples i have seen thus far in Jude, i will have to agree with Jerry 100%. Jude sees two things at the beginning of the book, one unobtainable and the other close within his reach with a better chance that it can be his. The unobtainable being Christminster and the obtainable being Arabella. Jude not willing to take the time to patience to attempt to get something less obtainable, decides to take the easy way out and marry Arabella. Which he soon realizes was a horrible mistake.
TYPO: "TIME TO PATIENCE" SHOULD BE "TIME AND PATIENCE"
I agree with jerry's interpretation of chance occurring in the book.
Jude has the chance to do his personal studies in his free time while apprenticing as a stonemason, that chance could lead to a better path to Christminster.
However, Arabella sees a chance to find a husband. Jude's plans have no room for marriage to a "handsome country wench".
I feel fate and chance play key roles when Arabella thinks she is pregnant, therefore forcing Jude to marry her, putting a setback on his already distant dreams of Chrisminster, only to find out that she isn't pregnant after all.
I think alot of what Jude is about is how fate ultimately determines where somone will end up, just as the ancient greeks believed. You did not choose how you would ultimately end life, just how you got there. Jude makes alot of choices, to study and work hard for the chance at higher education, but he is rejected. He then is given new choices, Arabella or Sue. And though he constantly struggles to find his way to Sue, Arabella keeps causing a rift in his journey. Jude and Sue finally have a seperate life, and Arabella leaves her child with them,and even weirder twist of fate when you consider what "little father time" had in store. And when Jude and Sue try to achieve a family, his children are murdered by his child from Arabella. This causes Jude to eventually end up with her after Sue runs back to her old teacher husband. It did not matter what choices Jude made along the way, he was going to end up with Arabella all along, it was not chance that caused "Little Father Time" to take the children's lives.
An interesting connection which goes along with the ideas of fate and chance within Thomas Hardy is the paralel between Little Jude and Owen Meany. They both seem to be wise beyond their years in many things, ecspecially theological. Even Little Jude's nickname is "Little Father Time" implying he has the wisdom of an old man. Both seem to be used as "instuments of God" as Owen would put it, however Little Jude is a little more direct. Owen takes the life of John's mother on accident, and Little Jude takes the life of his siblings. Gruesome, yet clearly connections can be seen. In a way they both accept their own impending doom and death my sacrificing themselves, Owen as a hero, and Little Jude committing suicide. It would seem these events were fated to happen. It is no wonder however that Owen tended to focus on Tess as a comparison to himself instead of Little Jude because of how different their actual tasks seemed to be. On one hand you have Owen saving children from an explosion, and on the other hand you havd "Little Father Time" hanging children. Even characters like Owen who admired Hardy's insight chose to shy away from such pessimistic views on fate.
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