Pg. 222
“Cursing these quick retorts of the young gentleman to whom he was so true a friend, Mr. Harthouse disembarrassed himself of that interview with the smallest conceivable amount of ceremony, and debated for the hundredth time what all this could mean? He made only one thing clear. It was, that whether she was in town or out of town, whether he had been premature with her who was so hard to comprehend, or she had lost courage, or they were discovered, or some mischance or mistake, at present incomprehensible, had occurred, he must remain to confront his fortune, whatever it was. The hotel where he was known to live when condemned to that region of blackness, was the stake to which he was tied. As to all the rest—What will be, will be.
Harthouse describes himself as ‘so true a friend,’ to young Thomas Gradgrind, which is not a true statement at all. Harthouse manipulates Thomas, telling him to meet at the train station so that Louisa would be alone and he could attempt to seduce her. This highlights Harthouse’s narcissism; he doesn’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to please him. This is shown later in the passage, when he ruminates on Louisa blowing him off. It doesn’t even cross his mind that she isn’t interested. His explanations are only that she chickened out, they’d been found out, or that she just forgot.”
Paul Salamanca
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ReplyDeleteIn response to your second discussion question: "How do the cahracteristicsw of the characters and their attitudes influence the relationship between Harthouse and Louisa?" Although I agree with your ideas that Harthouse's narcissism affects their relationship (from Paul's review of the passage on page 222), I think Louisa's characteristics also deserve some (if not most) of the blame for its end. For instance, the reason why their relationship ends is that Louisa is married and does not know how to deal with emotions. As she returns to the safety of her father's house, she realizes that she cannot continue her relationship with Harthouse because she has been raised in a world of facts and any possibility of them getting back together disappears.
ReplyDelete-Colleen L.