Things are about to get juicy. The thing that struck me most
was a theme the this book seems to be sharing with Middlemarch. In Middlemarch,
Dorothea falls in love with an older man, considered to be her intellectual
superior. Dorothea is too intelligent for the women around her, so she is left
to be an outcast and somewhat lonely. Ruth seems to have the same problem. She
is an intellectual woman who has trouble when it comes to dealing with society.
Now she has met an older, intellectually superior man with whom she is falling
in love. The theme is of these highly intellectual women who give up their
individuality for men. Now, Ruth had already given up part of her individuality
when she got caught with the couple in France and began to change her appearance.
Instead of focusing on the inside and her intellectual work, the study of
Balzac, Ruth becomes consumed with looking good and feeling “in fashion”. She
spends a good part of her money on looking better on the outside while
digressing from herself on the inside. It will be interesting to see how the
relationship between Ruth and this married professor turns out. Will it be like
Dorothea, and Ruth will realize how unhappy she is? Or, will she find true love
with a soon-to-be divorcee?
Then, there is Mrs. Cutler. As much as I would hesitate to
relate Mrs. Cutler to Rosamond of Middlemarch,
I cannot help but think there is a relation between the two. They are both
looking for a way out of an unhappy situation. Where Rosamond was looking for a
man who can show her the life she wants, Mrs. Cutler is looking for a man who
can give her freedom away from the death pit she has been living in. Both women
think they need a man to solve their problems although Mrs. Cutler is a woman
of independent means who merely needs to find a position in a different
household.
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