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wuthering heights + ATSS essay plans
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these helped me get an A* this year. Very thorough and detailed with alternative ideas and specific contextual links
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SettingP1: In both novels setting is similarly used to juxtapose and differentiate between the civilised and the
uncivilised and whilst this is presented in a more literal sense between the contrasting locations of
‘wuthering heights’ and ‘thrushcross grange’ in Bronte's novel, Hossini uses the differences in cultural
upbringing between Mariam and Laila to achieve this same intent.
Critics have argued that the presentation of two women with two different identities is Central to
hoisini's presentation of a complex, multidimensional and uncliched view of Afghan women and their
lives.
When writing his novel Hosseini decided to write a “narrative that demanded not one but two central
characters, both of them women” and he explained in his postscript that his focus is on “the inner lives
of two struggling Afghan women”.
Perhaps it could be argued that women's ability to stand up against injustice and feel empowered to
exert a feminine power comes from their geographical background.
Culturally there has always been a geographical distinction between the lifestyles of women in the
capital and those in rural Communities. Hossini explains how Kabul had been faintly recognised as “a
hub for female autonomy” whereas rural Afghanistan has been traditionally a “patriarchal tribal region
where men have decided the fates of women”.
This idea of Kabul introducing some sort of freedom for women is emphasised when Laila tells
Rasheed “This is Kabul. Women here used to practise law and medicine, they held office in the
government”.
This contrasts greatly to the Landscape inhabited by Mariam where she is forced to internalise her
mother's message that “it's (their) lot in life” and how “women like (them) endure”.
Perhaps it's almost ironic how Mariam lived in a hut positioned outside of the Society of Herat, as this
alienated geographical position reflects her alienated position as an outsider in society, due to her
illegitimacy and belittling title of a “harami”. This Harami identity is embedded into her existence
throughout the narrative and the word is used to inflict deep psychological damage and pain upon her
by others. For example, Jalil casts her out, Rasheed continuously reminds her of her social inferiority
and Nana's reference to her as a ‘weed’ serves as a daunting inner monologue in her head which
reminds her of her misfortune and forces her to accept her shameful existence.
As it is common to be the child of unmarried parents in modern western society, it is likely that Hossini
chose to not use the English term bastard but instead use the term ‘harami’ to keep the gravity of the
experience unique to its context. He crafts his narrative using embedded Farsi to give the Western
reader a particular sense of otherness, as he uses language that we do not understand and which
makes us pause. This ultimately represents our gaps in understanding about issues against women in
these societies.
The writer evokes a sense of Pathos as Mariams' aspirations to acquire an education and be
accepted by her father's family are Cruelly stripped away from her, largely due to her socially
disadvantaged illegitimacy. Unlike Laila who grows up in a liberal, educated household Mariam is
deprived of this privilege. She “Pictured herself in a classroom with other girls her age” and “longed to
put a ruler on a page and draw important looking Lines”.
The choice of verbs “pictured” and “longed” emphasises this idea of dreaming and envisioning
something that she will never achieve.
Perhaps ‘longing ‘has a double entendre, in that it could arguably reflect her emotional pain as she
aches to not have such an opportunity. Therefore, the differences in upbringing and access to different
opportunities juxtapose the two female protagonists defining one as the epitome of civilisation and
refinement and the other as the stark opposite.
This is equally demonstrated in Wuthering heights as whilst Thrushcross grange embodies the refined
nature of civilisation and wealth, WH symbolises the raw nature of the uncultivated and these
differences are also epitomised by the two female protagonists; Cathy and isabella.
In childhood, Catherine is presented as wishing to “escape” from the house and “ramble on the moors'
' with the verb having connotations of freedom and childlike-pleasure. Cathy and Heathcliff “play
, together in the fields'' again suggesting this explosion of innocent childish joy.
This is sharply contrasted to the vicious and rather aggressive play of the linton's in their supposedly
heavenlike home of thrushcross Grange, as Isabella is described to be “screaming at the further end
of the room, shrieking as if witches were running red hot needles into her”. Despite this chaotic
behaviour of Isabella, which seems rather incongruous to the calm setting, it is Catherine who is
labelled as a “Savage”.
Perhaps through this, Bronte is able to criticise conventional Society as something as innocent as an
outdoor connection with nature, is seen as socially unacceptable.
Perhaps the continuous structural transition in setting between the grange and the heights throughout
the narrative, serves to Symbolise Catherine's conflict between her desire for the natural and the wild
and the demands of a society that requires these to be repressed. Catherine is constantly forced to
choose between being a “wild half Savage” and “free Spirit”, symbolised by her roaming on the moors
and being an oppressed woman, accepted by Society - symbolised by thrushcross Grange and her
marriage to Edgar.
Bronte is a Victorian writer who was heavily inspired by Byron and thus this conflict between the
civilised and the uncivilised and nature versus refinement, is not surprising when understood through
a romantic perspective.
The revolutionary impulses of Catherine and Heathcliff, like many romantic figures throughout
literature, deliberately rebel against social norms.This is in parallel to Bronte herself who was a
woman who lived and wrote on an edge of society transgressing social Expectations by avoiding
marriage and writing for a living at a time when female writers and independent women were unheard
of.
P2: Bronte's novel juxtaposes Hossinis novel in the sense that setting is a source of comfort and relief
in WH but utter distress in ATSS.
In volume 2 chapter 1, bronte portrays Cathy to be pondering death and looking out to nature as if she
is seeking some sort of spiritual alleviation as she sits in a “loose white dress, with a light shawl over
her shoulders in the recess of an open window”.
Throughout the novel, Bronte uses ‘windows’ as symbols of separation and dissociation, often
segregating nature from civilisation.
The fact that the window is ‘open’ perhaps symbolises a sense of freedom with no ‘barriers’ almost as
if the natural setting is calling her and she cannot resist connecting to the moors.
The calm nature and silence of the wind parallels her meditative state ultimately highlighting her
submission to her fate.
The reader shares catherines perspective in seeing the setting around her as a living, vitalising force
which offers a refuge from the constraints of civilization as the white imagery reinforces this ‘dreamy
and melancholy softness’ which glorifies the connection to the setting as an emotional cathartic
release.
This idea of the natural setting being ‘organic’ rather than ‘mechanical’ is significant as this feeds into
one of the major tropes of romanticism; the glorification of nature in its raw state. Bronte herself was
heavily inspired by the works of the romantic wordsworth, having read and followed many of his works
from a young age and thus this infusion of romantic ideologies is not surprising for a contemporary or
modern reader.
Bronte further illustrates the idea of setting as a source of comfort as it is depicted to be one of the
only possibilities of freedom from societal social restraints.
Nelly explains how ‘one of their chief amusements (was) to run away to the moors’ and how ‘they
forgot everything the minute they were together again’.
The moors become Cathy's safe haven where she flees to avoid the suffocating restrictions of society
and is able to express her “high water mark spirits” without criticism from the victorian patriarchy.
The refugee which this offers her becomes idyllic as she cries out that “heaven did not seem to be
(her) home” and how instead it is “wuthering heights where (she) woke up sobbing for joy” .
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