Alexandria McCollum Mentor: Dr. Constance Fulmer ...

Alexandria McCollum Mentor: Dr. Constance Fulmer

Pepperdine University

� � Adam Bede by George Eliot � First novel written in 1859 � Many thought the characters were based on figures

in her life. � Takes place in Hayslope

Background

� � Primary Focus

� Adam Bede � Hetty Sorrel

� Other Characters of Importance � Arthur Donnithorne � Dinah Morris �  Seth Bede

Characters

� � Why is the narrator’s view important? � Adam

� Takes pride in his work � Allows rank to cloud his judgment � Honest, dedicated, strong, loving � Evolves from condemning to accepting

� Hetty � Childish �  Falsely innocent � Vain

Narrator’s Description

� � What can we learn from how Adam and Hetty interact

and are perceived by others? � Adam

�  Admired �  Susceptible to beauty �  Wise �  Kind-hearted

� Hetty �  “feather-headed” (Eliot 42) �  Childlike in her inability to comprehend �  Rejected by children

Character Interaction and Perception

� � Both Adam and Hetty attempt to maintain or create a

public image. � Adam

�  Hard working and wants others to be also �  Works harder to repair damage to family reputation

�  Dedicated to family �  Lives life to make loved ones happy

� Hetty �  Wants to improve station in life �  Actions are highly influenced by Arthur Donnithorne �  Manipulates Adam �  Conceals pregnancy

How Image is Maintained

� � Unable to overcome her need to maintain image

�  Fantasy world is shattered. � Child prohibits her upward mobility. �  Infanticide � Unable to accept fault and demonstrate regret

Hetty’s Fate

� � Overcomes feelings of obligation to societal

expectations � Laments loss of father � Hetty’s betrayal

�  Acceptance of her crimes

� Content with life �  Finds love

Adam’s Fate

� �  Ayoub, Dima. "George Eliot." Orientalist Writers. Ed. Coeli Fitzpatrick and Dwayne A. Tunstall. Detroit: Gale, 2012.

Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 366. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013. �  Collins, Philip. "Adam Bede: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St.

James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013. �  Eliot, George. Adam Bede. San Bernadino: CreateSpace Independent Platform, 2013. Print. �  Gates, Sarah. "'The sound of the scythe being whetted': Gender, Genre, and Realism in 'Adam Bede.'." Studies in the

Novel 30.1 (1998): 20+.Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013. �  Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Back Bay, 1998. 121-34. Print. �  Henry, Nancy. The Cambridge Introduction to George Eliot. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print. �  Hudspith, Barbara. "Adam's Mourning and the Herculean Task in Adam Bede." Canadian Review of Comparative Literature/

Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparéé 30.1 (2003): 97-116. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Kathy D. Darrow. Vol. 216. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013.

�  Kneale, J. Douglas. "Hetty's hanky." English Studies in Canada 31.2-3 (2005): 123+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013.

�  Lamb, John B. "'To obey and to trust': Adam Bede and the Politics of Deference." Studies in the Novel 34.3 (2002): 264+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013.

�  Marck, Nancy Anne. "Narrative Transference and Female Narcissism: the Social Message of Adam Bede." Studies in the Novel 35.4 (2003): 447+.Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013.

�  Phillips, Emily. "Eliot's Adam Bede." The Explicator 62.4 (2004): 199+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013. �  Reed, John R. "Soldier Boy: Forming Masculinity in Adam Bede." Studies in the Novel 33.3 (2001): 268+. Literature Resource

Center. Web. 25 July 2013. �  Stephen, Leslie. "George Eliot." The Cornhill Magazine 43.254 (Feb. 1881): 152-168. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature

Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013.

�  Van Pletzen, Ermien. "Eliot's 'Adam Bede.' (woman author George Eliot)." The Explicator 56.1 (1997): 23+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 July 2013.

Bibliography