Daily Archives: April 25, 2016

17% done with Middlemarch

B2;C17

“One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!” So true

“it was plain that a vicar might be adored by his womankind as the king of men and preachers, and yet be held by them to stand in much need of their direction.” and then Mr. Lydgate goes on about his insects because he likes them better perhaps than his flock.

“… you wear the harness and draw a good deal where your yoke-fellows pull you”

17% done with Middlemarch

B2;C16.1

Rosamond, though I don’t like her, is a great character. She’s just as ambitious as Lydgate, and is just as clever as him. She might not be book smart, but she’s smart in people, and herself. So her cynicism about Middlemarch is somewhat founded since she is, in a way, a little better than the people around her. Yet we call her a snob and Lydgate is just ambitious. Why is she seen as less than him?

page 351 of 818 of Fortunata and Jacinta: Two Stories of Married Women

The beautiful view of the landscape will be blocked by the church once it’s built. The beauty God made is being ruined by the church man made to worship the beauty of the God they worship. Funny. And what good can this church do compared to a crippled nun who alleviates a sick woman with a finger of cognac and a strict compassion?

page 349 of 818 of Fortunata and Jacinta: Two Stories of Married Women

The Japanese mask faced crippled nun: “What some people think is bad is good if it’s in reasonable amounts.” This is my favorite part of the novel so far: the crippled nun with the key and cognac, Mauricia (who looks like Napoleon) in her cell and manic, the two of them alone in the room not quite able to see each other but there is compassion here. Beautiful.