Why did Bathsheba Send the Valentine?
It was a boring February Sunday. They had been to church, and now had
nothing to do. Sunday is traditionally the day of rest. They could not
find anything to do, apart from childish games.
"Did you ever find out, miss, who you are going to marry by means of
Bible and key?"
"Don't be foolish Liddy. As if such things could be…Very well, let's
try it…go and get the front door key".
Liddy fetched it. "I wish it wasn't Sunday," she said on returning.
"Perhaps 'tis wrong."
A few days earlier, Bathsheba had bought a Valentine card. While
fooling around with her friend and servant, Liddy, the subject had
come up.
The card had been bought originally for little Teddy Coggan, a
mischievous child, as a joke. Inside the card, Bathsheba writes a
short verse, which suits Teddy.
"The rose is red,
The violet blue,
Carnation's sweet
And so are you."
However, Liddy managed to convince her quite easily that she should
send it to Boldwood. It is quite possible that it was bought
originally for Boldwood, as she seems to be quite interested in him.
She often tries to find out more about him.
"He's an interesting man - don't you think so?" she remarked. "I
wonder why he is so wrapt up and indifferent, and seemingly so far
away from all he sees around him."
Bathsheba is a vain, impulsive and impetuous woman, and this as well
as her immaturity, makes her send the Valentine without thinking of
the consequences it could have on a man like Boldwood.
"…A small swing looking-glass was disclosed, in which she proceeded to
survey herself attentively. Then she parted her ...
... middle of paper ...
...e deportation to Australia.
The shooting of Troy was Boldwood's release. He had bottled everything
up inside him, and when it looked as though all he had to do was wait
for a few more years, Troy came back. He knew he would not have a
chance with him around, but with him dead, he also did not have a
chance. Boldwood's love for Bathsheba was doomed from the start, and
he was never loved in return.
In conclusion, Bathsheba sent the Valentine mainly because of her
vanity, immaturity and impulsiveness. It is not completely her fault
of what happened to Boldwood, as she did not properly understand him
and had not spoken to him before. From what other people had told her
about him, she should have realised, although maybe not to the extent
it occurred the type of effect it would have on a man of Boldwood's
character.
For starters, Troy grew up in a time of segregation: a time when a Black person had no opportunity. Because of this, he could never become a professional baseball player, despite his talent and success in the sport. So, when Cory says that he has the ability to become a professional football player, Troy immediately shoots him down because he feels the same issues will occur. Troy does not realize that in this newer age, people of color have more rights and opportunity than they did when he was growing up. Ultimately, the generational gap makes it so that Cory and Troy share completely different views on the world, and they can never see eye to eye. In the end, their polar opposite views drive a wedge between them, and they completely despise each
To begin to understand Troy, we must observe the tumultuous relationship between Troy and his father. Troy's father was most likely born into slavery, or at least slavery-like conditions. This means that his father probably never had a true family of his own, as his brothers, sisters, and parents would not have lived together. Troy's father had little experience in having and maintaining a family-like atmosphere in their home, and this reflects greatly upon Troy. Unfortunately, this was often the case in early African-American culture as the Reconstruction failed to help them from becoming homeless and impoverished.
...eless, he essentially lived his life in a constant low point. Troy’s anger is undoubtedly misguided, but entirely permissible considering his hardships. The story of Troy Maxon begs the question: is it ever justifiable to pass judgment on someone without understanding his or her life story? After analyzing Troy’s struggle and resulting attitude, it seems that passing judgment is exceptionally risky. Without recognizing the early hardships of Troy’s life, it is easy to dismiss him and his cynical outlook. What can be learned from his story is evident. Never judge someone for his or her seemingly unwarranted attitude because there is a good chance it is completely defensible.
Troy should be remembered as a person that was tough but sometimes could be nice person if you followed the rules under his house. This all follows of him being a resposible man, He did do things that might have not seen right but it was because he had to keep order in his house, other wise everyone would do things that they wanted to do and wouldn't care what Troy thought of it. My father always taught me to live a great life and to take care of my family and i, i will do this in remberance of him and all that he taught me growing up, that life isn't easy but its ok, because you can get through
at the escape, which would be his way out of the place. He was always losing his
his room the minute he saw him. His father harshly chased him back to his
Even though Troy does not physically abuse his children like his father did to him, he verbally abuses them. He treats Cory very callously and unjustly. In a way, Troy is taking out his frustrations of having an unsuccessful baseball career by not allowing Cory to pursue his dream to play football. Troy crushed Cory’s dream. In Act One, scene four, Cory expresses his misery. “Why you wanna do that to me? That w...
Similarly, both Cory and Lyons seek careers that lack stability and security - something Troy finds unfaithful to his beliefs. Cory yearns to join a collegiate football team. To supplement the principals he obtains from his steady occupation, Troy forces Cory to desist his collegiate football career and return to his steady occupation working at the A&P.
Troy?s relationship with his father was one, which produced much tension, and had a strong influence on Troy?s relationships with his loved ones as an adult. He had very little respect for his father because his father did not, in Troy?s mind, make his family a priority. At an early age, Troy?s father beat him ?like there was no tomorrow? because he caught Troy getting ?cozy? with a girl (549; I,4). Troy said that ?right there is where [he became] a man? (549; I,4). It was at that moment that Troy made the decision to free himself from his father?s power. Despite the fact that he did eventually escape his father?s wrath, the struggle with his father?s aggressive behavior and lack of love resulted in a coldness that resided in Troy?s heart toward life and love. His father did not care about his children; children were there to work for the food that he ate first. Troy describes his feelings toward his father by saying, ?Sometimes I wish I hadn?t known my daddy. He ain?t cared nothing about no kids. A kid to him wasn?t nothing. All he wanted was for you to learn how to walk so he could start you to working? (548; I,4). Although Troy had very little respect for his father and vowed to be nothing like him, many of his father?s harsh personality traits show up in his own personality. Despite Troy?s continuous attempts to push himself away from anything he had ever known about his father, the inheritance of such irrational behavior was inevitable because it was all he had ever known. The inheritance of this angry behavior was, in turn, the cause of his damaging relationships with his own family. Just as Troy endured his father?s cruel ways, Troy?s family is left with no choice but to try to learn to live with his similar ways.
time I see him.? The source of this conflict lies in Troy?s experiences and attitude
is married he tells her "Consider how natural and how plain it is, my dear, that
Perhaps the most important and fulfilling relationship a man can be involved in is one with his own flesh and blood. At the beginning of the play, we learn that Troy has two sons, Lyons and Cory. Lyons is Troy's son by a previous marriage and Cory is Troy's son by his current marriage. Neither Lyons nor Cory share a close relationship with their father and Troy is mostly to blame for that.
In the end Troy and his son’s become estranged. Lyons ends up getting himself in trouble with the law and Cory leaves and joins the Marines without looking back on his father. It wasn’t until Troy’s death that the family reunites. Troy Maxson did have good intentions for his son’s, but his actions and his words separated them as a
In the end Troy died living behind a trail of animosity between him and his family. In my opinion his story is that of a tragic hero. He began being loved and praised by his family but eventually and gradually, he began to succumb to the weight of racism. It can be said that the effects of racism finally took the better of Troy, and consequentially it ruled his life. Like his fictional stories, death finally took him.
Instead of owning up to his past and current mistakes and actually try to work through them, he instead let them influence his decisions. Although Troy was not able to be there for his oldest son Lyons when he was growing up, he still showed guilt in his relationship with his son. However, instead of Troy trying to make up for lost lessons and teach his son important values of what manhood actually stood for, he took the easiest way to show his guilt. He found it best to lecture to Lyons before he would eventually loan money to him. Troy also, let his past influence the relationship he had with his younger son Cory. Because of problems that he ran into when he was trying to become a professional athlete, he assumed that Cory would not be successful either. Troy never showed nor pretended that he had faith in Cory becoming pro. Instead Troy only told his son what he would not be able to do. Troy also let his current mistakes influence his marriage. When he cheated on his wife Rose, he was only concerned about himself and did not take into consideration what all she had sacrificed throughout their marriage. Troy could never find it within his self to accept situations that occurred in his past and learn from them, but instead he held on to them. In his article about ways a person can be unknowingly self-centered, Duska Ronald stated,“Self-interest is not selfishness. Selfishness is