Discussion of Wuthering Heights

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How do you rate "Wuthering Heights"?

1 star - poor
7
12%
2 stars - okay, fair
5
8%
3 stars - good, likable
17
29%
4 stars - excellent, amazing
30
51%
 
Total votes: 59

Anthony Martial Tata
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Re: Discussion of Wuthering Heights

Post by Anthony Martial Tata »

I would rate the book at 2 out of four stars.
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ems2
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Post by ems2 »

I think Wuthering Heights has such a passionate atmosphere. I can almost feel the freedom that Emily must have felt looking at the moors from the top of a hill. I think the sense of liberty and wildness was so prominent in this story. Many of the characters stitched into a social system that stuffed them into this corner or that, but Emily and Catherine could be themselves on the moor. They were able to break the confines of a society that bound them. And run free.
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Post by coffeeteal »

Wuthering heights is one book which will never go to a place in my mind where it is not easy to feel what the book made me feel while reading it. Very few books do that to you. This is one of a kind and I'd give it 4 on 4 forever because of the timeless and effortless ease of the author in carrying us into the world of Heathcliff and Catherine and making us feel them or feel for them.
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srividyag1
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Post by srividyag1 »

This is undoubtedly my most favorite book. I might have read it at least 5 times. This story has held me captive for years, with its unforgettable characters, the eerie setting in the moors, and the undying love of Catherine and Heathcliff. More than everything, I remember Catherine's words, "I am Heathcliff."
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Post by MellieBellie »

For me to get into the story, I need to like at least one, if not multiple, characters. But in "Wuthering Heights", no one is likable! Not even Nelly! So, this is one of those books that I enjoy for the craft of writing, rather than getting into the actual story.
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Post by winecellarlibrary »

I wish I had a print edition of this book just so that I could throw it across the room. I hated it. It took me so long to read it (over a year in bits and pieces) because I was incredibly bored. Each and every character is detestable, which would have been fine if the plot was entertaining. This is my least favorite book of all time.
There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
-Emily Dickinson
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DrPatti8454
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Post by DrPatti8454 »

Bronte's Wuthering Heights is a classic, not because it was published in 1847, nor the fact that it was written under a male pen name, but because it was inspired by the wishful thinking of a young woman who had the limitations of her imagination of life outside of her protected environment. Yes, the writing was as bleak as the living conditions where she placed her story; bitter with winds blowing cold produced by the sum total of her experiences with weather, with loss, with love, and with life. When you think of her sisters (Charlotte and Anne) writing classics by candlelight along side her at the kitchen table, Emily's Wuthering Heights far out shown their literary contributions. The complexity of plot and character development went far beyond Charlotte's Jane Eyre or Anne's The Tennant of Wildfell Hall. Of all the Bronte sisters, Emily was considered the most understated, but far and away, the best.
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B_evans
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Post by B_evans »

I enjoyed Wuthering Heights, but mostly for the story itself and not the style of writing. The narration was appealing in theory but it was a bit difficult to follow at points as it spiraled into a "he said, she said, they said, they saw someone do something" pattern. I really do love stories that follow multiple generations, however.

All in all, I do recommend it, but only to people who have the capacity to follow along and bear with the writing style.

Even though it has become a bit cliché, and is spoken about a pretty toxic relationship, my favorite Wuthering quote remains, "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."
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Post by Avonlea »

I enjoyed reading this discussion of Wuthering Heights. This certainly is a book that divides opinion! I think it is a testament to the quality of Emily Bronte’s writing that, after all these years, her novel can still spark such debate and strength of feeling.

Like many others, I found it difficult to warm to the characters and at times it was an intense, disturbing, complex and difficult read. I think it is this uncomfortable mixture that makes it such an original and brilliant novel.

I studied this book for A-Level at college and this allowed me to explore its themes and symbolism. I came to appreciate the characters for their symbolic purpose in the novel. Having better understood this purpose, it became less important to my enjoyment of the novel whether I liked the characters or not.

My favourite theme in the novel is the conflict between passion and conformity. Heathcliff can be said to represent passion, while Edgar represents conformity. Cathy is torn between the two, with a devastating impact on her wellbeing.

This theme can be further developed by comparing the two houses in the novel. Wuthering Heights and the moors can be seen to represent passion, freedom and an element of danger. Thrushcross Grange and its surrounding park appears to represent the safety of conformity.

The symbolic use of windows throughout the novel also emphasises this theme. Windows can be seen as a flimsy barrier between conformity and passion.

During the lives of the first generation, the windows are firmly closed. A good example is when Cathy is first drawn towards culture through the window at Thrushcross Grange (Chapter 6). Cathy is invited inside to join in with acceptable society. Heathcliff is left on the outside of the closed window looking in. In response, he says:

“If Catherine had wished to return, I intended shattering their great glass panes to a million fragments, unless they let her out”.

This appears to demonstrate both the fragility of acceptable society and Heathcliff’s anger and frustration towards the barriers he faces in life.

By contrast, upon returning to Wuthering Heights during the period of the second generation, Mr Lockwood noticed “an improvement”. The gate “yielded” to his hand and “both doors and lattices were open” (Chapter 32). This symbolic use of open windows allows you to finish the novel with a feeling of hope that the second generation will not suffer as Heathcliff and Cathy did. Hopefulness that they can, instead, experience freedom from the barriers that once existed between conformity and passion.
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Post by Sithmi »

Wuthering Heights is one of the best classics. it brings out the society, cultures, family relationships of that era.
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Abdulwahab Maryam
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Post by Abdulwahab Maryam »

I'm not the only one who has always had the feeling that there is more than a hint of incest in the Heathcliff/Cathy relationship.
But it is fiction so it's open to interpretation.
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