Wuthering Heights, first 6 chapters

So yeah, Wuthering Heights, what do you think so far?

A little confusing, but I think I understand what's going on.

Yeah, I would say, you know, with a lot of books, especially from former eras, um, I, I describe it as a little bit of an orientation period where, you know, it takes a little while, you know, because they just drop you into the situation and the language is strange and What's going on is strange. So I would say, um, yeah, it is a little bit confusing, um, but it's starting to come clear to me a little bit. Uh, are you, you kind of getting who's who and which— who's in which household and what's going on between them?

I think so. Um, I did— I can't— I don't recall the name of the other estate that Lockwood is renting. His estate from Heathcliff, who is the owner of Wuthering Heights right now. That's where we started. Everything branches off from there.

No, that's a pretty good sort of thing. Um, and just, you know, certainly Heathcliff is going to be a major character in this story. What do you make of Heathcliff?

Uh, well, he's a bitter old man. Um, now in the first couple chapters when we meet him, and he doesn't seem to care much for Lockwood even though Lockwood is his tenant. Um, I think he's gonna be a big character, especially after reading a little bit of, um, chapter 6, which I believe goes into the backstory of Heathcliff.

There you go. Oh, you're right, we get into the backstory of Heathcliff, which is a big thing. And what about the dream? Um, Lockwood waking up in the middle of the night with a dream?

Um, I'm, I'm a little confused by that part because at first I thought it was like real life, and then I realized that he was having a nightmare, um, which didn't help with his relationship with Heathcliff. Um, but he got in his dream, he was, um, or he saw the, uh, actually, I, I'm not sure if it's like supposed to be a ghost or a real person, of the Catherine that he was reading about in the books, her diaries, which I believe was, um, the Catherine in the flashback who was besties with Heathcliff. Um, but yeah, so, um, that's interesting, and that relationship will probably be important later on too.

Yeah, so I wanted to check on the ghost versus real person. Again, I read this when I was a teenager. I haven't read it since, so I can't— I don't remember any plot details, so I can't give you deep spoiler alerts, but I do think that this one is known a little bit as kind of a ghost story. And again, I don't know if that means that they just keep seeing her in her dreams, maybe his dreams, or if we're supposed to believe it more, but wanted to check in, what's your attitude towards kind of ghost stories?

Um, I don't necessarily believe in ghosts just because I've never seen one before and I don't really understand them. So reading about it in the book, um, I, I kind of just accepted it as fiction for now, but I'm not sure if more ghosts will play a bigger part later. Um, but I do know that the Catherine that he was reading about is dead, so that wasn't a real person. Um, so either that was just a dream or that was definitely a ghost.

Well, one of the reasons I ask about this is because I think of you as very much kind of a realist. Alana likes the real world. Alana believes in the real world, not this other stuff. And I'm kind of playing with the idea, but is that kind of basically true that you're very much a let's stick to the real world kind of person?

Yeah, I'd say so, especially just because I didn't get any otherworldly fantasy vibes from this book, but you never know.

So, and then when you— surely you've read books where there is some kind of fantasy when you're younger, younger if nothing else. But so when books go into all kinds of stuff that you don't believe to be real, do you just kind of suspend judgment? And enter into the world of the book as the book offers it to you?

Yes. Yeah, I do. Um, and the reason why it was a little different this time is because I wasn't sure if it was going to be one of those books. Um, and I'm still not sure now, but I, I don't judge. I just like— and I just enjoy reading any kind of book, whether it has, um, unrealistic things, because that's the whole point.

Got it. So yeah, to take a cliché example, in Harry Potter when they start flying around on brooms, you're like, okay, in that world you do that.

I love that.

That's awesome. Okay, and then one of the things that's, you know, today I'm to figure we'll just sort of orient ourselves towards the book. We only read a few chapters and then a bigger chunk, but one of the things that strikes me so much is that Emily Brontë was writing this basically at the same time that Charlotte Brontë was writing Jane Eyre, and so you've got these two sisters writing books, both of which became among the most famous novels in the 19th century. And I can't help but think that in some ways they were competitive, even if it's a friendly competition between sisters. And by the way, Emily, who wrote this one, is the younger sister. So just, you know, and I can't help but imagine they knew what each other were writing, more or less. I don't know if they let each other read their writing, but And it would be interesting to know, but any thoughts as to why Emily, the younger sister, might write this book that— well, wait, maybe let's do it this way. In what ways is this book so far a little bit similar to Jane Eyre? In what ways is it completely different from Jane Eyre?

Uh, one thing I noticed is that the point of view is similar. I think they both use first person, I think, but, um, The narration does change a little bit when you get to the, to the back, to the flashback, I think. Um, but that's one similarity that other books that we've read didn't have. Um, they're both— I, I mean, I feel like their stories are pretty different, so they're both pretty original. Um, I, I feel like it would all depend on the sister dynamic though. Whether or not they let each other read their writing or if it was more of a competition than two sisters helping each other out. And I don't really know anything about them besides their books, so I couldn't say.

Fair enough, and certainly their stories are very different. And then the thing where in this one, the kind of maid or servant lady or cook, I forget who she is, she tells a lot of the backstory to Lockwood. And that's sort of an interesting literary device where instead of being first person, he's listening to her tell the story, but allows him to hear and us to hear the story. One thing that is not plot relevant that strikes me is, even though I guess the big old houses kind of seem like an important character, you know, there are these big old houses in both cases, and I picture these gloomy British rainy windy, you know, maybe weather a little bit more severe, but You know, um, the, the house that what's-his-name, uh, had was this big gloomy place with a crazy woman on top. So I'm just thinking of these big old houses. Um, have you ever been to Britain?

That's true. No, not yet. One day though, I will.

Yeah. Do you like kind of the big old mansions, the big old houses?

I think they're different than anything around here, and I like them in terms of like design and architecture. I think that's really cool, but I couldn't imagine living there because my family only consists of 4 people, or my immediate family only consists of 4 people, so I don't know how we'd fill that up.

But you're in sunny San Diego. I think green and gloomy, uh, Britain is very different. But, um, I've toured out toured houses that are exactly like any of these, but I have gone to Britain and I have toured big old grandiose houses. And, um, you know, even in Jane Austen as well, Mr. Knightley had this, you know, incredible house. Um, and, you know, I picture the very tall ceilings and these big red satin curtains and, you know, big heavy wood stuff and, you know, all those things. And, uh, yeah, I, I, I'm impressed by the the kind of role of the houses across several of these novels. And obviously the character and the plots are the real sort of thing, but, you know, here I would say in both Jane Eyre and this, I think the houses get a lot of description. Is that a fair assessment?

Yeah, I was actually kind of thinking the same thing, but I wasn't sure how to word it, but describing the houses as like side characters fits well.

And I think, isn't the house called Wuthering Heights? The name of the book is Wuthering Heights? So yeah, kind of, it's right there in the title. Um, well, cool. I'll arrange with you how many chapters we read for next time. Um, but yeah, you know, take your time, and if you need to, you know, you can even kind of go and read chapter summaries if you want to get clarity on what actually happened in the chapters, and of course look up words and do all the things. Um, Yeah, I think getting oriented, as with more Jane Eyre, I mean more with Jane Austen, sometimes first few chapters are a bit of a challenge, but then once you kind of get into the world, then it'll start rocking and rolling. Sound good?

Yes, hope so.

All right, have fun reading next week. We'll see you then.

Thank you. See you soon.