Norris and Hardy

In Norris’ text “The Responsibility of the Novelist” she talks about how the novel is the great expression of modern life. He says that each for of art has its turn at reflecting and expressing its contemporaneous thought. Norris writes “Time was when the world looked to the architects of the castles and great cathedrals to truly reflect and embody its ideals. And the architects—serious, earnest men—produced such “expressions of contemporaneous thought”…”

First of all as a side note, I don’t remember it being on the fact sheet, but Thomas Hardy was an architect! Maybe it’s completely unrelated, or maybe that’s why Hardy was able to express his ideas so well through his writing! He was a “serious, earnest man” that “produced such expressions of contemporaneous thought” like Norris was talking about.

Secondly, in Hardy’s text, right from the beginning we get the about average, decent guy who doesn’t get the girl. He is described as “a young man of sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character”. This would be an every day, “average” man that one could meet even in these days. The problem is that most women don’t like this kind of man. The same goes for Bathsheba. She didn’t want this guy either. I think in this instance Norris would agree with the theory that Hardy has in the novel because he is making his point by expressing his characters to be more realistic to modern people. Women are hard to please, and we want either what we can’t have or what isn’t good for us. Hardy is right on the money here. We have a million options, but none that are good enough for us. For Hardy, he is expressing his art through his novel. His thoughts are clearly portrayed throughout the text.Just thought I would throw this picture in there. :-)