A belief in determinism engenders a lack of chance in life. Things happen for a reason to those who believe in determinism. There are no coincidences or random occurrences.
In class we read Hardy’s poem, “Hap,” which personifies the idea of Chance. The character rails against god (line 1) and Fate (Casualty, line 11) who are making his life miserable. This message is similar to that of Job in the Bible, and Tess is Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
How is Jude similar to these other literary figures? Find some examples of “chance” or happenstance that occur in Jude the Obscure. Post them here for all to see.
A belief in determinism seems to parallel the belief of an uncontrollable fate. If one maintains a belief in determinism, one sacrifices their control over themselves. Just as if one believes that fate is predetermined and uncontrollable, one sacrifices all control over their decision making and choices. In the case of Job in the Bible, he believed all his lifelong miseries were the workings of God and only God could restore him to his previous happiness. Job emphasizes this belief in determinism and fate by putting all of his trust in a spiritual figure. Job believed that everything that happened to him was determined; nothing was ever coincidental because it was all a part of God's plan. Jude is actually quite similar to Job. Jude is going through all of these hardships just as Job did, and believes that all were most likely predetermined. When in fact, I personally hold the belief that Jude's situation is just a compilation of coincidences and random occurrences. Like Jude's orphanage; was Jude fated to be an orphan? Was Jude fated to live in Marygreen with his awful Aunt? Jude begins to think so and searches to alter his fate by moving to Christminster where in fact, I think Jude like Job, is probably just very unlucky. All of the happenstance in Jude (stated earlier) really is only that; happenstance. Jude wasn't fated to be an orphan or to be finagled by a traveling doctor. In my belief it was simply coincidence that led to all of Jude's misfortune.
ReplyDeleteCoincidence seems to lead to much of Jude's suffering. For example, it could've been a coincidence that led Jude to stop clacking at the crows right when the farmer came by. That led to him getting beat and fired. It also could've been coincidence that led to his future wife throwing scraps of pig flesh at him, in turn leading to a relationship. I agree with you here; Chance does seem to lead to Jude's misfortune.
DeleteI also agree however that Jude and Job are very similar. Job's life was determined by Fate and by God. Was Jude's also? This goes back to what I was thinking: Hardy doesn't seem to have a stance himself on whether life is Fate or Chance. This leads to the same conflict for his characters, and it is impossible to say for sure whether everything is determined or coincidence.
I see you wrestling with the big ideas that Hardy must have been wrestling with himself: fate, coincidence, chance, predestination. We often look at these terms from a literal stance and place them as opposites; chance is random, fate is planned; coincidence just happens, predestination follows a strategic plan; but Hardy presents us with the contradiction that both ideas may exists at once. Chance and fate are brothers of destiny, so one's life cannot be judged without looking at both. In order to live in this contraction one must, like Job, have faith that the chance coincidences lead to a determined fate. Hardy shows us through his overused plot device, characterization, and philosophical meanderings that only from perspective can we gain an understanding of the cause and effect nature which leads to our purpose. So we blog and blog in the moment, but will judge the purpose only once the blogging is done.
DeleteSo the big idea is that they happen at the same time? Like electrons moving in particles and waves? The endless questions of fate and chance have been a burden on man kind seance we were able to form paper?
DeleteJude is similar to the character in the poem because of his circumstances growing up, and he is like a male version of Tess in the way that his story plays out. Like the poem, Jude's life is made miserable by chance; it affects everything from his birth to his quest for knowledge. Chance made him an orphan in a hick-town, and it led him to end up with a teacher who instilled in him a desire for knowledge. If it wasn't for the teacher, he never would have wanted to move, to learn, to find a wife with smarts, and if that hadn't happened then most of his problems would have never existed! Chance screwed him. On the other hand though, it's entirely possible that it wasn't chance at all. Jude's life could have been predetermined by the god mentioned in the poem, or like Job's trials in the Bible. Tess believed her life was shaped by Fate, so perhaps it was actually Fate that led to Jude's awful life. That is where the tie-in to Tess begins: Jude and Tess had depressing lives from the first chapter, and it is debatable whether this was a result of Fate or Chance. Hardy can't seem to make up his mind either, which is supported by his own struggle with organized religion versus evolution, as well as the last lines he delivers in "Hap", which talk about how everything is in fact up to chance.
ReplyDeleteJude's examples of chance can include growing up with his aunt, meeting the teacher, meeting the doctor, being tricked by the doctor, Arabell throwing pig fat at him, and Arabell thinking she was pregnant. There are obviously many more, but thats all I can think of right now. Basically, everything that could have not happened that did, every occurrence, expected or not, was a circumstance of chance. There is a theory that every choice a person makes opens a parallel universe where the opposite decision was made, and that there are billions and trillions of parallel universes where JFK wasn't killed, and Hardy never was born. With everything actually being chance, it makes you wonder what happened to Hardy that lead him on his path of chance to have him writing pessimistic novels, instead of living in the parallel universe where Hardy wrote about optimistic experiences. Unless we are living in the parallel universe where he had to write about pessimistic experiences because in the original universe he wrote about optimistic experiences.
ReplyDeleteJude's life, like Tess', is full of chance that eventually leads to disaster. Even if this "disaster" is as simple as being fired, because Jude had a revelation and sympathizes with the crows and his boss happens to be right there when it happens. Even if this disaster is that Tess is walking home from her first day of training and gets raped by a guy who originally saves her from getting beaten up, who just happens to be there to take advantage of her. Even if this disaster is Tess leaving her boots behind, and goes back to find that her rapist is now preaching to everyone on the street. Do all of these coincidences make their lives miserable? Of course.
ReplyDeleteJude and Tess are very much alike, considering they both come from small towns and, by chance (Tess falls asleep and kills Prince, Jude gets fired from his job just as his teacher is leaving for Christminster), get to leave, which inevitably ends with utter despair. Although i'm not far into Jude the Obscure, I can assume that it lines up with Tess of the D'Urbervilles in the sense that all hell breaks loose soon.
Good, you are finding connections. :D
DeleteI agree with Colby. Looking back at the fate meter we created for Tess, Jude's experience matches the good fate, bad fate, good fate pattern. However Jude's fate starts off negative right from the beginning for he is an orphan in a small town. There lives are both shaped immensely by the chances of meeting two people, one locally and one as they are pursuing their ambition to get out of their crummy hometowns. Not to mention with the local person they have children who both are given very symbolic names and by fate die. At the beginning Jude knows where he wants to go and eventually goes, however the chances of him actually succeeding to Christminister's sophisticated environment were low. He becomes like Job and struggles with trying to find a right path to help him succeed. Certain chances of Jude in the wrong place at the wrong time bring his negative point of view on his future and overall fate. Jude is the male version of Tess with the idea and feeling of uncertainty.
ReplyDeleteI like the title of hap, Hardy leaves the poem open end for translation. I took hap as happens. As Lord Byron has worshiper of the ideal, he never lost touch with reality. The realness in both the poets, Jude and all of us that if we look at our lives as a story we see divine fate form good old Mr. Hindsight, but has we currently exist we have the inability to reminisce on our current actions, which gives the feeling of realism. That over powers us, that moves us in life. If there is a will there is a way, even though Hardy`s books end up in travesty, there are given a slight window or chance to change the out come which simply never happens. :(
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