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BRITISH LITERATURE SINCE 1798: What does it mean to be an ethical person?,…

- - - - She is learning to treat Harriet like a person and not just a "pet"
      - Learning to have sympathy for Mrs. Bates and Jane even though they are of lower class, whereas she has instant sympathy for Frank Churchill
  - - - Jane Austen advocates for imagination that gives reality to other people-- grounded view of imagination
    - - We can't understand our own moral code unless we see it through others-- sympathetic identification
    - - vs.
- - - - Children were seen as "mini-adults"-- get them prepped and ready to work ASAP!
  - - - Workers could be easily exploited because there were no rules to stop employers
        
        The working class vs. Gradgrinds & Bounderbys of the world
        
        Bounderby vs. Stephen-- there are laws in place to keep Stephen poor and unhappy, which prevents him from getting the divorce he desires
        
        Gradgrind has a major transformation by novel's end-- he has compassion for his children and others
  - - - Belief in institutions -- all for the common good!
        
        Why Dickens was ambivalent towards strikers and the employers
    - - Life in Coketown is mechanical and built for functionality-- extreme lack of individualism
        
        Residents of Coketown are called "the Hands"
        
        The circus people are an exception to this-- they have community and humanity, but they are originally looked down upon by Gradgrind
        
        The irony that Tom Gradgrind ends up seeking refuge from the law here, despite him being forbidden to visit at novel's start
      - Nihilist "nothing matters" view from Harthouse, because he's rich enough to not think critically
        
        Louisa begins to believe this as she becomes more hopeless being married to Bounderby
    - - By 1901, 1/4 of the world was under British rule
      - Alfred Lord Tennyson poetry-- colonialist ideology
      - Rudyard Kipling "White Man's Burden" poem-- PRO colonialism
        
        Sense of "obligation"-- belief that they're helping conquered people-- White-Nationalist
        
        Education made colonies "British"-- colonization of mind first
- - - - Better to have blind faith in Jesus-- good deeds aren't THAT important
      - Wives to be completely dependent upon husbands
      - Private sphere: domain of women (inside home)
        Public sphere: domain of men (outside home)
    - - Other denominations: Methodist, Baptist, Quakers
      - Over 2.400 churches added during Queen Victoria's reign 1851-1875
  - - - She uses her emotions to reflect in the world-- spiritual connection to nature
        
        pg. 277 she sleeps in a bed of dead leaves, mirroring her "deadness" inside
        
        Tess can "leave her body" when she looks up at the stars-- finds comfort and beauty in nature
      - "Pure" worldview, seeing the world as it is
        
        She accepts punishment from Angel as a way of being her "pure self"
      - Doing good for the sake of doing good, not getting involed in sin, denominations, and salvation
  - - - He abandons Christianity because Tess "tempts" him-- blames her pg. 329
    - - If he were actually radical, he wouldn't care about Victorian marriage laws & ideologies
      - Gives Tess a ton of shit for having been raped by Alec, and then Angel spend "48 hours with a stranger" after learning the news, instead of feeling for her
        
        Realizes he's a big ass hypocrite while in Brazil, returns to Tess, but he finds her married to Alec
  - - - "Tree of Life" -- humanity all apart of one branch-- evolution is an ongoing process
- - - - Andrew Ramsay dies in the war, as mentioned in time passes, but he's just one death out of millions
        
        His death was "merciful" and "instantaneous" pg. 133 -- he died an "honorable" death-- did not have to come home with PTSD
    - - Latin phrase from Horace "Dulce et Decorum Est" = It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country"
  - - - Woolf refers to traditional novel structure as "ill-fitting vestments" -- the structure doesn't allow for "likeness of life"
      - What does it feel like to just "be" instead of being bogged down by plot
  - - - One can live a comfortable life, but there will always be external and exterior suffering
      - The candles at Mrs. Ramsay's dinner bring "being" to the evening-- pg. 105 there's an element of joy in the room, "of such moments, she thought, the thing is made that endures"
        
        These dinners are Mrs. Ramsay's "triumph" over life-- she created memories for others that outlive her
    - - Through Lily, Woolf proposes that maybe there is no "grand meaning" to life, but it's meaning is taking pleasure in the moments of non-being and being
        
        String of daily miracles is life itself!
    - - Semi-auto-biography where Woolf says "everyday contains more non-being than being"
      - "Non-being" consists of what MUST be done, whereas moment of "being" are bursts of passion/appreciation for life
  - - - Time passing is like an assault-- it's relentless and sneaks up on you-- why Mrs. Ramsay, Andrew, and Prue's deaths are mentioned so casually, because life can be taken away at any moment
- - - - Novel is set in the year 2145
        
        London is underwater, temps are in the 100s daily
    - - He's a scientist studying the lagoons that now envelop London
        
        Lives in the once lavish Ritz hotel that still has remnants of old human life-- he sees the "folly" in its opulence
    - - From the intro to his novel Crash (1973): "For the writer in particular, it is less and less necessary for him to invent the fictional content of his novel. The fiction is already there. The writer's task is to invent the reality"
  - - - Coventry Cathedral (1940-41) completely blown out by London air raids
    - - Introduced welfare state, National Health Service, low-cost Council housing
    - - Indian Independence Act of 1947
      - Handover of Hong Kong in 1997
  - - - Feeling of something familiar, but has been lost into the unconscious
        
        Old thinking "unlocked" in the Triassic world-- unconscious memories of primordial pre-human life-- biological trauma
    - - Kerans: DESPERATELY wants the lagoon re-flooded, sees the de-flooding as "resurrecting a corpse"
        
        He doesn't see the need to revive old life when he never knew it
        
        Kerans wants to ADAPT to the world, which is why at novel's end he heads south while everyone else heads north-- he wants to become one with the world, but realizes that means not being "human"-- transformation into something more reptilian
      - Strangman: Humans conquer the world and can take what they desire. He de-floods the lagoon to loot the remnants of London
      - Riggs: Wants to rebuild old society at the poles, is against re-flooding the lagoon
- - - - Enoch Powell, conservative Parliament member was against immigration, and was horrified by "Englishness" changing
        
        It was the British that made colonies assimilate into British culture in the first place!!!
      - 2nd generation received criticisms of not being "British" enough, but have never been to Indian or Pakistan-- where does one fit in then?
        
        Jamila does not want to lose her Indian identity, although she's grateful for the British education she received
  - - - Thatcherism destroyed any "Government safety net" believed in everyone for themselves, privatized national industries & public goods
  - - - Haroon is a Buddhist caricature for the suburban white folks at FIRST, changes by novel's end
- - - - Natalie, aka Keisha, Leah's longtime friend has completely transformed herself-- she's "made it," but at what cost?
        
        She believes life's problems can be solved if she becomes a professional lawyer
        
        Natalie seeks sexual encounters online as "Keisha"-- why would she do this if she's happy with how she's "made it?"
        
        "She lost God so smoothly and painlessly she had to wonder what she'd ever meant by the word" pg. 247
      - "She became Natalie Blake in that brief pause during their long history, between 16 and 18. Educated herself on the floor of Kensal Rise Library while Leah smoked weed all the live-long day" pg. 80
        
        In the last pages, Natalie fails to be able to emphasize with Leah, despite their history together: "Natalie Blake's instinct for self-defense, for preservation, was simply too strong" pg. 399
  - - - Felix journeys through London like a foreigner-- he has to "check the tube map like a tourist" pg. 135
      - Felix's death floats in the background of Leah and Michel's television-- life aggressively changes so fast
    - - During childhood, Nathan was believed to go on a play pro football, but ended up living in the squat house with Shar
  - - - "NW" aka Northwest London is a space outside of privilege like central London
      - Disappointed Londoners/1st, 2nd generation immigrants
  - - - Leah stays true to herself by refusing to become a mother (secret birth control, abortions), despite her lying to Michel about it
    - - Leah is trying to be a "good" person, which is why she helps Shar, because she believes if someone needs your help, you help!!
        
        Leah is faithful to her community: She can see where she grew up from her window
        
        Ethical consumption + being a good person is a privilege: Leah and Michel are "guests" in Natalie's high-society life
        
        "They do not purchase ethical things because they can't afford them Michel claims and Leah says, no, it's because you can't be bothered. Privately she thinks: you want to be rich like them but you can't be bothered with their morals" pg. 90
        
        "she and Michel are invited to provide something like local color" pg. 96
      - How can one be the "sole author" of their life if society is writing it for them?
  - - - 2018 Scandal: "Hostile Environment" policies for immigrants threatened to deport people due to lack of documentation, despite these people rebuilding the country after WWII!!!