Rafael’s Comments on Chapter 1

First, because the author of the book is a woman, I automatically assumed the narrator was a woman, so I got a bit confused at the beginning. Once it was established the narrator was a man called Mr. Lockwood and that he had just moved in to a house called Thrushcross Grange, things became a little more clear. From what I understood Mr. Heathcliff owns both Wuthering Heights, which is where he lives, and Thrushcross Grange which is where Mr. Lockwood is currently living. So the story basically starts when Mr. Lockwood comes to introduce himself and meet his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff.

From what I read at the back cover of the book, and from the description given of Mr. Heathcliff, I think the story isn’t really about Mr. Lockwood. I’m not sure but I got the impression that the story is much more focused on Mr. Heathcliff’s life. He just seems like one of those mysterious characters that have been through a lot in their lifetime. I think his life story will slowly be discovered by the narrator. I guess I’m trying to say that this book will probably be like The Great Gatsby, in the sense that the narrator isn’t really the focus but the characters around him are what the book is really all about. Maybe even more to the extreme than The Great Gatsby, something like The Virgin Suicides, or somewhere in the middle of those two, narrator-involvement wise. Besides that, I think this is one of those stories where the past of each character is extremely relevant, in the sense that most of the real “action” already occurred, and now people are just living the consequences of their past actions.
So far the book hasn’t been very enticing, it’s just mildly interesting. There are some passages which can be very tedious - especially when Lockwood starts describing the house -, but I guess they are very important to set the correct tone of the story, and I have the impression that it’s one of those cases in which the house and the environment in general tells a lot about the characters, but I confess I haven’t thought that much about that yet. I mean besides the fact that both the house and Mr. Heathcliff are rather old and have the appearance of having being through a lot in their time, I haven’t made many connections between the house and its owner. I guess the weather and the location of Wuthering Heights is also important, but this will probably be clearer afterwards, when more about the characters is discovered. Regardless of the importance of the house description, I still got very lost at some points; I guess the vocabulary and maybe a few of the long sentence constructions got in the way of my understanding. I tried to picture the house, but sometimes I just couldn’t. For example, the following passage on page three was quite confusing for me: “One end, indeed, reflected splendidly both light and heat from ranks of immense pewter dishes, interspersed with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser, to the very roof. The latter had never been underdrawn: its entire anatomy lay bare to an inquiring eye, except where a frame of wood laden with oatcakes and clusters of legs and beef, mutton, and ham, concealed it”. I could be very wrong, but I’m guessing the first part is just a bunch of piled dishes, but the “frame of wood” and “cluster of legs and beef” sections are really confusing, and I honestly have no idea what was meant. But so far vocabulary hasn’t been that much of a problem, except in a few sections. Obviously in a first reading, things can be very confusing, but after reading a couple of sections a few more times, things get clearer.