The Book Report of Tess of the d'Urbervilles

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The Book Report of Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1)
by Deng Liping
Thomas Hardy, (2 June 1840 –11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.
Thomas Hardy was born at Higher Bockhampton, a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England. His father Thomas (d.1892) worked as a stonemason and local builder. His mother Jemima (d.1904) was well-read. She educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at age eight. For several years he attended Mr. Last's Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester. Here he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential. However, a family of Hardy's social position lacked the means for a university education, and his formal education ended at the age of sixteen when he became apprenticed to James Hicks, a local architect. Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London in 1862; there he enrolled as a student at King’s College London. Five years later, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset and decided to dedicate himself to writing.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a novel written by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. The novel is set in impoverished rural Wessex during the Long Depression. Tess is the eldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated rural peasants. One day, Parson Tringham informs John that he has noble blood. Tess's father, overjoyed with learning of his noble lineage. Driven by poverty, Tess has to the d'Urbervilles. Mrs.
d'Urberville’s libertine son Alec takes a fancy to Tess and secures her a position as poultry keeper on the d'Urberville estate. She has no choice, as she must earn enough to replace her family's only means of support.
After a few weeks of confused dalliance with Alec, Tess begins to despise him. Against his wishes, she goes home to her father's cottage, where she keeps almost entirely to her room. The next summer, she gives birth to a sickly boy, who lives only a few weeks. On his last night alive, Tess baptises him herself, after her father locked the doors to keep the parson away. The child is given the name 'Sorrow'. Tess buries Sorrow in unconsecrated ground, makes a homemade cross and lays flowers on his grave in an empty marmalade jar.
More than two years later, she secures a job as a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy, and re-encounters Angel Clare, who is now an apprentice farmer and has come to Talbothays to learn dairy management. Angel soon singles out Tess, and the two gradually fall in love. They are going to get marriage. Tess tells Angel her story of Alec, hoping for Angel’s excuse. However, it fails, and Angel goes abroad. Tess is sad, she goes back home. Unfortunately, Tess’s father dies and her family are forced to live in the street. She has no choice, but lives again with Alec. Angel experiences much and comes to know that Tess has no fault. He comes back to ask for excuse, only getting Tess’s refusing. Actually, Tess still loves Angel. She kills Alec, and live with Angel for a period of time. Before being taken away by policemen, she asks Angel to look after her younger sister, Liza-Lu, saying and marry her. She tells Angel she is "almost glad" because "now I shall not live for you to despise me". She is allowed a dignified death through the fact that Angel listens to her (he hasn't throughout the rest of the novel) and through her parting words of "I am ready".
Hardy's writing often illustrates the "ache of modernism", and this theme is notable in Tess, which, as one critic noted, portrays "the energy of traditional ways and the strength of the forces that are destroying them". In Hardy's view, Tess, a truly good woman, she is despised by
society after losing her virginity before marriage, falling victim to the sexual double standard.
Tess is truly a beautiful, hardworking, braving and virtuous woman. And I think poverty also plays an important role in her tragedy.。