Journal # 4

As the book finally came to an end, the reader can't help but reflect at how the authoress has portrayed her characters. Although she has all the power, the characters seem to have taken a route of her own as well. The book ended nicely, the antagonist died rather peacefully, despite his turbulent life and everyone's lives were finally at peace, for once. At the end, Heathcliff loses all sensibility of reality as he started picturing Catherine wherever he goes and eventually starts conversing with her as if she was there. Meanwhile, young Catherine and Hareton go through a series of up and downs as their friendship and relationship develops. Teaching Hareton how to read was the biggest factor to their growing relationship as it brought them closer and knitted the relationship together. By a miracle of numerous events, everything arranges itself just for everything to be right in order for the book to come to an end. When looking back at how everything magically reorganized itself for the book to end, it seemed like a greater force was trying to make everything right for the name of Catherine. Whether it was for young Catherine or for her mother, Catherine, everything came to an end peacefully.

As I personally reflected on the end of the novel, I truly wondered Heathcliff's death. It was all so human of a death while his living recounted one of something inhumane. How he was such a monster in his living and how he was portrayed with such a hunger of revenge made him look near inhumane, which also made him seem no where near to ever possibly behaving like a human. But near his death, Heathcliff gives away to this overpowering desire of revenge and the need to be invincible as he finally realizes that his time was near. "He gazed at something within two yards distance" and "-communicated, apparently, both pleasure and pain, in exquisite extremes, at least, the anguished, yet raptured expression of his countenance suggested that idea" while he lost his mind, pretending that Catherine was still there. How he was able to submit himself to being actually decent and human was a full rotation turn, which confuses many, but yet again we see the matter of humanity. Thus showing us that even the most unbearable of the humans are capable and able to find peace with themselves and become someone completely unknown. Very much like Darth Vader. He turns into the most feared villain of all the galaxies, as if he was more than human, but simply like how Heathcliff died from insanity, Darth Vader gave his life away to the lack of oxygen. Something that seems so unlikely in a world fill with this crucial, but abundant gas that we need, yet the way that ended his life could be so easily avoided. Both villains succumbed to a human way of ending their villain careers, and their life which continues to astonish me because of how the authoress had decided to portray both characters as anything but human.

Through discussion, we also explored how revolved the storyline was around Heathcliff. The moment he died, the world came to peace and everything was settled. He was the one and only source of conflict throughout the whole novel. Catherine can finally be at peace and marry the one that she loves, Nelly doesn't have to keep such a watchful eye on her mistress and everything is as it should be in a quiet, countryside life. One also has to wonder at how dramatic a person has to be in order to cause so much trouble between the people he knows. Credit has to be given to Emily Bronte for creating such a character and helping it become alive as this novel thrives to be a classic.