![]() ![]() Nature is downright Darwinian – everything boils down to survival, competition, and evolution. Instead, Hardy depicts people as small and even overwhelmed by nature. In fact, man doesn't live side-by-side with nature as equals at all the heath is not the friendly or romantic place that the highly-romantic language might imply. However, this is a book about how man exists within nature and not just alongside of it – certainly not just some chummy pals. So, yes, the heath is doing a whole lot at once – it reflects the characters, and yet also has features, feelings, even dialogue (such as with the "wind" that seems to speak). The characters and the heath have an interesting relationship in which people and the heath reflect each other's moods. The heath functions as its own character in addition to being an evocative backdrop that has some sort of psychic link to the characters. "Man and the Natural World" is arguably the central theme of the book. ![]()
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