Your guess is as good as mine?

When thinking about cultural criticism and Wuthering Heights I am drawn to the words of Nancy Armstrong on page 431 when she writes, “one has to decide exactly how to link these materials together as a field of information, a discourse, or a cultural text.” Just how do I do that with this story not being an expert on the Bronte family or early 19^th century England? Even in her essay she claims that Charlotte Bronte said Emily wrote, “Strictly from within.” The answer is I don’t but for the purpose of this blog I have to imagine what she was like and what the world she lived in looked like.

During the time of Bronte’s life the women’s rights movement was still in its infancy perhaps she is commenting on that movement by showing the cruel way women were treated by the establishment. Perhaps she is speaking to the issue of literacy and the importance of education. Perhaps she was just writing a story from a “local color” perspective like the stories coming from the United States during that time. She obviously loved the Moors and wanted to share that with the world. According to the text she was a virgin and a recluse so perhaps the story is about lost love.

Without knowing more detail it is difficult for me to try and comment on what the book was meant to say about the culture in which it is written. I am not sure Armstrong knows because she makes the argument that three phases of the culture Bronte grew up in affected the book, regionalism, photography and folklore. The book was written during an explosively creative time period when all types  of art were taking hold from not just the wealthiest but throughout all classes of people. It would have been a great time for a local author to tell the world about her small stake in the universe and shed light on the places and things she loved. Perhaps it is a story about her love of life and her dreams. If that is all the book is about does it nave any less impact or make it less enjoyable? I don’t think so, it just makes it more real.