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The Madding Crowd Essay When Fanny is trying to get Troys attention she throws a snowball at his window but her throw misses the window and Hardy describes this as the throw was the idea of a man conjoined with the execution of a woman with such imbecility. This shows Hardys views on women and how they are looked down on by the male figures. When Troy and Fanny are talking, Troy seems to not willing to talk to fanny and is trying to get away, this may be because he is ashamed to be with her and he thinks the other soldiers and they may think that she is just a prostitute. Troy tries to put Fanny of marrying him when they are talking because when she asks when they will be getting married he says Oh, I see. Well you have to get proper clothes. Throughout this chapter you can tell that in the nineteenth century men are classed before women. Another part of Far for the Madding Crowd that I find of interest is in Chapter 16, this is where Fanny turns up at the wrong church to marry Troy. Troy feels very humiliated by this in front of many people including the priest, congregation and friends of theirs. Troy directs his angry towards Fanny, this shows that women have no control over the men because in nineteenth century men were the more superior people in a relationship. If poor Fanny did not confuse the two churches, All Souls and All Saints, then she would have become Troys wife. If she did become Troys wife this would have firstly, stopped her from being shunned from society for being pregnant outside of marriage and secondly would have stopped Troy marrying Bathsheba. I think that Troy over reacted to Fannys mistake and he should of forgiven her; if he did forgive her could have married her the next day which is what she asked for. Also if he had forgiven Fanny then he would not have had to live to regret how he treated poor Fanny. In Chapter 39, where Bathsheba and Troy are returning home from Casterbridge, they pass a small lonely figure on Turnpike Road. This person was Fanny Robin. Fanny had not been mention in the book for many chapters and no one had seen her for a period of time. When they saw poor Fanny they stopped and familiarized with each other. This caused problems between Bathsheba and Troy. Bathsheba then rides alone in the carriage while Troy walks. This could symbolize their futures. Troy has no consideration for womens feelings; you can tell this by when he is wasting away Bathshebas and his money on gambling. After this he shows that he has realized that he has faulted and he offers to help Fanny when she tells him that she has no money. Troy then gives some money to Fanny and then soon after promises her that he will help her in the future. This is normal in the nineteenth century for women to be relying on the man for their money and upbringing. Fannys journey to Casterbridge in Chapter 40 brings the reader to feel sorry for her and have sympathy for her. Hardy uses pathetic fallacy to show her suffering and the poor conditions she is in. Now there was not a rustle, not a breeze, not the faintest clash of twigs to keep her company. This shows that she is exhausted and lonely. When Fanny is alone during the late stages of her pregnancy, outside of marriage, she does not receive any help from humans, but receives it from a dog; the same dog that was chased away by the humans. This dog could represent Fanny because she may have felt like she had been chased away from society for being pregnant outside of marriage. Fanny does not want the help from anyone else but Troy. She took Troys word, which was that he would meet her in Casterbridge and he would help her. Another reason Fanny did not want the help from any other person than Troy was because she did not want anyone finding out about her being pregnant because she is not married to Troy; because of this Fanny decides to keep her identity hidden. Even though she has kept her identity hidden she has still been taken in by the ivy covered almshouse; they ask no questions and were willing to keep her secrets. The next chapter which takes my interest is Chapter 41. This chapter is about when Bathsheba is with Troy at Loggerheads. Troy asks Bathsheba for money to gamble with, she asks him not too but he still does. This shows that Troy will do as he pleases; this would have been normal for nineteenth century men to rule over their wives. Fanny threatens Troy and Bathshebas marriage by Bathsheba discovering the lock of Fannys hair that Troy owns. Towards the end of this chapter, Joseph Poorgrass, a carter who works on Bathshebas farm speaks to Bathsheba. I think that he knew about Fannys pregnancy and how she died. Bathsheba then started asking him questions on how she did die. In the nineteenth century it was very common for a mother to die during childbirth because they did not have the technology and hygiene we have today. Bathsheba knew that many women died giving birth and so she was anxious to know is this is how poor Fanny died. Joseph Poorgrass is unaware that people do not know about Fannys pregnancy and so on the coffin Poorgrass writes Child and F. Robin but soon after Oak runs out because he cares about Bathsheba and does not want her finding out that Fanny had left because she was pregnant and also Oak does not want her to feel upset about this. In the nineteenth century if a woman decided she did not want to marry a man then she was be socially disapproved and some may even pity her. If the woman decided not to marry then she would not be able to have children because it was wrong to do so. The husband had the access to the womans body when he wanted it, she could not say no. this was agreed in the wedding ceremony in the vows and by law. If the woman did decide to stay single and not marry then it would be hard to get a job because usually only men would work while the women would stay at home and the man would be the one that pays for anything that is a necessity. Many people of the nineteenth century think that it is a sin to God to disobey the laws, and in this case the law was sex outside of marriage. In Chapter 43 you saw many different views on Fanny all because she was single and pregnant. Chapter 43 also reveals that Troy did have true feelings for Fanny once he finds out that she has died; when he sees her dead body he realizes that he did love her. Bathsheba is with him when he reveals his love for Fanny and she is very hurt by this. Troy tells Bathsheba that she means nothing to him because of his love for Fanny. Although Troy is very hurt because of his loss of Fanny he does not realize that he is upsetting Bathsheba and he accuses her of dumping him. He wanted to believe because if it wasnt for Bathshebas flirting Troy would have married poor Fanny and she would not have been an outcast of society because she would have then been pregnant in a marriage. Another main character in Far from the Madding Crowd would be Bathsheba Everdene. Bathsheba takes my interest in womens experiences in the nineteenth century; this is because she is so different to all other women that lived in that period of time. Bathsheba owns and runs a farm; this was usually the mans job because women were not meant to be as independent as some may say Bathsheba was. You can tell that Bathsheba comes across as a very independent woman from an early stage in the book. In Chapter 3, Gabriel Oak was watching how Bathsheba rode her horse and Hardy wrote hardly expected of a woman she rode in the manner demanded by the saddle this means that she was not ridding the horse in a lady-like fashion, which was side saddling, but she rode the horse with one leg either side of the horse. Oak was very impressed by the way she rode the horse. While riding the horse it says that she drops backwards flat upon the ponys back, her head over its tail, her feet against its shoulders and her eyes to the sky Towards the end of the chapter Bathsheba yet again amazes Gabriel Oak by rescuing him from his smoke filled hut. He wakes up on her lap; usually it would be the other way round and the man would have saved the woman. The young girl with remarkably pleasant lips and white teeth was beside him. More than this astonishingly more his head was upon her lap, his face and neck were disagreeably wet, and her fingers were unbuttoning his collar. This sort of quote was unusual for the nineteenth century because in novels they would never discuss anything sexual as they thought it was a very wrong. After Bathsheba saves Oak she says that it was foolish of him to leave his hut while there was a fire in it. No woman would usually say this to a man in the nineteenth century because the man was always in charge and so he would not have liked to be told what was right and what was wrong.