Halfway Through Middlemarch
Musings on chapters 32-42
Good Morning Readers,
Happy Lent! Can we say happy and Lent together? Some members of my household would definitely say no. It has been funny to see my kids get older and see their personalities on display around the topic of Lent. I have one who is almost excited to give things up, picks very appropriately challenging sacrifices, and then is somberly sad about it. I have another who keeps changing what to give up (mostly all things that don’t make sense). Then I have one who goes around loudly exclaiming, “I don’t like Lent.” And then the littles, who don’t quite understand but know that adults have to fast, have started declaring “I don’t want to be a mommy anymore, I want to stay a kid…because I want to eat.” I think my feelings about Lent span the gamut of each of my kids’ feelings. They are just more honest and will actually say it. All that to say, I hope your Lent is starting off well and that you are getting closer to Jesus and looking forward to Easter.
As to my reading life, I am not reading anything specific for Lent this year because I am in the middle of so many other books that I decided it would be better to keep plodding through those than to add more books to the mix. We will see if I hold to this or start adding in Lenten books throughout the season. I finished another Muriel Spark book last weekend and it was honestly way too weird and gruesome to recommend, but I am going to read a few more of hers in the near future (my library stack is tipping) and will let you know if there are any more to write home about. I’m planning to read a play and a murder mystery over the long weekend, which is possibly too ambitious, but snuggling up with a page turner sounds lovely after the last few busy weeks. If it is worth a read I will let you know when I finish it (so far so good)!
I finished the first half of Middlemarch for a Literature Book Club Meeting at the end of this week and I am still enjoying it so much. I also enjoyed chatting about it with some of you. Though I was surprised to hear that not everyone likes Will as much as I do. Either I like a broody guy or I’m just still a sucker for a romance (and Cassubon obviously isn’t cutting it). I would love to hear more opinions if you’d like to leave a comment! I am looking forward to finishing the book and being able to discuss the whole story (and honestly I forget what happens so a lot of it will still feel new to me)!
Summary of Chapters 32-42 (to end of Book IV)
Mr. Featherstone dies after trying to get Mary to burn the second will (and if she did Fred would have gotten a lot of money).
Mr. Featherstone ends up leaving everything to the mysterious Joshua Rigg (who we later find out is his illegitimate son).
Fred is going to go finish his degree since he now has no expectations (which Mary says is the best thing for him).
Lydgate and Rosamond get married immediately go into debt furnishing the perfect house.
Will Ladislaw comes to Middlemarch and gets hired by Mr. Brooke to run the newspaper he has bought.
Mr. Brooke is running for Parliament against all of his extended families’ wishes.
Sir James Chettam and Dorothea convince him to re-hire Caleb Garth to run his estate.
Which makes it so that Mary Garth doesn’t need to go teach at a school she really doesn’t want .
Caleb wants to hire Fred to give him a chance to work and prove himself.
Joshua Rigg Featherstone is in danger of being blackmailed by his step father who accidentally takes away a letter from Mr. Bulstrode (we have no idea what is in it).
Cassubon finds out he is likely to die suddenly and is making some sort of plan against Will.
Favorite Quotes
“The troublesome ones in a family are usually either the wits or the idiots.” (292)
“To be anxious about a soul that is always snapping at you must be left to the saints of the earth.” (302)
“She never forgot that vision of a man wanting to do as he liked at the last….Peter Featherstone was dead, with his right hand clasping the keys, and his left hand lying on the heap of notes and gold.” (304)
“Scenes which make vital changes in our neighbors’ lot are but the background of our own, yet, like a particular aspect of fields and trees, they become associated for us with the epochs of our own history, and make part of that unity which lies in the selection of our keenest consciousness.” (310)
“Twenty-four hours ago he had thought that instead of needing to know what he should do, he should by this time know that he needed to do nothing…” (326)
“Will was not without his intentions to be always generous, but our tongues are little triggers which have usually been pulled before general intentions can be brought to bear.” (349)
“I think the truth is the hardest missile one can be pelted with” (367)
“A man without a family would be glad to do it for nothing.” - Caleb Garth
"Mind you don’t, though.”- Susan Garth (384)
“When the commonplace ‘We all must die’ transforms itself suddenly into the acute consciousness ‘I must die— and soon,’ then death grapples us, and his fingers are cruel…” (405)
Funniest Moments
When Eliot compares Featherstone’s relatives to beetles that the cook will boil!
Mrs. Cadwallader describing to process she went to in order to enjoy sermons!
“I made up my mind to like sermons, and I set out by liking the end very much. That soon spread to the middle and the beginning, because I couldn’t have the end without them.”
Featherstone’s funeral attendees being compared to Noah’s Ark animals with special attention to vultures!
The scene where Fred needs to laugh and Mary switches places with him….it’s true love!
Mrs. Cadwallader now calls Cassubon Thomas Aquinas!
Mrs. Cadwallader calling stinginess a virtue!
Things I Couldn’t Help But Notice
Eliot is constantly calling characters “Poor ____”
Dorothea is still so blind (but we are starting to like her better for it)…but then Will actually makes her see the world more clearly
There are so many comparisons to Dorothea as a nun or a saint or some venerated religious personage… the dog at the Brooke’s house is literally named Monk.
Cassubon and Dorothea’s marital misunderstandings are so true to life.
Virtue is hard to live with if you’re not virtuous…Cassubon resents Dorothea the more she does right by him.
Questions I Am Asking
Is Cassubon going to die and what is he planning?
Are we actually supposed to feel for Cassubon when Eliot asks us to or is this a little joke? It feels like she is smirking when she writes it and I certainly don’t feel for him.
What’s going to happen with Will and Dorothea?
How will Lydgate and Rosamond get out of their money problems?
What is going on with Rigg and Bulstrode?
What is Bulstrode hiding?
Reposted Podcasts (if you missed them the first time)
*I haven’t listened to all, but wanted to share some companions if you’re the podcast sort
I found this Literary Life Podcast episode was a very helpful introduction to George Eliot. They did not do a series on Middlemarch (unfortunately), but did do Silas Marner and the first episode is very biographical.
A Delectable Education is a Charlotte Mason homeschooling podcast. They do a book club every year and a few years ago they did one on Middlemarch. They only have one episode, but I’m sure they have helpful and interesting insights.
There is also a series from the Novel Pairings podcast. I had never heard of them, but they read a lot of good books and seem likable from what I’ve listened to.
Other Things I’m Enjoying
We got our little girls these two books for Christmas by Scott Hahn and
(The Supper of the Lamb and Mary, Mother of All) and they are beautiful and so well written. The girls insist on sleeping with them every nap and night. The one about the Mass also made me appreciate the Mass more as an adult.
I found this Literary Life Podcast episode on Cindy Rollins’ new book, Beyond Mere Motherhood: Moms are People Too, to be so encouraging as a tired mom in the trenches of kid crazy. I haven’t read the book yet, but it is on hold at the library and will let you know if it’s as good as the podcast preview! If you haven’t read her first book, Mere Motherhood, I highly recommend it!
These two articles about handling Lent as a mom are full of wisdom beyond my years…The Best Lenten Sacrifices are the Realistic Ones by
and Discovering You’re Eustace Clarence Scrubb by- ’s Practical Guide to Lent
And one more about Lent and Social Media by
That’s all I have for you this morning. I hope you enjoy this long weekend with your family and continue to find little pockets of time for a good book. I am saying bye to you and hoping to get straight to my murder mystery if no kids interrupt me first, which is doubtful, but eventually I shall get to my book!
Enjoy your reading till we meet again!
“A cultivated intellect, because it is a good in itself, brings with it a power and a grace to every work and occupation which it undertakes, and enables us to be more useful, and to a greater number.”
-John Henry Newman (quoted in a Parents’ Review Article, “All Knowledge for All Men”)
A Few Reminders
Next up for Literature Book Club is The Innocence of Father Brown for April and then Crossing to Safety for May.
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So glad you enjoyed my article! Thanks for sharing. Also, coincidentally, I just ordered a copy of "Innocence!"