the bird on fire

When Editor James asked the Blog Staff, “What’s your favorite book?” Quintus responded with Wuthering Heights.

By Quintus Ni

When there is love in your heart, everything is beautiful in your eyes; when there is darkness in your heart, everything is ugly. In Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, the hero Heathcliff, who became hostile because he couldn’t get love, performs a lot of unsympathetic revenge. However, he finally gets a release because of the power of love.

The wilderness, the west wind, the distant towns, the broken grass, the rough terrain, the bleak sunset, the sequestered life, the hard journeys, the lonely years, all that Emily Brontë had, had no glory — at least in the days of her life — she went though twists and turns, ups and downs, and with her dreams died.

This talented woman who died young would never have imagined that, after her death, Wuthering Heights, her only novel, would be remembered as the “most peculiar novel” and become one of the brilliant precious gems of British literature of the 19th century. Today, it has still won over millions of readers with its magnificent and moving splendour, who are deeply shocked by its special artistic charm.

All the time I was reading, I was wondering whether Cathy loved Edgar. If yes, how could she love another, when she loved Heathcliff so strongly and so deeply? Through repeated perusal of her words, I have come to understand that she liked Edgar, as I like Edgar, for he is handsome, rich, young, and active.

The love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw can be described as “infatuation.” The sunshine, sweetness, and laughter are not the main part of their love, while the dark hatred, misunderstanding and resentment are mixed into the main color of their love, creating their crazy love.

Heathcliff is me, said Catherine, and I am him….This kind of love was not understood, accepted, or allowed by others, so they constantly struggled, fighting with everything around them, but they were tortured and bullied in the real life, as Heathcliff was treated as an inferior, a wild child without status, background or cultivation, who was deprived of the right to enjoy a good life, rudely beaten and insulted for his street urchin’s humble birth. He had given up all hope of being a decent gentleman. And Catherine was an honorable young lady.

Emily Brontë deliberately created an eerie, nightmarish, exaggerated atmosphere. Some of the plots seem to have queer mystique from an unreal world. The soul, the ravings, the hallucination, and the nightmare give the story a layer of legend, incisively and vividly showing the deepest infatuation, the most crazy persistence, and the most painful struggle. The wind and rain, the snow, the night, the wild nature and the stirring emotions of the characters complement each other. The bleak wilderness is profound, changeable, gloomy and sorrowful, which highlights the personality traits of the characters and shows the deep love from human nature. The impermanence and boundless love of the hero, Healthcliff, like nature, takes a deeper root in the hearts of characters and readers. With her exquisite thoughts and feelings and the superb artistic techniques, Emily Brontë created a soul-stirring tear-jerker with strong artistic appeal. In this way, Wuthering Heights made Emily Brontë well-known all over the world.

Favorite Book Editor: James Zheng