Ruiz de Burton, the author of Who Would Have Thought It, begins her novel explaining that in a world of good and proper people rogues are useful and necessary, or else they would 'perish of sheer insanity". The story progresses ironically as the real rogues, Mr.Hackwell and Mrs.Norval (to name a few), perceive the most-honourable and kind-hearted Dr. Norval as a "temporary whetstone" due to the lack of rogues in their community of 'proper' people. It is hard to believe that the purest man, in heart and mind, has been stamped as a writer of treason and even harder to believe that the same man once proposed to the conniving Mrs.Norval!!! Although Mrs.Norval is an unbelievably shrewd woman with a huge disregard for poor Lola's feelings, she represents the common attitude towards non-whites. In modern day, Mrs.Norval may seem out of line with her crude words and selfish desires, however, her behavior was considered 'normal' when this book was written by Ruiz Burton and that the sympathetic Dr. Norval is the one whom is out of line during this time, regardless of his endless care and support for others.
Love is a strong force in this novel, inducing hearts to sway towards the good-as well as the bad. Ruiz de Barton describes in great detail the happiness and the love that surges through Dr.Norval's body when Lola embraces him with all her love. Lola has a similar effect on Julian. Julian's severely wounded state was became significantly better upon the arrival of Lola and his love for her only made him healthier. However, in Mrs.Norval's case, her blinded love towards Mr.Hackwell causes her to act most selfishly in order to fulfill her own desires, such as forgetting about the physical state of her wounded son and disregarding her sister's feelings about leaving Mr.Hackwell's side. Although her jealousy is unreasonable and her actions intolerable, her wild emotions make her one of the most interesting characters of the novel.
Although Lola is mistreated by of Mrs.Norval and the rest of the community, she soon captures all the hearts of the purest and kindest people in the novel! I am excited to see how far Lola's influences will extend.
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4 comments:
I agree that Lola seems to embody purity, intelligence, kindness...and this is why she captures the hearts of all the good (and some of the bad) characters in the novel. But I have a bit of an issue with the lack of character development for her. She seems very archetypal. I do wish there was some kind of realness, some kind of bite to her character that would convince me of why everyone loves her so.
Wow..I was confused for a second because I thought I was reading my own post...the beginning of both of ours are pretty similar! So I definitely agree with what you are saying about the injustice of considering Dr. Norval to be a rogue. I am hoping he come back from Africa soon, and that he is able to turn the tables on everyone who is double-crossing him.
As for Lola, I like her, but I agree with Valerie's comment in that I am hoping that Ruiz de Burton adds more depth to her character by the end of the novel.
Mrs Norval! What a kook. I think she has the devil in her and how ironic that a priest is the cause.
I agree that although the characters are well developed, i feel the need to understand lola better. she leaves the book for months at a time in order to live in the convent and we are stuck with greedy, materialistic ladies in New York wondering when Lola will come back.
I think it's really interesting how you show that "love" in the novel, just as many other things, has two sides to it. It can do good and bad. In the case of Dr. Norval, Lola, and Julian it is a very positive thing that helps them. With Mrs. Norval she is unfortunately seduced and used by Mr. Hackwell, and her supposed "love" for him causes her to fall into this situation. Thus, Mr. Norval uses the ability of Mrs. Norval to feel tenderness, attraction, and love against her.
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