Far From The Madding Crowd Analysis

Poisonous Fruits of the Womb
Pregnancy is source of immense joy for many people, conception represents hope and new beginnings. However in both Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye pregnancy is portrayed as tragic ending to life. Far From the Madding Crowd takes place in Pre-Industrial Revolution England and follows the complex journeys through class lines. Unlike the protagonist Bathsheba, Fanny Robin is a poor and unfortunate, similarly to Bathsheba Fanny was cuckolded by Sergeant Troy, however her class and unluckiness separated their fates. The Bluest Eye is set in a small town in Ohio Pre-Depression era, the novel is a portrait of the African American community at the time. Pecola Breedlove is
the at the bottom of her community, similar to Fanny in her unluckiness, she is poor, black, young, a girl, and most importantly ugly to both her standards and societies standards. Both of the narratives of Fanny and Pecola are the sad stories of the novels, the one that the reader most intensely feels sympathetic towards.
Fanny is betrayed by the father of her child, and the man she is infatuated with, when he abandons her and leaves her to beg in the streets. Her pregnancy outcasts her from the community and ultimately is the reason she is unable to rejoin her former life after Troy abandons her. This is also intersected with the fact that as a woman her situation was frowned upon and she was unable to regain respect in her vulnerable position. Fanny’s position as an unmarried, poor, pregnant woman is what ultimately causes her death of fatigue and starvation. This story of tragedy is similar to Pecola Breedlove’s pregnancy. Pecola was betrayed by her father, Cholly Breedlove, the man who is supposed to love and care for her the most, when he rapes her. This rape destroys Pecola psychologically and causes her to become pregnant. Despite the fact she is pregnant with her father’s child, her community continues to look down on her and outcasts her. Due to the oppression she faces as a girl, she is looked down upon and shunned at her lowest point, rather than cared or loved. The combination of being unloved and shunned, and pregnant with the product of her rape, Pecola is driven to a psychotic break. Both girls are unable to control
their fate due to their pregnancy. Unlike other characters in the book who have the power to improve their lives despite tragedy, Pecola and Fanny are cursed by their wombs. As women their decisions are invalidated and shamed, yet they are not able to change their biology. Both Hardy and Morrison create characters that are held hostage to biological functions and the class of their gender which ultimately decide their tragic fates.