How does hardy use this description of landscape and agriculture processes to convey Tess's state of mind in key contrasting sections of the text?
As readers it is sometimes easy to skip over certain bit of text in books as to progress in the story rather than understand the symbolic importance behind certain passages, especially when in 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' Hardy uses so much rich imagery to describe Tess's surroundings. However more modern readers of the text have theorised that everything in Hardy's novel is significant, deliberate and symbolic of something else. In this case we need to analyse the text as closely as we can, especially bits that are describing the landscape as they are hugely important in understanding Hardy's pastoral mode and Tess's emotions.
The landscape and agricultural processes surrounding Tess on the first day she goes to work on the field are an important tool used by Hardy. The opening of chapter 14 begins in light chasing away the darkness and spreading out across the landscape, which could be symbolic of Tess's feelings that maybe the new start working in the field will disperse the negative feelings caused by her time in Tantridge, which could be supported by the similar word choice of "vapours" which is used to describe certain aspects of the sexual incidence with Alec. Also the personification of the sun as a benevolent "golden haired, beaming, mild- eyed, God-Like creature" who shines light into all of the "hollows and coverts" created the idea of equality under one god, and a sense of fairness and acceptance, which could be showing how Tess is feeling due to the relatively non-judgmental opinions of the villagers. However the description of the sunrise as "hazy" can be seen as a certain sense of uneasiness within Tess, that contentedness is not actually all that clear and the something bad could happen, namely the death of her child. When comparing this beginning of a landscape description and the description...