After reading the first part of this section, I began to call back bad memories of the family tree in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Although I liked that book (and Wuthering heights to this point), I felt like Nelly Dean’s explanation of the history of Wuthering Heights was very confusing. However, I did catch on to some of the names when she described Heathcliff’s childhood in the Earnshaw household. When telling this story, I initially felt sympathy for Heathcliff: adopted into a new family, struggling to adjust. “Miss Cathy and he were now very thick; but Hindley hated him: and to say the truth I did the same; and we plagued and went on with him shamefully: for I wasn't reasonable enough to feel my injustice, and the mistress never put in a word on his behalf when she saw him wronged.”
I almost felt like I could relate to his situation. At first, I thought that the author was trying to show a different side of the mysterious Heathcliff, to gain sympathy and understanding from the reader. However, my sympathy quickly shifted towards when Hindley’s mother dies and he is despised by the rest of his family: “So, from the very beginning, he bred bad feeling in the house; and at Mrs. Earnshaw's death, which happened in less than two years after, the young master had learned to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a friend, and Heathcliff as a usurper of his parent's affections and his privileges; and he grew bitter with brooding over these injuries” (38).
It seems as though this novel is progressing slightly differently than other books we have read so far. In this case I (the reader) am introduced to many complex and unique characters that are already developed by the time they are introduced in Lockwood’s narrative. While simultaneously changing in the present, the reader has to keep track of character development in the past. This paralleled development of dynamic characters makes the interactions more complex and interesting (it is somewhat...