[Page numbers refer to Oxford World Classics edition]

Themes

  1. game, modern life as a: 23, 67, 83, II.57, 254, swindle, swindler 31, 67, [112 appearance of $], II.30 [first time we see it], 44, 111, [Vossner] 175, 290. robbery 299; forgery II.68-70, 73; II.99-100

  2. gambling 90-95, 418; & cheating 231, 275; credit 379, 423 [& language], II.326; rumor 412, II.87, 103, 347; specolation II.333

  3. deal-making, log-rolling 29-30, 99, 417; effect on law & justice 35; marriage 213 [cp. J. Crumb II.350]; 328-329; society II.88 effect on taste and old-mores 35; literary 99, II.371-372, 364-365 (T. on the novel-writing business)

  4. Writing 27, 227;

  5. literature, the literary world: Lady Carbury's letters to 3 editors 1-5; Felix drives Lady C to 15, 100; 17; actions done for purpose of story, journalism 41, cp. II.76; reviews 96-97; books Marie reads 164, II.25;

  6. story/tale: II.243-244, 247, 339, 343, 353, 354, 360, 364-365

  7. Old vs new ways: 67, 454, II.46,70, 204 (buying one's way into society); 69, 71, 138

  8. Class 390-393, 409-410, II.25; & country vs city 169-170, 308-310,

  9. Male vs Female 120, 392, II.3, 309, 353-454 [women's property]

  10. Conservative vs. liberal: II, 31, 171

  11. America vs. England II.246, 283, 350, 378, 387

Techniques

  1. Point of View and narrative method: appeal to audience 86b, 441; authorial intrustion to establish moral value 99; 157; 343, II.78; indirect narration of Crumb's assaolt on Felix II, 197-201; "I" II.345, 357 (note purpose of intrusion), 378; "reader" II.349

  2. Ethos: clarity & transparency as 110; wisdom speaking: 88, 110, 258, 259, 260, 305, 398, 397, II.465; example of analysis 442; explanation of detail II.241 Self-conscious mention of reader 11 "People said of him" 68, 204

  3. Dialogue: 22, 166-167, 184, 218; Austen-like 71; plain speaking: 39, 61, 122; Internal dialogue 219-220

  4. Description: Melmotte 31, Marie 32; Carbury Manor House 128-130; 4. Exposition: Lady C 12-13; & Mr. Broune 4; facts about Melmotte, 106-107; intro of Fisker 56; Mrs. Hurtle 240-241, 449-450, her reputation 243;

  5. Characterization:

    • individual: Lady Carbury 3-5, 104, 152. 288-289*, II.371; Felix 17-20, 21, 37, 166-167, 403, 405 [Felix on women], II, 154, 434; Melmotte 42, 80-81, 89, II.104-105, 290, 316; thumbnail characterization, 117; 139; Roger Carbury, 47-48, 51 "manly man," 60, 74; 127; 130-33, 140-141, II.347, 350, 353-354; Paol 55; example of combines advancing narrative, exposition, and characterization: 62; Fisker 75, II.394-395; Longestaffe 116-117, 199; Georgiana Longestaffe 194, 296-298; John Crumb 308-109, Nidderdale II.59-60, 111, 336; Hetta II.376-377, 385-386; Mrs. Hurtle II.381-382, 386, 445,

    • Action: 65-66 (confrontation of Roger & Felix)

    • Character development or change: Felix 28, 276; Marie 38, 235, II.67, 258, 448; Melmotte 323, 330, II.34-35, 45 [in a nutshell!], 85

    • by act of judgment: Mrs. Hurtle 246, 391

    • by judgment of another: 362, 409 (Roger on Felix), II.392 (Breghert's kindness to Melmotte); II.448 [Mrs H on Paol]

    • by Dickensian tag II.338 ("He may cut me in pieces")

  6. Style: example of paragraph structure: 101; example of prose style II, 354, 356

  7. Imagery: religious 70, "built upon sands" 84, 133, [206], fall of man II.431, 437; shipwreck 279, 337, 379, 439, II.61, 104, 212, 223, 254, 267, 295, 345, 373, 381, 423 [castaway]; Melmotte's house as metonomy II.311

  8. Motifs: Fairy Tale 34, 389

  9. Myth: 115; Medea 114-115, 261, II.257

  10. Plot complication 402-403, 434, II, 159; recognition scenes II.149 (Paol & Hetta)

  11. Focus on ethical dilemma II.201

  12. Exposition and "post-"exposition II.357, 361

  13. Confrontation scenes: II.459

  14. plot parallels: (a) proposal and engagement scenes: Marie & Felix, Marie and Nidderdale, Marie and Fisker; Hetta and Paol; Mrs Hurtle and Paol; Lady Carbury and Mr. Broune 1 + 2; Ruby & Felix, Ruby and Crumb; Roger and Hetta; Georgiana Longestaffe & Breghert; GS & Curate

Realism

  1. accuracy of description-- Mimesis;
  2. self-consistency;
  3. agreement with belief system (ideology); Placement of fictive time 29;

Miscellaneous topics

  1. The Beargarden 24, 27, II.429-432, 436-437;
  2. love 72, 74, 131, II.248, 310, 326, 385-386, 402, 417, 425;
  3. Religion 148-150, 177-178, 320, 411 [false, based on TC]; II.49-50, 52;
  4. allusion to Thomas Carlyle: false religon 411, "Signs of the Times" II.57,
  5. Jews & anti-semitism: II, 92-93, 143, 261-263, 270, 274, 364, 426;
  6. puzzling contemporary allusion II.129;
  7. positive effect of railway II.390;
  8. suicide, moral and psuchological analysis II.356
  9. Justice, injustice, verdict, jury II.353, 375, 389, 448
  10. Society as hell (70)
  11. modern probem: disjunction of land, money, and power
  12. modern problem2: absence of honest language, which serves as nexus between society and credit

Victorian
Web

Authors

Anthony
Trollope

The Way
We Live Now

Last modified 2000