#NYRBbookclub Question 2/5
Did any character emerge as a moral center?
@BarbaraBB @emilyhaldi @GatheringBooks @LeahBergen @Leftcoastzen @MicheleinPhilly @mklong @saresmoore @sisilia @sprainedbrain @Theaelizabet @Suet624 @vivastory @youneverarrived @Aimeesue @Liz_M @batsy @Reviewsbylola @Billypar @JenniferP @Cinfhen
vivastory For me, Nance was definitely the closest to a moral center. Plus, she had some of the best lines. 😄 4y
Billypar In the first half I would have said Sibyl, but boy was that off the mark 😯 I think for me it was Dulcia- she was very earnest in trying to offer support, even if it was comical at times. 4y
saresmoore Ha! I, too, think Nance was probably the closest. But how about old Mrs. Jekyll? She didn‘t care much about decorum and what others thought, but she represented a sort of balanced view of things. She probably understood morality better than any of them, even if it didn‘t dictate her worldview. 4y
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Billypar I wonder what others made of Beatrice: she was moral I guess... but also weird. Was it just that she was religiously motivated or was she supposed to be a little eccentric too? She also became quieter as the novel went on, after the 'message of Christmas' business. 4y
vivastory @saresmoore I became really fond of Mrs. Jekyll. And I agree with you about her balanced view of things. 4y
saresmoore @Billypar If Dulcia is the moral one, I don‘t wanna be right! Haha! I appreciated Almeric for balancing her out, but when he left, I just couldn‘t stand Dulcia and her childish attempts at self-righteousness. 4y
vivastory @Billypar She was a bit too moral of you know what I mean 😅 #shadesofnedflanders 4y
Billypar @saresmoore @vivastory Lol - at first she was annoying but as it went on I started looking forward to her well -intentioned speeches. Totally Flanders-esque 😂 4y
LeahBergen I‘d have to side with @vivastory here. Nance was the closest to a moral centre for me, as well. And oh, man ... that Dulcia was annoying. 😂😂 @Billypar @saresmoore I wonder if ICB purposely chose a name that means “sweetness” in Latin? I bet she did. 😂😂 4y
mklong I would say that Beatrice and Dulcia would probably say they are the moral center, but Nance was the one whose observations cut to the heart of the matter. @billypar, I didn't really understand why Beatrice is there. In the second half, after Almeric left, Dulcia sort of took over her role as the self righteous center of the community, so I'm not sure why we needed both of those characters. 4y
vivastory @mklong Good point about Dulcia taking over Beatrice's role. I felt like several of Nance's observations could have been collected into aphorisms. 4y
saresmoore @Billypar I‘ve no doubt! She really is sweet, bless her heart. 😂 4y
vivastory @LeahBergen I didn't even think about that, but you're probably right 😂 4y
saresmoore @mklong I think the fact of Beatrice‘s superfluity is a point Burnett was trying to drive home. All the women were sort of seeking for purpose. 4y
mklong @saresmoore I hadn't thought of that, but you're right. There were very few roles for the women in the village. It makes Beatrice an even sadder case that, even in her limited role, she was usurped. And the poor thing probably thought Mr. Jeckyll would choose one of the pious ladies for a wife, but he went with acerbic Nance instead. Which, of course, made me like him more! 4y
saresmoore @mklong Well said! And it made me like him more, too! 4y
batsy I agree with others that Nance was the moral centre, for the purely selfish reason that I liked and related to her the most 😂 @saresmoore I like Mrs. Jekyll a lot; she grew on me and began to represent in a very lowkey way a kind of subtle authorial voice (it was probably just me reading it that way). I love the points you and @mklong make about Beatrice's superfluity and the women striving for some sort of recognition...very astute. 4y
BarbaraBB Well said @saresmoore and @mklong about Beatrice. I hadn‘t realized that myself although I wondered why she kind of drifted away in the second half of the book. Like @vivastory I could relate most to Nance as the moral center, although at first I also thought of Sybil, @Billypar ☺️ 4y
GatheringBooks i love all your observations here about the “moral epicenter” of the story. i hear you all about nance, too. anyone thought of the first mrs edgeworth who died of despair and heartbreak as the moral center (whatever that implies)? perhaps her death really illuminates the callousness of duncan and the choices each of the characters made in the wake of her tragic and untimely and totally preventable (perhaps) death. 4y
Billypar That's true @GatheringBooks - she wasn't around for very long but she may have been the moral glue holding the family together. Although Nance was my favorite as well, she does still seem to support Grant's return to Sybil due to the inheritance, even if she is reluctant. It's hard to say how Mrs. Edgeworth would have responded- maybe she would have supported the same choice to be able to have Sybil back, but it is interesting to consider. 4y
GatheringBooks @Billypar right? I also felt that her death seemed like an inconvenience to Duncan more than anything, which again reveals a great deal about his character. The genuine grief showed by her children is a clear contrast to the self-serving reaction of the “head of the house.” (edited) 4y
merelybookish @Gatheringbooks Such a great point about the loss of Ellen. It's like without her the house has no heart. Got me thinking about "home is where the heart is" and how different that feels from a "a head and its house" 4y
GatheringBooks @merelybookish oooh! i like this one. And duncan clearly is a *dick*head. Pun intended. 4y
emilyhaldi @Billypar @BarbaraBB Sybil was the only one keeping it real in the beginning!! And perhaps you could say she kept it real later too... She certainly didn't hold back in getting what she wanted, regardless of whatever sliver of a moral compass she may have possessed 😳 4y
Billypar @emilyhaldi I was quite surprised by the progression her character took. There were some early signs when she seemed a little jealous of Almeric's attention to Alison, but I thought it was a little crush, harmless. And then...🤤 4y
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