Questions for the first Book of Middlemarch – Miss Brooke (Chapters 1-12)


1) In the Prelude, we are introduced to St. Theresa of Avila and told:
Many Theresas have been born who found for themselves no epic life wherein there was a constant unfolding of far-resonant action; perhaps only a life of mistakes, the offspring of a certain spiritual grandeur ill-matched with the meanness of opportunity; perhaps a tragic failure which found no sacred poet and sank unwept into oblivion… Here and there a cygnet is reared uneasily among the ducklings in the brown pond, and never finds the living stream in fellowship with its own oary-footed kind. Here and there is born a Saint Theresa, foundress of nothing, whose loving heart-beats and sobs after an unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrances, instead of centring in some long-recognizable deed. (Prelude )
What do you think about the passage? Does it apply to Dorothea?

2) Describe your impressions of Dorothea. It is often said that she’s a self-portrait of George Eliot – do you think she is?

3) In Chapter 3, Dorothea realizes that Mr. Casaubon desires to marry her. Her reaction is,
“Into this soul-hunger as yet all her youthful passion was poured; the union which attracted her was one that would deliver her from her girlish subjection to her own ignorance, and give her the freedom of voluntary submission to a guide who would take her along the grandest path.


"I should learn everything then," she said to herself, still walking quickly along the bridle road through the wood. "It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. There would be nothing trivial about our lives. Every-day things with us would mean the greatest things. It would be like marrying Pascal. I should learn to see the truth by the same light as great men have seen it by. And then I should know what to do, when I got older: I should see how it was possible to lead a grand life here -- now -- in England. I don't feel sure about doing good in any way now: everything seems like going on a mission to a people whose language I don't know; -- unless it were building good cottages -- there can be no doubt about that. Oh, I hope I should be able to get the people well housed in Lowick! I will draw plenty of plans while I have time."
Do you think that Dorothea has realistic expectations of a marriage with Mr. Casaubon? Does he have a realistic expectation of marriage to her?

4) Describe your impressions of Celia’s reaction to the proposed marriage (Chapter 5 ) What do you think of the relationship between the sisters and do they assess each other well?

5) In one of the more (in my opinion) obnoxious quotes from this section, Mr. Brooke tells Mrs. Cadwallader - "I don't pretend to argue with a lady on politics," said Mr Brooke, with an air of smiling indifference, but feeling rather unpleasantly conscious that this attack of Mrs Cadwallader's had opened the defensive campaign to which certain rash steps had exposed him. "Your sex are not thinkers, you know --/ varium et mutabile semper / -- that kind of thing. You don't know Virgil. I knew" -- Mr Brooke reflected in time that he had not had the personal acquaintance of the Augustan poet -- "I was going to say, poor Stoddart, you know. That was what / he / said. You ladies are always against an independent attitude -- a man's caring for nothing but truth, and that sort of thing. And there is no part of the county where opinion is narrower than it is here -- I don't mean to throw stones, you know, but somebody is wanted to take the independent line; and if I don't take it, who will?" (Chapter 6)
What do you think of the characters of Mr. Brooke and Mrs. Cadwallader? What do you think of this exchange?

6) In Chapter 8, we see Chettam continuing his project with Dorothea, and in Chapter 9,  plans for the wedding are moving along quickly. Has there been any change in the expectations or preparedness for their marriage by Dorothea or Mr. Casaubon? What do you think of the character of James Chettam and his relationship with Dorothea, Celia, and Mrs. Cadwallader?

7) As Chapter 11 opens, the marriage has occurred, and we shift focus (this is the chapter I ended up going back and just beginning again) to the Vincys. Why do you think there is this shift, and what contrast is being drawn between the Brookes and the Vincys?

8) What other thoughts, scenes, etc did I miss?

I’ll post my answers in the comments – I look forward to hearing your thoughts and to continuing on with Book 2. There’s a note in my edition that suggests that you should wait a day or two between books, as it was published in separate books. It wasn’t intentional, but I did allow that a bit, as I was unable to get some reading time in yesterday.

Let the wild carrot canning rumpus begin!  Tigress’ February challenge was carrots and I knew exactly what I wanted to do for it as soon as I saw it.

This summer, I’d canned a jardinière – while we enjoyed it, it was sweeter than we tend to like. So, I thought I’d mix up the spices and make a dill jardinière*. 

I used as my base this recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving by Judi Kingry   

3 bay leaves 
6 whole black peppercorns 
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 
4 cups white vinegar 
2 cups water 
2 cups granulated sugar 
1 tbst pickling or canning salt 
2 cups small cauliflower florets 
1.5 cups peeled pickling or pearl onions 
3 stalks celery, cut into ½ inch slices 
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 ½ inch x ½ 
inch sticks 
1 small zucchini, cut into ¼ inch slices 
2 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into ¼ inch strips 
1 large yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼ inch strips 
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼ inch strips 
Makes about 5 pint jars 
1) Prepare canner, jars and lids 
2) Tie bay leaves, peppercorns, and garlic in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag 
3) In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and spice bag. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 5 minutes, until spices have infused the liquid. Add cauliflower, onions, celery, carrots and zucchini and return to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in red, green, and yellow peppers. Discard spice bag 
4) Pack vegetables into hot jars to within a generous ½ inch of top of jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover vegetables, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight. 
5) Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait five minutes, then remove jars, cool and store. 

For the vegetables, I didn’t have any zucchini, so I added another carrot.  I just grabbed some of the bell peppers that I had cut and frozen from our CSA. For the cauliflower, I got a wonderful container full at a new grocery store that my newest Goddaughter recommended to me – thank you!

For the spices – I deleted the sugar, and used a pickling spice from our local co-op, adding some extra dill and mustard seed.   I chopped up six cloves of garlic and distributed them equally amongst the jars.  I also threw in some dill seed in each jar.
 

I think because I didn’t measure the bell peppers, I ended up with a smaller batch than I expected, I only got three pints. But, they look really yummy and I can’t wait to try them – I’ll wait about a month before digging into them, to allow them time to pickle.

And of course, since I was pickling instead of marmalading, I didn’t have a boil over, so my stove (which has just begun to relight) was very happy.  I can’t wait until March’s challenge.

* I was comfortable doing this as I wasn’t changing the proportions or the acidity level, just the spices.

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·  (side note: I’ll post the first of the Middlemarch questions tomorrow – I finished up the first section last night)

Marching through Middlemarch! 

I have been enjoying getting into the book and will be posting questions on Section One (Miss Brooke) by the end of the week.

As we enter into the book, what are your impressions of the book either from previous readings, films, or in general?

(Photo source)