Wuthering Heights Wednesday Week 1

Welcome to Wuthering Heights Wednesday which is being hosted by Jill over at Fizzy Thoughts. The goal is to read 3 chapters every week and post our thoughts on Wednesdays.

The year is 1801 and Mr. Lockwood has just moved in at the Grange and is off to visit his landlord Mr. Heathcliff. He is appalled at the reception he gets there. Mr. Heathcliff is downright rude to him. Chapter 1 concludes with Mr. Lockwood being chased out by Mr. Heathcliff’s dogs when he figures that the dogs ‘would scarcely understand tacit insults’ (pg 7, eBook) and commences to wink and make faces at them. Well they understood and went after him giving me a good giggle.

But Mr. Lockwood is not to be deterred and determines to go visit again the next day but comes up with no better luck. Nobody will answer the door to his incessant banging. His response…

• ‘”Wretched inmates!” I ejaculated, mentally, “you deserve perpetual isolation from your species for your churlish inhospitality”. (pg 9, eBook)

Needless to say Mr. Lockwood cracks me up and if he continues in this way I’m going to enjoy this book.

On his second visit things get interesting. He meets a woman he assumes is Mr. Heathcliff’s wife but it turns out she is his daughter-in-law. He also meets a disagreeable young man named Hareton Earnshaw. As well it had started snowing outside and was getting worse by the minute. He asks for assistance getting home but is refused. Finally he manages to get himself invited to stay.

Staying though wasn’t such a good idea either as he’s put in some room where apparently Mr. Heathcliff doesn’t like anyone to be. Mr. Lockwood can see why as he has nightmares the whole time. He dreams of someone at the window so he goes to the window…

• ‘…knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of an little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, “Let me in–let me in!” ” Who are you?” I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. “Catherine Linton,” it replied, shiveringly…”I’m come home: I’d lost my way on the moor!” As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child’s face looking through the window.'(pg 25, eBook)

So, it seems there is a ghost at Wuthering Heights among other things. It seems everyone is quite rude for some reason. I’m sure in the chapters to follow Mr. Lockwood will be making more of an effort to find out more about his anything but ordinary landlord. Either way I’m actually enjoying this book and I wasn’t sure I would. I always had plans to read it because it’s a classic but just never got that far.

It’s not too late if you’d like to join in with us to read Wuthering Heights. Just head over to Fizzy Thoughts and sign up!

Tune in next week for the next installment in the Wuthering Heights read-a-long.