Thomas Hardy III

Im not really a big fan of Hardy's novels, though I have read most of them. They are more like fairy stories than realistic novels. Most of his characters are simple people, and not that easy to identify with.. they seem absurdly naive. His last novel, Jude the Obscure, is about a young man who works as a mason. He is clever and would like to go to Oxford, but he is too poor to think of this. He then is seduced by a coarse and earthy girl, Arabella, who tells him she is pregnant, and he ends up marrying her. They havew a son. He is also involved with one of his cousins, Sue Fawley, who like him has ambitions to learn and get on in the world. He is fond of her, but he's tied to Arabella. Sue goes to a teacher training college..and Jude goes on working as a manual worker. Sue is an odd wilful girl who seems to repeatedly do things that turn out badly for herself. Her family believe that marriage does not suit their temperaments and that their marriages usually turn out badly. She marries a school teacher, Phillotson whom she finds repugnant sexually...though she has come to love Jude.