“Jude the obscure” is Hardy’s last fictional work but it is also one of the most beloved ones. This review’s aim is to present the most important things you need to know about the book and to encourage the reading of the fiction NOVEL.

The first reason why Hardy’s work is considered to be one of the greatest ones is that the plot is captivating and addictive. In fact, once you start reading the book, you just want to know how it goes on. 

Furthermore, if you think that a PIECE OF fiction that was written more than a hundred years ago may not be very understandable to read, then you are wrong. The omniscient narrator will always let the flow of the story go on fluidly and every single detail of the story will be accurately explained. 

Last but not least, the troubled and prohibited love story between Jane and his cousin is moving and still contemporary. Several plot twists will make you feel sometimes touched, others shocked, relieved or even amazed. 

To conclude, I would absolutely recommend the reading of this PIECE OF WONDERFUL fiction to everyone, no matter the age.
The book is easily suitable both for teenagers and for adults. It is one of the books NOVELS a person needs to read in their lifetime because of its meaningful message. 

“Jude the obscure” is a story of sufferance and death: it is a novel written by Thomas Hardy in 1895 and it is set in Southern England.

POOR Jude Fawley is an ambitious DREAMY YOUNG man who wants to study at the University of Christminster. One day he meets FASCINATING Arabella Donn, they get married and have a son called Father Time. Unfortunately, they separate. Jude moves to Christminster in order to fulfil his dream. He meets his LOVELY cousin Sue Bridehead: the couple lives together with Father Time and HAVE two MORE children. At the SHOCKING end, the oldest child kills the others and hangs himself.

IT CAN BE STATED THAT in this NOVEL the main theme of Hardy’s work IS EVIDENT: the difficulty of being alive. In fact, the author writes about the poor family'S terrible living conditions. He gives many details on the children’s death - which make the book disturbing and DEEPLY moving: when the MISERABLE parents FIND THE DEAD CHILDREN, the reader’s heart breaks in thousands pieces.

If you are looking for an EXTREMELY REALISTIC, INSPIRING, AT TIMES DISTURBING AND HEARTBREAKING novel, I highly recommend “Jude the Obscure” because it lets you feel THE strongEST emotions ONE CAN POSSIBLY FEEL, SINCE IT DEALS WITH THE AWFUL LIFE CONDITIONS AND DEATH OF POOR DESPERATE CHILDREN....

Jude the Obscure is a novel written by Thomas Hardy in 1895, which narrates the story of a poor British man, Jude Fawley, whose main desire is to try to improve his situation in a time where succeeding in life isn’t easy. After the non-fulfillment of his dream of studying at the University of Christminster and a first ruinous marriage, Jude meets the love of his life, his cousin Sue. Unfortunately, things won’t get better for the two lovers: their scandalous relationship coupled with their disastrous economic position will lead  to a series of problems which will culminate in the death of their three children.

Jude the Obscure is a clear example of HARDY'S DETERMINISM AND FATALISM:  how being in a certain place, in a certain environment and surrounded by a set of circumnstances can partly determine the individual’s existence. Indeed, even children, who should be pure and carefree, can extend to commit foolish things, which seem to be basically unavoidable if they are forced to live and grow in a context of poverty, unhappiness and exploitation. Jude’s eldest son, Father Time, is the perfect example to explain one of the main themes Hardy develops in his novels: the difficulty of being alive coupled with a deterministic view of life. Indeed, in the grip of sorrow and resignation, Father Time decides to kill his siblings and then to commit suicide, because he knows that no other solution can be found to alleviate his family’s tragical condition.

I would recommend this deeply moving and profound novel because, even though it is set in the city of London during the Victorian age (XVIII century), I think that it could be perfectly suitable to describe and denounce some critical situations that involve the modern world, such as children condition in countries at war. 

These issues are different perhaps from the problems that people had to face during the industrial revolution, but they’re just as worrying and distrubing, especially if we consider the fact that we are living in a time where everybody should be supposed to have some inalienable rights and yet there are a lot of people who are still suffering and many others who have no idea of how hard life can be in some parts of the world nowadays. 

“Jude the Obscure” is a novel written by Thomas Hardy at the end of the 19th century in order to describe the society of that period. 

It is THE disturbing heartbreaking story of a poor family that has to overcome many problems caused by poverty. Thanks to his main characters, Hardy is able to PORTRAY the poor, miserable conditions in which people lived in England during the Victorian age. The action takes place in Wessex, a location invented by Hardy that could be everywhere in the world in order to underline how common are the problems of Jude’s family.

The story is really touching and unpredictable: many twist and turns happen and the end of the novel is UTTERLY thought-provoking. The plot deals with pain, sorrow and THE suffering OF SOME MISERABLE HUMAN BEINGS, and it is SOMETHING RATHER unusual for today'S READERS.

The author uses a lot of descriptions so the readers are able to visualise perfectly the things that Hardy describes in the NOVEL.
In addition TO THAT, THE AUTHOR 

PORTRAYS THE characters' personality and appearance carefully too.

The novel is narrated in the third person by a single external narrator who is omniscient and unobtrusive. The author uses a lot of interactions between characters so there are dialogues that HELP build the FICTIONAL WORLD UP. 

IN CONCLUSION, I strongly recommend this HEART-BREAKING, DEEPY MOVING NOVEL because it is well written and absolutely interesting: it FOCUSES on Jude’s family’s story, but at the same time IT deals with the miserable, compassionate LIFE condition that WERE QUITE COMMON TOWARDS THE END OF the 19th Century.

In 1895 Thomas Hardy published A DEEPLY MOVING, QUITE SHOCKING novel called “Jude the Obscure”.

AS FAR AS THE PLOT IS CONCERNED, ONE WILL IMMEDIATELY NOTICE IT is linear: Jude Fawley is a poor boy, who studies and at the same time works as stonemason. He lives with Sue Bridehead but the couple is not married, and for this reason people define their relationship “scandalous”. Jude and Sue have three children, even if one, called Father Time, was born from Jude’s first marriage.
The MISERABLE family lives in an extremely difficult situation, which means they are poor, starving and frustrated. 
WHAT HAPPENS THEN IS Therefore ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING: the eldest son decides to kill his two half-brothers, and then himself.

 In this EXTREMELY THOUGHT-PROVOKING novel, Hardy PORTRAYS the difficulty of being alive, describing the SITUATION of a poor family during the Victorian Age. Using a peculiar STYLE, WITH lots of descriptions, he underlines the main themes: poverty, DESPERATION and failure of communication, which leads to tragedy. WHAT'S MORE, Hardy's STYLE IS CHARACTERISED BY SOME dialogues, that can perfectly help the reader to analyse the human psyche.

 If you like touching and deeply moving stories, Jude the Obscure IS  A must-read:  I strongly recommend it, in order to make you understand the harrowing life of poor people during the Victorian Age and Hardy's philosophica outlook on life itself..

To summarise the events, it’s appropriate to start from the main character: Jude Fawley. He is a poor boy from a village in southern England with lofty ambitions. The university of Christminister is his goal to achieve. He works for it, indeed, he studies and at the same time works as a stonemason. After the end of his first marriage with Arabella the boy moved to his beloved city which symbolizes his new life he wanted to start after his past life full of limitations due to the economic conditions. However, he encountered an obstacle and his dream never happened. Soon after,hemet Sue Bridehead, his cousin, they fell in love and decided to live together without marriage. In the end,Jude lost his children, who were convinced that they were a burden for the family.That’s a shocking event that readers didn’t expect that makes the climax reached. 

During the Victorian Age people were divided into three social classes: the upper, middle and working classes. The last I mentioned had less chance (for) TO GET A GOOD education. Moreover, poor people lived and worked in miserable conditions. Women and children were considered different from men, SOMETIMES THEY WERE TREATED LIKE RAW MATERIAL, and couldn’t behave like men. 

There’s a lot to say about the structure and the syntax because there are lots of descriptions full of specific adjectives that let us imagine in some ways the scene the author presents .Terms are well chosen.The narrator knows everything and sometimes comments: indeed he’s omniscient. 

The novel is captivating and could really be compared to some issues we still have nowadays or to the notable differences from Hardy’s era and ours: social classes, the institution of marriage, religion, education, children, misfortune, unhappy endingsfor instance. 

To conclude, I would highly recommend this monumental novel because, ON ONE HAND, it lets the reader reflect on the conditions of the PEOPLE DURING THE VICTORIAN AGE and on the other hand, how things have changed and how we have started becoming todays’society.

"Jude the Obscure" is a very realistic and captivating novel written by Thomas Hardy in 1895.

It is about the heartbreaking and disturbing story of Jude, one of the most miserable and unlucky MEN of the NINETEENTH Century's English literature. This is due to the fact that he comes from a poor family and he HAS BEEN obliged to work since he WAS very young. In addition, he is also unfortunate in love. Indeed, he will marry two times TWICE: the first time his marriage ends up disastrously and the second one is a little happier, but it is with his cousin! However, the two miserable young PEOPLE are joyful together and they give birth to a little girl and a little boy. As a result of their relationship, they are judged by everyone and the situation becomes more difficult when Jude loses his job. At the end,  they will also lose their children for an obscure and heartbreaking reason.

In my opinion, the plot is easy to follow and the vocabulary is simple. Moreover, the author is omniscient and in some parts he introduces his opinion and his point of view. That makes the novel very gripping to read. 

I think that AS FAR AS THE CHARACTERS ARE CONCERNED; they are NOT ALL round, BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS well described. Indeed, the reader is going to know GETS KNOW them AS IF they were friends and he oder she TENDS TO EMPATHISE AND identify himself or herself WITH them.

The story is set in underdeveloped countries at the end of the nineteen century. I truly believe that the setting is important for the message that Hardy wants to convey. He wants to make things change because he is aware that something is going on and he thinks that we should start from changing the mentality of the society, who is only capable to judge and gave the impression that a person could not improve and change his/HER natural condition. Owing to that, he sets his novel in these deeply miserable places and he gives voice to the most unusual and poor people.

The most important themes are: the difficulty to live in a such AN unfair and unpredictable world, which is connected to the theme of suicide, the indifference of n
Nature against  TOWARDS man’s destiny and the failure in communication, which frequently leads to tragedy. 

In conclusion, I strongly recommend this novel because it is touching, thought-provoking and unpredictable. 

Unusual and arresting, the book touches many important themes in life such as love, education, marriage, parenthood, poverty and last but not least, death.

The NOVEL follows Jude Fawley’s life, a modern English boy with the ambition to become a student at Christminster. Like every normal teenager he wants education and he will do his best to achieve that. Fallen in love firstly with Arabella and then with his cousin Sue, Jude will also understand the importance of true love in life.

Nevertheless, Hardy’s protagonists are constantly looking for love which is (the most of the time) repressed and pushed in the direction of death. It’s precisely this last word the main point in this story. Death is always behind the corner in life and also in Thomas Hardy’s books. 

Moreover, this work stands out thanks to the intensity of some moments such as the the part in which Hardy talks about the lost of Jude’s children.

Disturbing and page-turner, the book catches our attention by using the most efficient technique in writing: the so-called suspense.

The novel CONVEYS anxiety and fear mixed with mystery and crime. All THESE ingredients together give birth to this unique and worth reading work of art.

The main characters are Jude Fawley, the hero of the story and Sue Bridehead, Jude’s cousin, while the minor characters are Little Father Time, Jude and Arabella’s son and aunt Drusilia, Jude’s great-aunt. 

In addition, the most important themes are: marriage, education, social class and religion. 

Indeed, marriage involves making a commitment that many people are unequipped to fulfill. More generically, beside his points about education, Hardy also criticiSes the rigidity of social class DIVISION. Jude is limited in his career options because as a working-class man, he cannot hope to be promoted beyond a certain level. Finally, religion is NOTcapable of fulfilling the needs of modern MEN+. 

The novel is written in formal English and sometimes he uses pompous terms and it also contains many dialogues. 

To conclude, I would highly recommend this NOVEL because it’s rich in suspense and it’s EXTREMELY TOUCHING AND THOUGHT-provoking.

 

It talks NARRATES about the struggle of the poor and disadvantaged Jude to make his way in a bourgeois world full of prejudices, where women were oppressed by a Patriarchal society and influenced by the established church; nonetheless the themes that the author address through the book are endless: the role of Nature as a co-protagonist who’s indifferent to man’s destiny, christianity, that WHICH in his the author's  opinion is no longer capable to fulfill the needs of the modern man, the difficulty of being alive and many more. 

All this THESE topics are touched by the author through an omniscient narrator that gives some comments and introduces his opinion and view of life and a cinematic technique that helps the reader to pay attention FOCUS and reflect on details that often convey Hardy's message. 

 

To sum up, this is an overwhelming novel often rough to read that really makes people reflect on different aspects of life.

Jude Fawley is a boy from a poor village, who works as a stonemason and studies in his free time. He hopes to become a student at the University of Christminster. After his disastrous marriage to Arabella Donn, he decides to move to Christminster where he falls in love with Sue Bridehead, who bears him a second son and a daughter. Everything seems perfect, the only problem is that they are cousins. They refuse the institution of marriage and decide to live together even if everyone in town disapproves their scandalous relationship. Christminister will never be the city of dreams as Jude had hoped: they will live in poverty and their oldest child will kill his brothers and himself.

Every characters in the story represents something significant of that period, and their poverty is the simble SYMBOL/EMBLEM of THE difficulty of being alive in a context of loneliness and frustration.

AS FAR AS THE SETTING IS CONCERNED, WE CAN SAY THAT it is really important because IT is characterised by the industrialisation, the colonisation and the  HUGE differences between SOCIAL classes.

FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE STYLE, HARDY'S narrator is omniscient but sometimes Thomas Hardy presents actions through the eyes of on hypothetical observer.

Thomas Hardy perfectly describes a world of suffering, loneliness and frustration; a world in which hopes vanish into thin air.