Marriage and Social Identity in the Return of the Native

The Return of the Native presents a world in which “doing means marrying". Thomas Hardy shows how the dominant discourse of the Victorian society defines an individual's whole life through the conformity to the social code of marriage. This paper clarifies how Hardy's satirical tone implicitly reflects the voice of the minority, which is not able or eager to follow this conformity code of the majority. Through a detailed analysis of the significance of marriage in defining one's social identity, family relations, economic ambitions, and individual ideals, the paper focuses on a hermaphrodite character who cannot adapt to the majority's code because of his physical condition. Such an individual, as the paper presents, is marginalized by the majority and suffers from problems that might lead to psychological disorders. It is Hardy's implicit satirical tone, which encourages the readers to change their mental set about the role of marriage in defining one's identity.


INTRODUCTION
In her introduction to The Return of the Native Margaret R.Higonnet opens a section under the title of +DUG\ ¶V 0RGHUQLW\ ,Q WKLV LQWURGXFWRU\ SDUW VKH VWDWHV that The Return of the Native moves (XVWDFLD ¶V marriage and death from their normal position at the FORVH RI WKH QRYHO WR WKH FHQWHU 6KH DOVR DGGV ³/LNH George Eliot in Middlemarch, Hardy deals with PDUULDJH ³DV D FRQWLQXLQJ OLYHG SURFHVV´ McHale (1993) EHOLHYHV ³7KH VWDWH RI D ILFWLRnal world is a construct, just as the characters and objects that occupy it are, or the actions that unfold within it. Typically, in realist and modern writing, this spatial construct is organized around a perceiving subject, either a character or the viewing position adopted by a GLVHPERGLHG QDUUDWRU´ p. 45).
The case of The Return of the Native is that of a realist, modern novel in which the perceiving subject is a disembodied narrator. The constructed world of this narrator is founded upon the concept of marriage. In fact, The Return of the Native can be considered as a sort of treatise on marriage.
There are so many pages all through the novel in which marriage is a direct or an indirect subject matter. It is also worthy to note that the existence of marriage provides lots of opportunities in which SHRSOH ¶V LGHDV LGHDOV PRWLYDWLRQV DQG DSSUHKHQVLRQV about marriage are analyzed.
The tone of the disembodied narrator in the presentation of the major theme of the novel is best understood if Bakhtin's definition of tone is applied to the whole novel. According to Bakhtin, tone or ³LQWRQDWLRQ LV ³RULHQWHG LQ WZR GLUHFWLRQV ZLWK respect to the listener as ally or witness and with respect to the object of the utterance as the third, living participant whom the intonation scolds or FDUHVVHV GHQLJUDWHV RU PDJQLILHV´ as cited in Abrams, 1999, p. 218).
Through a serious-satirical tone, Hardy tries to exert an enlightening approach on the concept of marriage ZKLFK LV ³WKH REMHFW RI WKH XWWHUDQFH´ LQ The Return of the Native. Besides, in this novel marriage becomes a means through which social mobility, individual ambitions, class distinctions, family relations, social conventions, and some other concepts are portrayed.
7KDW PDUULDJH LV RQH RI +DUG\ ¶V REVHVsions in his novels is not something unknown to the readers or the critics. However, what makes The Return of the Native something unique among the other novels with WKH VDPH ³REMHFW RI WKH XWWHUDQFH´ LV +DUG\ ¶V (2008) poignant tone in depicting the situation of a minority group that is not capable of fulfilling the social expectations with regard to marriage: Eustacia had got beyond the vision of some marriage of inexpressible glory; yet, though her emotions were in full vigor, she cared for no meaner unioQ « ,Q D ZRUOG ZKHUH GRLQJ PHDQV marrying and the common wealth is one of KHDUWV DQG KDQGV « pp. 70-71).
,W LV DOUHDG\ FOHDU WKDW ³LQ D ZRUOG ZKHUH GRLQJ PHDQV PDUU\LQJ´ WKH YXOQHUDEOH DUH WKH RQHV ZKR DUH QRW willing to or able to marry. It is here that lies the uniqueness of The Return of the Native. In this novel getting married is presented as a form of social conformity within the frame of the dominant GLVFRXUVH 9DULRXV ILHOGV RI WKH LQGLYLGXDO ¶V OLIH DUH defined through marriage. Therefore, Hardy, the realist satiric novelist brings the question of the nonconformity to the level the consciousness of his readers. In other words, he makes the readers confront the situation of an individual who is either unwilling or unable to marry. 7KH PDMRU EXWW RI +DUG\ ¶V VDWLUH LV WKH VRFLHW\ WKDW neither recognizes these nonconformists nor sympathizes with them. Through creating such a character, Hardy expects and seeks a reformation of thought in KLV UHDGHUV +H LQVSLUHV WKDW ³VHQVH RI UHVSRQVLELOLW\ WR RWKHUV´ ZKLFK LV PHQWLRQHG E\ : DUKRO (1989) and PDNHV DQ HIIRUW WR ³VKDNH XV IURP RXU LQGLIIHUHQFH´ which Quintero ascribes to the satirist.
The explanatory notes of the novel suggest that the VD\LQJ ³1R PRRQ 1R PDQ´ PHDQV WKDW D PDQ ERUQ under such conditions (born in the interval between an old moon and the first appearance of a new one) refers to a hermaphrodite (p. 395). Introducing of a hermaphrodite character to the world of fiction has its own background. According to Williams (2004) This paper appreciates and analyzes the presence of such a character because his existence provides us with an opportunity to re-evaluate our own conceptions about human conduct. . In other words, in a world that the dominant discourse shapes, judges, DQG LQWHUSUHWV RQH ¶V OLIH E\ RQH ¶V PDULWDO VLWXDWLRQ RU prospective marriage, a hermaphrodite character like Christian, whose physical condition does not allow him to marry, is treated not as an ordinary human EHLQJ EXW DV ³D VOLJKW VODFNHG-twisted slim looking IRRO´ 6XFK D FKDUDFWHU KDV DOZD\V EHHQ VXSSUHVVHG by the social conventions of the Victorian era.
$V WKH QRYHO VKRZV WKLV ³TXHHU´ FKDUDFWHU LV humiliated based on the physical condition over which he himself has had no control. The way the VRFLHW\ WUHDWV WKH ³KHUPDSKURGLWH´ LV ³QRW HQFRXUDJLQJ´ +DUG\ REVHUYHV 0RUHRYHU WKH YHU\ QDPH RI WKLV FKDUDFWHU ³&KULVWLDQ´ FRQYH\V WKH IDWH he has to bear in the Victorian society. According to Babb (1986) ³+DUG\ GRHV LQ HIIHFW HYDOXDWH PDQ\ RI KLV FKDUDFWHUV E\ WKH QDPHV KH FKRRVHV IRU WKHP ´ p. 373) Therefore, this paper states that the marriagebased ideology of the Victorian society, which is depicted by the novel, would crucify this character to consolidate its own marital code. The idea that a hermaphrodite character is subject to be crucified is also mentioned by Williams (2004)  From the late decades of the twentieth-century literary and cultural theories have tried through all their ³LVPV´ WR SUHVHQW DQG GLVFXVV WKH SUREOHPV RI marginality, repression, and suppression o the minorities. However, it is interesting that Thomas Hardy creates a fictional character to reveal his own anxieties, which are shared by the literary and cultural concerns of our time. That is to say, Hardy makes an effort to inform his readers of the emotional and psychological sufferings of an individual who is not able to conform to the supposedly miraculous nuptial prescription of the Victorian mindset.
The major purpose of this paper has been to show how Hardy constructs the whole world of his novel on the concept of marriage, then through an implicit deconstruction of such a world he invites us to see the RWKHU SRVVLEOH ZRUOG LQ ZKLFK ³GRLQJ´ GRHV QRW QHFHVVDULO\ ³PHDQ PDUU\LQJ´ 7KLV QHZ ZRUOG EHORQJV WR WKRVH ZKR DUH FODVVLILHG DV ³WKH RWKHUV´ DQd they have been invisible to the Victorians.

CONCLUSION
The conclusion we have come to is that by creating a ³TXHHU´ FKDUDFWHU 7KRPDV +DUG\ KDV WULHG WR UHPLQG his readers of the presence of the minority whose existence has been neglected or denied by the PDMRULW\ ,Q KLV WUHDWPHQW RI WKH ³UHDO ZRUOG´ RI WKH Victorian society, the satirical novelist fulfills 4XLQWHUR ¶V (2007) LGHD WKDW ³7KH VDWLULVW HLWKHU explicitly or implicitly, tries to sway us toward an ideal alternative, toward a condition of what the satirist believes should be. It is assumed that the artist has our best interest at heart and seeks improvement RU UHIRUPDWLRQ´ p. 3).