Wednesday, October 24, 2012
HT: Analysis
My definition of reaping is the outcome of one's actions. The second book of Hard Times has a few examples of those seeing the results of their actions. For instance at the end of Chapter 8 of Book 2, we see Tom break down into tears after his sister leaves. Tom's own mistakes and behaviors are what led him to be put into the situation in which he was. He caused himself more separation from his sister, but still dependent on her. It is not until the end of Chapter 8 when it appears he finally realizes the harm he is causing his sister: "tearing his hair , morosely crying, grudgingly loving her, hatefully but impenitently spurning himself, and no less hatefully and unprofitably spurning all the good in the world" (186). He "grudgingly" loved her meaning he loved her so much as a sister but could see that they were starting to lose their close connection. Tom is finally starting to see the result's of his actions making this just one example of reaping in Book 2.
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The denotation (dictionary definition) of "reaping" is "to obtain as a result of effort." Traditionally, this is a harvesting term; what and how much you harvest is a result of the effort you put into caring for it. I think your own definition is spot on when it comes to the human definition; the outcome we obtain is directly linked to our efforts or our own actions. It would then be interesting to span out our focus and see who helps reaps the result of their own efforts within this book.
ReplyDeleteIf reaping is looked at from a farming standpoint, it is pretty similar to garnering except that I believe it is one step before. After planting seeds of societal issues in book one, Dickens develops this issues to their climaxes in book two. One example of this is Louisa's final breakdown and Sparsit's staircase getting to be a greater and greater issue. The reaping cannot be cured, but in book three Dickens seems to do the final analysis, or harvest, of the characters issues. Characters appear to get what they deserve. Although Tom recognizes his wrongdoings in the end, Dickens has him die terribly to show that he "reaped" what he deserved form his actions.
ReplyDeleteIf I understand the terms correctly in regards to agriculture, "reaping" is the process of fathering the large harvest and thus you obtain the amount of harvest that you put in the work for. “Garnering” is similar in many ways in that it is a collection process but it is the process of picking up the pieces of the harvest that were missed from the reaping. In that light, the idea for Book 3 would be that characters are attempting to pick up the pieces from their own personal reaping and, inevitably, are they able to do so.
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