Identity in ‘WH’ and ‘ATSS’
1- Presentation of identity as the cause of discrimination and suffering,
as both Mariam and Heathcliff are rejected by families due to lowly
status
2- Loss of female identity in marriage due to pressures of societal
expectations
3- Regaining of identity coinciding with a positive transformation
- In both ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘ATSS’, identity is presented to be
the cause of suffering, as both Mariam and Heathcliff are subjected
to discrimination given their lowly standings, failing to be accepted
into families.
- From the very beginning of ‘WH’, Heathcliff’s identity is constructed
in a subtly racist discourse as belonging to a dirty, primitive class.
His introduction as a ‘dirty, ragged, black-haired child’ immediately
sets this up, as his ‘dark-skinned’ complexion seems intertwined
with the notion of dirtiness and lower social standing.
- Bronte further establishes this through Mr Earnshaw saying “you
must take it as a gift of God; though it’s as dark almost as if it came
from the devil.” The use of “it” in describing Heathcliff dehumanises
him, establishing his identity as that of an object rather than a
person.
- Furthermore, the theological association of dark with the side of the
devil and light with the side of God is particularly poignant given its
use in the justification of racism and imperialism at the time of
Bronte’s writing regarding the conquests of the British Empire in the
19th century.
- Heathcliff’s mistreatment in the Earnshaw household, therefore,
could be viewed in the sense of colonial racism, which drives his
social isolation. His identity within the Earnshaw family is that of a
slave rather than a child similar to Cathy or Hindley, with Cathy
"spitting at the stupid little thing", further highlighting the inequality
that drives Heathcliff’s degradation as he suffers discrimination
given the class divide between his identity and that of the Earnshaw
children.
- The extent of the suffering Heathcliff is made to endure due to his
lower-class identity is portrayed through the fact he becomes
‘hardened perhaps, to ill treatment’, attributing a regularity to the
malice and inequality he is subjected to as a result of his identity.
- Similarly, Mariam is subjected to inequality given her identity, as
she suffers exclusion from Jalil’s family. Mariam represents a
challenge to Jalil’s reputation in her status as a ‘harami’. In Islam,
, sex is intended for marriage only, and therefore Mariam being born
out of wedlock would have been socially frowned upon, which
Hosseini points to in describing her as from ‘illegitimate beginnings’-
as such, Jalil marries Mariam off to Rasheed to safeguard his own
status ‘for fear of losing face’. Mariam’s lack of agency over this
decision serves to depict the lack of power her identity grants her,
as she is answered for- ‘“She does,” a female voice said down the
table.’
- Hosseini depicts the inequality of this treatment by contrasting
Mariam’s treatment with that afforded to ‘her half sisters…both her
own age’. The juxtaposition between fifteen being a ‘good, solid
marrying age’ solely for Mariam and not for her half-sisters
highlights the inequality Mariam’s harami status garners, much like
the manner in which Heathcliff is treated differently to the Earnshaw
children.
- As such, Mariam is resigned to being the ‘solitary eleventh pebble’,
isolated from Jalil’s family in a similar manner to Heathcliff’s
discrimination in the Earnshaw household.
- Both ‘WH’ and ‘ATSS’ also present a loss of female identity due to
the social constraints of marriage for women in Victorian England
and Afghanistan respectively.
- In ‘WH’, this is presented through the manner in which Heathcliff
and Catherine’s relationship is prohibited, as Catherine is forced to
prioritise the opportunity for social ascension that marriage to Edgar
grants her, reflecting the social imperative of marriage for women in
the Victorian era.
- Bronte portrays this imperative through Catherine justifying this
marriage in social terms, saying of Edgar, ‘and he will be rich, and I
shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood.’ The
superlative of ‘the greatest woman’ reflects the enticing nature of
this opportunity in terms of ascending the social echelons
- This is particularly poignant given the 19th-century property law,
which fixed status at birth, making marriage the only means of
social ascension for women.
- Bronte conflates the individuality of Catherine and Heathcliff, with
Catherine declaring ‘whatever our souls are made of, his and mine
are the same’- in the same way they share souls, Catherine and
Heathcliff appear to share the same identity, which Catherine
affirms in lamenting ‘I am Heathcliff!’
- As such, the separation from Heathcliff that Catherine is subjected
to in marrying Edgar constitutes a loss of her identity. This loss is
1- Presentation of identity as the cause of discrimination and suffering,
as both Mariam and Heathcliff are rejected by families due to lowly
status
2- Loss of female identity in marriage due to pressures of societal
expectations
3- Regaining of identity coinciding with a positive transformation
- In both ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘ATSS’, identity is presented to be
the cause of suffering, as both Mariam and Heathcliff are subjected
to discrimination given their lowly standings, failing to be accepted
into families.
- From the very beginning of ‘WH’, Heathcliff’s identity is constructed
in a subtly racist discourse as belonging to a dirty, primitive class.
His introduction as a ‘dirty, ragged, black-haired child’ immediately
sets this up, as his ‘dark-skinned’ complexion seems intertwined
with the notion of dirtiness and lower social standing.
- Bronte further establishes this through Mr Earnshaw saying “you
must take it as a gift of God; though it’s as dark almost as if it came
from the devil.” The use of “it” in describing Heathcliff dehumanises
him, establishing his identity as that of an object rather than a
person.
- Furthermore, the theological association of dark with the side of the
devil and light with the side of God is particularly poignant given its
use in the justification of racism and imperialism at the time of
Bronte’s writing regarding the conquests of the British Empire in the
19th century.
- Heathcliff’s mistreatment in the Earnshaw household, therefore,
could be viewed in the sense of colonial racism, which drives his
social isolation. His identity within the Earnshaw family is that of a
slave rather than a child similar to Cathy or Hindley, with Cathy
"spitting at the stupid little thing", further highlighting the inequality
that drives Heathcliff’s degradation as he suffers discrimination
given the class divide between his identity and that of the Earnshaw
children.
- The extent of the suffering Heathcliff is made to endure due to his
lower-class identity is portrayed through the fact he becomes
‘hardened perhaps, to ill treatment’, attributing a regularity to the
malice and inequality he is subjected to as a result of his identity.
- Similarly, Mariam is subjected to inequality given her identity, as
she suffers exclusion from Jalil’s family. Mariam represents a
challenge to Jalil’s reputation in her status as a ‘harami’. In Islam,
, sex is intended for marriage only, and therefore Mariam being born
out of wedlock would have been socially frowned upon, which
Hosseini points to in describing her as from ‘illegitimate beginnings’-
as such, Jalil marries Mariam off to Rasheed to safeguard his own
status ‘for fear of losing face’. Mariam’s lack of agency over this
decision serves to depict the lack of power her identity grants her,
as she is answered for- ‘“She does,” a female voice said down the
table.’
- Hosseini depicts the inequality of this treatment by contrasting
Mariam’s treatment with that afforded to ‘her half sisters…both her
own age’. The juxtaposition between fifteen being a ‘good, solid
marrying age’ solely for Mariam and not for her half-sisters
highlights the inequality Mariam’s harami status garners, much like
the manner in which Heathcliff is treated differently to the Earnshaw
children.
- As such, Mariam is resigned to being the ‘solitary eleventh pebble’,
isolated from Jalil’s family in a similar manner to Heathcliff’s
discrimination in the Earnshaw household.
- Both ‘WH’ and ‘ATSS’ also present a loss of female identity due to
the social constraints of marriage for women in Victorian England
and Afghanistan respectively.
- In ‘WH’, this is presented through the manner in which Heathcliff
and Catherine’s relationship is prohibited, as Catherine is forced to
prioritise the opportunity for social ascension that marriage to Edgar
grants her, reflecting the social imperative of marriage for women in
the Victorian era.
- Bronte portrays this imperative through Catherine justifying this
marriage in social terms, saying of Edgar, ‘and he will be rich, and I
shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood.’ The
superlative of ‘the greatest woman’ reflects the enticing nature of
this opportunity in terms of ascending the social echelons
- This is particularly poignant given the 19th-century property law,
which fixed status at birth, making marriage the only means of
social ascension for women.
- Bronte conflates the individuality of Catherine and Heathcliff, with
Catherine declaring ‘whatever our souls are made of, his and mine
are the same’- in the same way they share souls, Catherine and
Heathcliff appear to share the same identity, which Catherine
affirms in lamenting ‘I am Heathcliff!’
- As such, the separation from Heathcliff that Catherine is subjected
to in marrying Edgar constitutes a loss of her identity. This loss is
