Beach Haven

​Bibliography
O'Brian, Patrick. 1973. H.M.S. Surprise. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company.

Review by Michael Beach 

This book is the third in the series written by Patrick O’Brian centered on the British naval officer Jack Aubrey and his friend and ship’s doctor, Stephen Maturin. The series is set during the Napoleonic Wars when British and French warships often battled. My first introduction to this series was through the moving Master and Commander starring Russell Crowe. A work friend of mine gifted me the first two novels and I decided to continue the series.

As one might expect, this story is a continuation from the other two which I have already written reviews on here https://bhaven.org/reviews/master-commander
and here https://bhaven.org/reviews/post-captain.

This point of the longer story begins with Aubrey temporarily in command of HMS Lively. He is assigned to escort duty. The crew is less practiced than he would have hoped, but he manages to use them to sneak ashore to a Spanish fort on the island of Minorca and rescue Stephen who is imprisoned there. They go on to engage French ships with victorious effect. The permanent commander returns, and Aubrey’s career is left adrift.

The middle of the book returns focus to his romance with Sophie Williams to whom he proposes marriage. She accepts, but her widowed mother is not supportive since he has a fair amount of debt and an uncertain naval future. Jack has his own internal conflicts on this problem and is always finding ways to dodge creditors. Jack’s accomplice Stephen has his own love entanglement in an on-again off-again affair with a widow Diana Villiers who is also friends with Sophie.

Eventually the book puts Jack back in charge of a ship HMS Surprise. It turns out to be the ship he had served on many years before as a young midshipman. He fixes it up and sails for India on assignment. There are a number of close calls with ocean storms, doldrums, sickness, and times of low provisions for the crew. The result is a battered ship and crew when they get to India. Jack not only fixes the ship and provisions it, but in the process makes many improvements to the hull and masts. While in India, Stephen meets up with his love interest, Diana Villiers. They have some intrigue and adventures in several parts of India. They agree to meet in Madeira on their way home after the ship’s tour there. Diana also agrees to encourage Sophie to join Jack there. Before heading home to England, there is a substantial battle between the Surprise along with some less experienced warships manned by sailors from India. They are escorting a large convoy of merchant ships and come under attack by a number of French navy ships. A battle ensues and the British are victorious. Jack is the main hero and as a result receives a sizeable reward, enough to pay off his creditors and marry Sophie.

After another batch of repairs to the Surprise resulting from the battle, they sail home stopping at Madeira as planned. Unfortunately for Stephen, his relationship with Diana is off-again. She left word that she has married a wealthy merchant and they have gone to America. Jack initially has no word from Sophie, but at last they come together and resume their romance. Sophie is sure her mother will accept Jack after his turn of fortune.

As with the other O’Brian books, the writing is very engaging and he clearly knows his nautical and naval language. The details can be a bit hard to follow during the heated battles, even for someone like me with some experience sailing, but the reader is not lost. This book had less emphasis on the romance than the second book had and more on battles and expeditions into India jungles. From that perspective the balance was better from my point of view. 

Bibliography
​Stark, Peter. 2018. Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Review by Michael Beach

Like so many who interest themselves in the Revolutionary War period of United States history, I find biographies on the ‘founding fathers’ fascinating. Washington may be considered the quintessential example. In this work, Peter Stark takes the reader through George Washington’s immediate ancestry and his own childhood. The work then transitions through his colonial experiences, his love interests, and his decision to embark on a military career.

In his early military experiences, Stark makes an argument for Washington’s role in reigniting war between England and France. In what is called either The Seven Years War or The French and Indian War, Washington does learn some harsh lessons and is directly involved in a number of battles. Aside from his hardening as a wartime leader, Washington is keenly interested in becoming an officer in the regular British army. Time and again he is snubbed, along with all American militia. When the war ended, he resigned in frustration and begins his career as a plantation owner. This snubbing comes back to haunt the British years later when the future General Washington directly confronts some of his previous peers and superiors as part of the revolution. This particular work does not take us beyond his resignation and settling into Mount Vernon.

Stark shares excerpts of correspondences to, from, and about Washington that give insight into his early mistakes and how he begins to mature. Stark also shares his romantic interest in a married member of the Fairfax family. Eventually he realizes the pointlessness of the pursuit and his relationship with Martha comes into play. Peter Stark makes it clear that it is not so clear about George’s romantic inclinations toward Martha. His motivation may have been as much financial and cultural as romantic. In either case, the two become an early ‘power couple’.

Peter Stark writes this history in an engaging format that keeps the story moving along. I personally take all histories with a grain of salt, but Stark includes a significant number of contemporary sources, including Washington’s own writings. The content rings true and is probably as close to reality as is possible. 
​

​Bibliography
Reeman, Douglas. 1986. The Iron Pirate. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Review by Michael Beach
 
This story is set in the waning years of WWII. It centers on the German heavy cruiser called Prinz Luitpold. As some of the German fleet were bottled up in the Baltic waters around Scandinavia, the ship receives orders to break away and sail into the north Atlantic to act alone sinking as many support ships of the allies as possible. They are to specifically avoid military ships that might engage them and only approach ships that have little or no defense. They rightfully assume most of the British and American combatants would be busily engaged guarding the invasion of Europe that began in France. They wreak havoc as hoped. As word gets out of a German rogue, some of the British fleet had remained in South Africa during the invasion of Europe. The admiralty of that part of the fleet give chase, eventually sinking her.

The characters on the German ship are twisted into several love triangles. Captain Dieter Hechler was embarrassed by his wife’s constant cheating. She comes aboard before the ship’s departure from the Baltic and attempts to seduce her husband. He refuses her. He rightfully suspects she is pregnant and trying to cover her state by claiming the child to be his. A former classmate of Captain Hechler who is now Admiral Leitner, comes aboard with a public relations film crew and a famous woman aviator to create hope for the German people who are beginning to suffer from losses in battle and bombings in the homeland. He also brought with him some boxes that are quickly locked away, their contents not even disclosed to Captain Hechler. They turn out to be valuables stolen from Jews and political prisoners destined for execution. These poor souls included the wife of the ship’s medical officer, Doctor Kroll. Over time the captain and women pilot fall in love and have an affair. As the ship engages in its final battle, Kroll kills Leitner because of his hiding information surrounding the death of the doctor’s wife. Several crew members abscond with the admiral’s boxes of jewels and money. Many survive and later find themselves in prisoner camps, eventually returning to Germany.

There are other story lines and romantic parings. For me, the romantic angles were not appealing. Intimate interludes are at times described in a rated-R level in my estimation. Also, in my estimation, these portions of the book add little to the story and are unnecessary. They could have been toned down and still help the reader to understand how the relationships influence events and outcomes. The battle scenes and internal tensions that result are well written and realistic.  One other distraction for me is how the author tends to shift suddenly from on scene to another. Often the discussions in distant locations and with different characters seem almost intertwined. At times it can be difficult to follow the transitions, or rather non-transitions. 
​

Caldwell, Taylor. 1946. This Side of Innocence. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
 
On the surface this is a period romance, however there are underlying themes that relate to technology and society. The romance portion revolves around the Lindsey family. They include an aging grandfather William, a spinster daughter Dorothea, and a derelict son Jerome. As children, the siblings were joined by their cousin Alfred. Dorothea had long term designs on her cousin who became adopted by the widower patriarch. William was a banker. He retired and while Jerome was off sewing wild oats, Alfred was the steadfast bank manager. Alfred married, fathered a crippled son Phillip.

Alfred’s first wife passed away. Instead of acting on the obvious (for the time period) choice of his cousin Dorothea, Alfred used his influence and money to connect with a questionable younger lady of the area, Amalie. Jerome gets low on money and fears Alfred will step in with his betrothed and take over the family fortune so he returns to the family mansion.

Intrigue surrounds the family. Jerome and Alfred both work at the bank with rivalrous philosophies of how to manage affairs. Amalie marries Alfred, but later Jerome and she have a tryst while Alfred is away on business. Alfred assaults Jerome and nearly kills him. He then divorces Amalie and moves out of the family home along with his son. Dorothea moves away with him as well, though they never marry or even have any sort of romantic relationship. Jerome and Amalie eventually marry and have two children together. For nineteen years there is animosity between the two homes. All the stress causes the death of the patriarch William.

It is the next generation stirs up the hatred as Phillip becomes a trusted partner to Jerome. The older child to Jerome and Amalie is Mary. She and Phillip eventually fall in love and want to marry. That brings the old hatred out again. Alfred has softened from the conservative business man to a benefactor of the community. He only does so through persuasion of Phillip. Jerome has been in favor of using the bank to improve living standards in the community all along, so he and Phillip work together to make improvements to Rivers End. When he and Mary announce their desire to marry, all are supportive except Jerome who flies into a rage. On the way home from a confrontation with Alfred and Jerome he softens, then dies as the carriage he was riding in overturns in a bad winter storm.

The family journey is about greed, betrayal, remorse and eventually some reconciliation, though not complete. The technology and social aspects are interesting. In a number of places in the book there are philosophical arguments about the best way to use the finances of the bank and prominent citizens. Alfred is about investing conservatively and maintaining an agrarian society with money controlled by wealthy landholders. Jerome wants to invest in factories and housing for the workers. He wants each worker to have a small plot of land of their own to raise their own food, or created marketable crops as they see fit. Phillip agrees with Jerome and together they turn the investors locally and with Jerome’s connections in New York from his profligate past.

The technology comes from the arguments around how building factories and creating a more industrial society would take people away from the land. Acquisition of things become the pursuit as people become more materialistic. Education is also an argument in the story as to whether it would cause workers to become less satisfied, or help them improve their lives. There were also debates around who should lead society. Alfred favored the cold businessman. Phillip was more about educated social science minded people. Jerome argued for a mix of STEM and social sciences. Both Jerome and Phillip agreed that leaders should come from all walks of life and they established scholarships to help make that happen. Secretly, Alfred joined their cause with the persuasion of Phillip over years. Jerome never knew this was the case.

In chapter fifty-five Amalie argues that those building society like Jerome and Phillip were really doing it for selfish reasons. She postulates that people build walls out of fear, and creating a happy community at Rivers End was really just Jerome’s way of building a wall. By placating the people he would have a buffer around himself. She herself had married Alfred for his access to money, then began to feel more respect for him as she got to know him. Despite this, she allowed her feelings for Jerome to overcome her and they had an affair that resulted in a pregnancy. If one follows her own logic, it could be said that marrying Alfred and later Jerome for money and perhaps some form of love was her way of building a wall out of fear as well.

In general I’m not a romance fan. I got this book among a bunch of older ones from various library sales. I guess the STS (science, technology, and society) scholar in me latched on to the tech and society implications in the book. Perhaps Caldwell was trying to make social statements and used the family story as a way to contextualize her thoughts.
 

THE DEVIL’S POOL
By George Sand
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1903 - P.F. Collier & Son Company, 1917, 105 pages
Review by Michael Beach
 
This version of the work is included in a series of writings published as Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. Despite the ominous sounding title, the work is a quaint snapshot look into rural life in the French berry region. It may come as a surprize to others as it did to me that the author, despite the name, was a French woman.
 
A recent widower with three growing children sets out to find a new wife at the urgings of some of his neighbors. A well-intentioned father-in-law of Germaine points him in the direction of a well-to-do young lady of marrying age in another part of the region. As he travels to meet her, his oldest son, Pierre, joins him and despite his best efforts he cannot get the youngster to return home. Along the way they meet a young lass named Mary from the rural district where the intended lady lives. She and the son become fast friends. The trio get lost after taking a break near the small body of water baring the story’s titular name. They camp there for the night and resume travel the next day.
 
Mary agrees to care for the boy as Germaine advances to the home of the potential bride. This lady is of the upper set. The widower is a farmer. He quickly learns there are other suitors on hand and the coquettish intended is not of his sort. He returns to Pierre and Mary and the friendship resumes as they travel home. As you might guess, the friendship leads to love and the book ends with Germaine and Mary happily married.

​OLD GARIOT
By Honoré de Balzac
PF Collier & Son Company, 1917, 268 pages
Review by Michael Beach
 
This is a French romance novel. It was written in the mid-nineteenth century and set in the early part of that same century. Translations alternately title it Old Gariot or Father Gariot. I’ve noted in past reviews how this is not my preferred genre of work, yet I have been reviewing them as part of working my way through a 20-volume set of the Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction series. Many of the authors in this series are names I have vague recollection of, but really don’t know any works by many, and only some works by a few of the featured authors. Balzac is one of the former.
 
The main character grows old after a successful life. He becomes a widower. His two daughters marry. He invests all his money into these daughters and their respective husbands. Little by little his own circumstances deteriorate. His daughters and sons-in-law also distance themselves from him over time. Things begin to turn as the marriages both become loveless. The young women begin to have affairs, as do their respective husbands. Gariot lodges in boarding house as does a young man who courts one of his daughters. The two of them work together to become more connected to her. Gariot helps the illicit lovers become a couple as he helps his daughter extract herself from her marriage. Her sister becomes jealous of this successful life change and begins to reconnect with her father as well. In the end he dies happy having gotten to be more connected with both his girls.
 
Like other French novels of the period I’ve read, these sort of stories bother me. They are not explicit in terms of character physical sexual interaction, but they do seem to spurn happy marriage and put extra-marital attraction as a preferred, and even normal, route. Marriages in this case were more like business arrangements and impropriety a norm. I’m sure there were, and still are, sectors in society where this is the case, yet there has been, and is, an element of societal shame associated with the behavior. Balzac displays none of that. Not only does the story seem to support these attitudes, but pretty much all the characters act and speak in a way that would put doubt in the idea of love, marriage and fidelity. 

THE WINTER WIND OF RELATIONS
From AS YOU LIKE IT
By William Shakespeare
Review by Emily Coates
​
In the forest of Arden, a member of the exiled Duke Senior sings a song about the winter wind in comparison to friendship and relations. The song not only speaks of the winter weather, but also of relations both imagined and very real. I will explore how the lines of the second half of the song measure up to the real-time relationships of the Duke Frederick and Duke Senior and Oliver and Orlando. After that, I will look into the language Shakespeare employs in the use of the words “bite” and “warp”; they were chosen specifically for their imagery. I will seek to understand why he chose those words, in connection to the imagery of water and the wind. To conclude, I will analyze why Shakespeare chose end the song with “this life is most jolly”, although the entirety of the song is about the betrayal of someone who was once held in esteem (2.7 181).

I would argue that Orlando and Oliver’s relationship can be seen as the same wind that Duke Senior and Duke Frederick are on, and bound to follow in the same pattern if something does not change. The winter wind is characterized as being “not so sharp as a friend remembered not” (2.7 198). When winter winds blow, it starts as being incredibly sharp. As the gust continues, it invades any and all pockets of warmth. The imagery this creates for the audience can show the pattern of the relationships. In Orlando and Oliver’s case, the crevasse between them has taken shape by biting words and envy; it is heavily driven by emotion.  The passion of youth cuts into their relationship like the winter wind, and creates the unremembered friend.  True to the song, any and all loving is “mere folly”, and not to be trusted (2.7.181). Both men allow for their emotions to determine how they feel about one another. For example, Oliver tries a couple of times to banish or seriously injure his younger brother Orlando. However, this instantly goes away when Oliver falls for Celia, and realizes that it would make her sad for him to follow through with his fiendish schemes. The winter wind can also be like this. In the course of an instant, wind that was once harsh dies down and remains calm.


Meanwhile, Orlando takes the passion that he has and focuses it towards Rosalind, to whom he writes love poetry and sighs the day away for. It almost seems as if he has completely forgotten his brother, and any ill feeling that may have occurred between the two; the seen and the unseen. Orlando’s turn of passion is symbolized by the line that says “most friendship is feigning” (2.7 181). It’s ironic that Rosalind is feigning to be a boy, but another way this line can apply to Oliver and Orlando’s relationship is seen when the two are speaking to each other. At the beginning, we see Oliver and Orlando exchanging a few words. Although he is clearly displeased in having to deal with Orlando, Oliver seems cordial. However, Oliver sends Charles to dispose of his little brother, which is unsuccessful. If anything, in his act of anger, Oliver actually starts the ball rolling on Orlando’s relationship with Rosalind, helping his little brother out. Both bodies of passion are set on a course that neither brother would have seen coming.


Had their emotions not led the foolish brothers to love, it could be argued that Oliver and Orlando might have ended up in the same position that Duke Senior and Duke Frederick have found themselves in at the beginning of the play. Their strong passions have since subsided with the onset of age, but the winter wind that they are represented by is far from being quelled. Duke Fredrick especially seems to find any reason to add fuel to the fire of his hatred towards Duke Senior. Just as a winter wind can sometimes cut you deep enough to blow away any warm pockets of air, so is Duke Frederick. He is looking to anything that will keep the quarrel going. This is exemplified when he banishes Rosalind simply for being related to Duke Senior, who states “treason is not inherited, my lord” (1.3 57). Her argument falls on deaf ears, however, and she is banished as a result of Duke Frederick’s anger. 


On the other hand, not all winter winds are harsh and cutting. Duke Senior seems to be doing quite well for himself in the Forest of Arden.  If we compare the winter wind to the anger throughout the relationships, then Duke Senior would be one of the ones that moves the snow and covers the plants with white frost. Having Duke Senior accept the banishment beset by Duke Frederick is done intentionally, to show how letting the wind blow around you excessively can take effect. What I mean by this is that while Duke Frederick lets his anger fester into hatred, thus making his wind fierce and fueled by a forgotten Duke Senior, the very man has let go of any ill feelings and quelling a potential oncoming storm between the two. Instead of nursing his own hate in being wronged, Duke Senior has let go of those violent emotions and become as adaptable as the wind. As seen in his cheerful hunting, the Duke has truly found a way to make “life most jolly.” (2.7.183)


As I have been describing the wind and its relationship to some of the main relationships, I have pointed out the use of harsh words such as sharp and fester. Two that Shakespeare uses that I have not touched on much are included in the second half of Amien’s song, namely ‘bite’ and ‘warp’. Now, going back to the relationships as stated earlier, Orlando, Oliver, Duke Senior and Duke Frederick represent wisps on the same breath of wind. The latter pair however, is a bit further down the line, showing how age can and does play a role in the relationships that we choose to focus on. Shakespeare uses Amiens to describe these two using the words I have mentioned. When talking about the word ‘bite’, it is tied to the imagery of wind in the song. Using wind is appropriate when comparing it to Orlando and Oliver’s relationship, as they are still young and full of gusto in their emotions for one another. They are also opposite of one another, just as Duke Frederick and Duke Senior. One of the two is more vehement in his feeling (Duke Frederick and Oliver), while the other allows for the space between them to cool the flames of feeling. Duke Senior and Orlando fit the bill here perfectly. Now, back to Orlando and Oliver; the wind imagery fits because of the way it can blow gently or cut you down seemingly to the bone.  


The word ‘bite’ suggests the anger and jealousy found in Oliver, who is the brother more vocal in his anger and hatred. He is more affected by the winds that he feels, and so then puts those feelings into actions against Orlando. It is interesting to note how the song states that the bite is not so close in measurement of “benefits forgot”, which is what Orlando comes to talk to Oliver about in the first scene with them together (2.7 186). Those forgotten benefits, which Oliver does not see fit to bestow upon Orlando is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  From then on out, Orlando is both chased and forgotten by his brother, as the mood strikes him. Much like the winter wind does not last forever; Oliver’s hatred is not always causing Orlando pain.


While the younger two characters may be seen as the wind, Duke Senior and Duke Frederick’s relationship can be likened to the water that warps. Going back to the idea of their emotions having subsided and cooled a bit in time, the relationship between these two fit into the imagery of a stream or river with Duke Frederick being the current and Duke Senior being a stone that is warped and broken down by the relentless buffets of the water’s current. Duke Frederick plays the part of water well. He is never stopping in his reminder to the court who is Duke and who is banished. Any time he has a chance to speak ill or tarnish the name of Duke Senior, he will do it. Though Amiens sings that being a forgotten friend is worse than the water’s warp, he may not understand that the water does not need to sting sharply in order to be effective. Duke Frederick has been angry and hurt over Duke Senior for a long time. His sharpness has left him, but his endurance has not. The language that Shakespeare employs allows the audience to understand that unless something big can happen to make Duke Frederick change course, he will continue to barrage Duke Senior with his hate and anger from all of these years. It takes the unity, love and trust between Celia and Rosalind to open Duke Frederick’s eyes to his foolishness.


Meanwhile, Duke Senior is a perfect example of that rock sitting in the middle of the stream. He remains steadfast in his position of banishment and lets what mean words come his way that do. Duke Senior denounces the court life and appreciates life in the way it has been dealt to him, with the freedom of the trees and the wild. Like that rock, he does not let the waters of Duke Frederick’s hate warp him for evil. He is warped, to an extent, as any rock in a stream would be. However, it has been a change for good. Duke Senior has been given a chance to live in a realm where conning advisers are far, and he can focus on his men, to take care of them. In the darkness of an ‘uncivilized’ society, Duke Senior sees the true joy that comes from the forest, the animals and the “holly” (2.7 182).


Finally, through this analysis, I have come to understand more of why Shakespeare chose to end the song with the lines “this life is most jolly” (2.7 183). Throughout my essay, I have focused mainly on how negative feelings from Oliver and Duke Frederick have played a role in relationships and the language used in a song by a simple man. I have also explored the personality traits of Duke Senior and Orlando, being a foil for the aforementioned others, and how their patience and endurance have changed what could have happened into happily ever after. But the answer of the irony in the last line has been there the whole time. I would go out on a limb to suggest that it is because of those winter winds of anger and hatred that life can be “most jolly” (2.7.183).


Most of the answer comes from the famous speech that Duke Senior recites in the forest, shortly after this song is sung. He states “And this our life exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. I would not change it.” (2.1 35-7) While the winter wind Amiens sings about can be interpreted as the loss of one once held dear due to harsh feelings, Duke Senior comes to understand it in a different way. In the combination of the quotation used and Duke Senior’s role as the softer winter breeze, it’s clear to see that Shakespeare was wise to end the song in such a phrase. There is good to be found everywhere. This is a lesson that Duke Senior learns during his time in exile. He learns that although we face hard times, we will have a rough life if we miss the forest for the trees. While Duke Frederick has focused so much on his singular hatred for Duke Senior, Duke Senior has spent his time focusing instead on what blessings lay around him.


In the same manner, it takes a major hardship in order for Duke Frederick to learn about true happiness. When Celia leaves him to remain with Rosalind, he is infuriated to say the least.  Not only has his enemy, Duke Senior, stolen away what Duke Frederick deemed his, now Celia was choosing the exiled Duke over her own father. Celia is the only child to Duke Frederick, and he cares for her very much. He wishes to expunge Rosalind so that his own Celia will shine much brighter. However, he completely misses that the daughter of the man he loathes is one of the reasons Celia can shine so bright. Having grown up together, they have grown into their current personalities because they had each other. Duke Frederick, in his need to have everything done according to his wants, has completely missed out on some of the greatest moments in his daughter’s life. He refuses to acknowledge the holly in his life because he is too busy complaining about the snow and ice that has covered it.


On the other hand, we can see how the final lines of the song also apply to Oliver and Orlando. Oliver on his own has a very hard time finding joy in a life that is burdened with a responsibility like Orlando and this adversity seems too much for him. Oliver struggles with this, and instead of confronting it, he takes out all of his anger on his brother. It is not until he meets Celia and falls in love that he can let go of this anger and resentment. For him, holly would do nothing but be a bother. There would be no beauty in it, or any value for that matter. Upon meeting his future bride, however, there is a change of heart. For once, Oliver can focus on something good and wonderful, as opposed to his weightier feelings of hatred. From there, he chooses to see the good around him and forgive Orlando for everything. The past is buried, and together, they start anew. The theme of reconciliation not only allows for them all to marry the ones they love, but also make amends with blood relations.


Orlando, on the other hand seems to have an easier time understanding adversity as Duke Senior does, as he tortures himself with courting Ganymede. There is nothing stopping him from going to where Rosalind might be and courting her instead. In his own way, he has echoed the line stated by Duke Senior, “Sweet are the uses of adversity” (2.1 12). He courts Ganymede until he can no longer bear the idea of being away from Rosalind. He has become so enraptured with her that it is painful. This pain, however, is one that he learns to tolerate, as the hope of meeting with his beloved becomes ever closer. When Rosalind disguised as Ganymede announces that the object of Orlando’s affection will be with them the next day, Orlando is not sure if he can believe the news. However, he is willing to put his heart out on the line one more time. He chooses to be positive and trust this boy who speaks so civilly. This plays back into the notion that Shakespeare writes in his lines “Then heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly” because of the meaning carried in the words heigh-ho (2.7.182-3). In Elizabethan times, the line could be used as an expression of boredom or sadness. It could also be a cry of hope or encouragement, which I would argue is the desired usage in Amien’s song. 


By implementing those two words, Shakespeare leaves a question for each of us to solve for ourselves. It is the question that ties all of the analysis together. As we figure out the answer to the question, then we will also be able to find the holly of life beautiful despite the weather. It can change us for the better if we let it. The characters in the play As You Like it have found the answer to this question for their personal lives. The question in question is this: look at the things around you; will you choose to be happy?

​NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
By Victor Marie Hugo
PF Collier & Son Company, 1917, 531 pages
Review by Michael Beach
 
Many have heard of this work as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The story is timeless, and nothing like any of the movies I’ve ever seen on the topic. Quasimodo is the protagonist who watches over Esmeralda, protecting her from the evil priest, Claude Frollo. Hugo originally published the 15th century story in 1829. This publication is in one volume of a series called The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction.
 
The story has a fairly pessimistic outlook on humanity. About the only two people who have positive motivations are Quasimodo and Esmeralda. Despite their motivations, their decisions seem just as foolhardy, or even destructive, as every other character in the story. Judgments by every character are always ill-informed, and influenced by personal preference, or personal benefit. In the end just about every character dies under unnecessary circumstances, including Quasimodo and Esmeralda. The ends of each character come by some combination of poor decisions of their own and others.

For example, Esmeralda’s mother has her daughter stolen from her as an infant. She repents of her promiscuous life, and removes herself to suffering in a convent cell. Eventually she sees Esmeralda from time to time through her cell window and curses the girl out of anger at the gypsies whom she blames for taking her child. Assuming Esmeralda to just be another gypsy and not suspecting her to be her own daughter, she reviles Esmeralda every time she sees her. When the two are reunited and the truth exposed near the end of the story, the mother holds her too long in her cell and is unsuccessful at keeping the king’s guard from capturing the girl. Esmeralda was accused and convicted in the death of her love, Pheobus, who is not dead, but only wounded. His attacker was not Esmeralda, but Claude Frollo. Claude continues to offer Esmeralda freedom if she will consent to marry him. She always refuses. Meanwhile, Phoebus avoids exposure around Esmeralda because despite taking her as a mistress for a few months, he remains betrothed to another and in the end abandons Esmeralda to the gallows.
 
Quasimodo it not much better in his judgments. He seeks to protect Esmeralda within Notre Dame. Because of his deafness, when the gypsies storm the cathedral to free her, and steal some of the riches within, he mistakes their attack as an attempt to kill Esmeralda. In his efforts at defending her he kills many of them from the towers above.
 
I found the story intriguing. It was hard not to follow to see the outcomes. Aside from that there was some disappointment in the ultimate resolution. Only one character seems to have escaped unscathed despite some of his own poor judgement, Pierre Gringoire. He is a failed playwright at the beginning. When he takes refuge with the gypsies and is almost executed by them, Esmeralda frees him by marrying him. She does not actually intend to honor the marriage in any way, but rather pines for Phoebus. She never gives herself to Gringoire, but does give herself unvirtuously to Phoebus leading to the attempted murder by Frollo, and the subsequent hanging of Esmeralda. Gringoire does help Esmeralda temporarily escape the gallows by cooperating with Frollo. He even helps her get to her mother, but he ultimately only manages to save Esmeralda’s goat. The two of them seem to be the only survivors among all the characters.
 
If the reader is hoping for hopeful outcomes, don’t read the story. If the reader is interested in the literary perspectives of French writers of the 19th century, then this work is surely a prime exemplar.

​​THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
By Henry James, Jr.
PF Collier & Son Company, 1917, 624 pages
 
James copyrighted this work in 1881. According to the biographical note in the beginning of this edition, James published his first work in 1865. Although many of his early works were biographical sketches, The Portrait of a Lady is a fictional version of a biographical sketch.
 
The author depicts a slow shift in the person of Isabel Archer. She is a strong-minded young American woman who immigrates to Europe to live with relatives. Despite a number of proposals by various societal gentlemen (American and British), she prefers to explore Europe with her aunt. Over time she becomes less resistive and eventually marries one who later turns out to be scheming with his former love. They coordinate their approach to her as she has inherited a great sum of money.
 
As all is eventually revealed there is a great deal of inward consideration by all parties involved, including those gentlemen whose proposals had been rejected you continue to watch over her to help her where they can. James is talented at having the reader accompany the various characters as they interact with each other, but also as they wax introspective. The work is romantic in style and focus.