Robert Low offers the following questions for you to ponder and write about in your journal:

Are any of the female characters masochistic? Is this self-cruelty physical or mental? What does this self-torture have to do with their imprisonment?

The impression I receive from Cathy Heathcliff is slightly masochistic. The self-cruelty she displays is mental. This self-torture has a lot to do with her imprisonment. I feel she is an example of the Female Gothic, locked in but the hero-villain. Her mental put-downs are a result of Heathcliff’s cruelty as well as a feeling of hopelessness and that she will never be able to escape this life that has been forced upon her. I think that that is also a reason why she doesn’t leave Wuthering Heights.

How does Catherine Earnshaw attempt to transcend her boundaries of self?

I personally am left dissatisfied with them as a model of humanity. Neither is as exciting or as powerful as Catherine and Heathcliff. Does the ending work for you? Can powerful literature be written about good people?

In your journal write about Heathcliff's reaction to this change. Consider especially his frustration with the destiny which his birth as an orphan gypsy has forced upon him. He realizes that he's socially inferior but physically superior to Edgar Linton. In the United States we have often connected black appearance to evil character. What effect does Heathcliff's darkness have on his social destiny? Nelly says to him, "A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad . . . , if you were a regular black; and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly" (56). Is what she says true?

Pretend for a moment that Catherine is friends with a minister and that minister is you. What would you say to her concerning God?

Much of Emma took place indoors, which can stand as a metaphor for Austen's love of being infolded in a community. Many of the outdoor scenes are fraught with worry (as with the trips through the snowy weather), disruption of social bonds (as in the Box Hill picnic), or fear (as when Harriet and her friend are accosted by the gypsies). Brontë, on the other hand, feared being imprisoned. Compare briefly Austen's and Brontë's attitudes toward nature.

Some topics in this essay:
Journal Exercise, Wuthering Heights, Linton United, Nelly Dean, Thrushcross Grange, Austen's Brontë's, Catherine Heathcliff, Lintons Cathy, Puritanistic God, Edgar Linton, wuthering heights, journal exercise, thrushcross grange, cathy heathcliff, edgar linton, catherine heathcliff, earnshaw family, calvinistic puritanistic god, treat cathy heathcliff, treat cathy, house lintons, associate lintons, heath catherine heathcliff, chapters 1 2, mental self-torture imprisonment,