Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell, author of Cranford – my note on this is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/09/cranford-by-elizabeth-gaskell-author-of.html where I have a few hundred other reviews - 8 out of 10

 

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell, author of Cranford – my note on this is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/09/cranford-by-elizabeth-gaskell-author-of.html where I have a few hundred other reviews

 

8 out of 10

 

With Ruth I have finished the four aces that Elizabeth Gaskell has on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, I have started with North and South https://realini.blogspot.com/2019/11/north-and-south-by-elizabeth-gaskell.html and then continued, helped by the fact that these works are accessible at the LibriVox site, you can listen for free

 

Ruth is impressive, indeed, the thought comes to mind that this should be part of the curriculum, somehow, in that Ruth is a role model, inspiration, the ‘super star aka super heroine’, the equivalent of the Wonder Woman https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/wonder-woman-by-allan-heinberg-story-by.html

This is also a narrative which exposes the indignity, humiliation, discrimination, abuse, insults that women had to suffer, their position was one of submission, if they were seduced, groomed by men with more power, then, instead of being helped, sympathized with, consoled, supported, they were taken down

 

It was such a cruel society, that I keep saying at times, when we discuss at the sauna downtown about various excesses of this world, I tend to say that these groups have been so traumatized, assaulted, tortured, killed that we can understand if there is a push to over compensate at times, there is debate over there

Some of these chaps (it is men only, on our side, the women have their own saunas, dry and humid, at their own section, though it used to be mixed, and it was so much better) maintain that they feel a LGBTQ+ agenda is imposed on them, as they travel and see children with rainbow flags at rallies and it is too much, they say

 

Back to Ruth, she is an orphan whom works in a shop making and repairing dresses, and on once sortie, she meets this pompous ass, the villain in the story, Henry Bellingham, a rich aristocrat, it is a fatidic encounter, the fellow is the epitome of the villainous privilege, a sort of Orange Jesus avant la letter, ‘grabbing by the pussy’

Granted, he has some reversals – though not on the scale required by Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/aristotle-in-ninety-minutes-by-paul.html - and offers to support Ruth (spoiler alert coming) but only after he will have kicked her out, with the help of his mother, another MAGA figure

This Henry Bellingham is not just a stupid, vile creature (like Trump say) he even saved a child from drowning (Orange Jesus will just deport their asses, pushed them into the ocean) but then he started a quarrel with his grandmother ‘what is this pigsty, how can you live like this’ - words to that effect, arrogant eejit

 

However, innocent Ruth does not see the man for what he is, mainly because he hides it under appearances, and then he pushes her into a corner and a trap, when they walk out together, the owner of the dress business sees them, considers it inappropriate (we are talking about two centuries ago, a different world)

Thus, Ruth is sent away, with no job, and due to that, without anything in the world, and when the ‘munificent’ Henry Bellingham says he will help, she has to come with him, there will be his mother, do not worry, and then gradually, as she depends on him, he takes every advantage, becomes rude, bored, disgusting

 

If we were to use the rules of this day, which does not make sense, evidently, we cannot think cave men, and say they should have been polite, avoid violence, verbal and physical, it is an oxymoron, still, he did behave like a monster, the woman surrendered to his power, she had no means, she was defenseless against a rich man

In a way, Ruth reminds one of Mary Barton https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2023/11/mary-barton-by-elizabeth-gaskell-author.html this the last of the Elizabeth Gaskell novels on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, Ruth is faced with calamity, when Henry Bellingham falls ill, she does everything she can to care for him

 

On that spoiler alert, there is even more and worse, at a different stage, the villain is again sick, and the one he had destroyed comes to him to…nurse him yet again, and this time, she is killed for her magnificence, the magnanimity one could say is not the key, unless you believe in the eternal salvation and the rest of it

The mother of the ailing patient comes, she is revolted by this co-habitation, the landlady speaks about it, madame Bellingham wants her son to reject this human being, who is ‘beneath his level’ in her mind, in reality, she is so much better that she should not even look at this scum, but that is the way it was and it is

 

Look at the most powerful man in the world, four years ago, and come next week, he looks like he will be again, he is the replica of Henry Bellingham, only much worse, at least this terrible character tried to make some amends, saw some of his faults, while the biggest liar and Confidence Man https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/confidence-man-making-of-donald-trump.html is just getting to the worst extremes

Ruth has a child, but she is thrown out by Mrs. Bellingham, and Henry is just too tired and bored so he wants to get rid of Ruth, he will regret it later, but she is saved by mr. Benson and then his sister, albeit this is not the end of her travails.

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”