The Return of the Native

Thomas Hardy

• Publisher: Perlego
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN: 9700000000122
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

"Clym Yeobright, tired of Paris city life, returns to Egdon Heath to open a school. There he marries a pleasure-loving girl and tragedy follows." *** "The novel is set on Egdon Heath, a barren moor in the fictional Wessex in southwestern England. The native of the title is Clym Yeobright, who has returned to the area to become a schoolmaster after a successful but, in his opinion, a shallow career as a jeweler in Paris. He and his cousin Thomasin exemplify the traditional way of life, while Thomasin's husband, Damon Wildeve, and Clym's wife, Eustacia Vye, long for the excitement of city life. Disappointed that Clym is content to remain on the heath, Eustacia, willful and passionate, rekindles her affair with the reckless Damon. After a series of coincidences Eustacia comes to believe that she is responsible for the death of Clym's mother. Convinced that fate has doomed her to cause others pain, Eustacia flees and is drowned (by accident or intent). Damon drowns trying to save her." Merriam-Webster's Ency of Lit.