Far from the madding crowd door Thomas Hardy

Inside the book:

The kind: The story is a love story. This is because the book is about a woman, who has tree men saying they love her. And she doesn’t knows who she loves. The whole book is based on this fact.
Realistic?: Yes, I think the book is realistic. Of course it isn’t something that happens every day, but it could happen. There are no unusual ore imaginary things, so that’s another reason. Of course this is my opinion, and the story doesn’t play in this century. So we don’t really know what was usual for the time, but everything together; I think it is realistic.

Characters:
Most important characters: There’ are four main characters:
Bathsheba Everdene: The girl this is all about. She moved to the little town Weatherbury to help her uncle on his farm. When he dies, she owns the farm. She’s a pretty independent girl. And there are three men who want to marry her. Finally she marries the wrong one, and everything goes wrong.
Gabriel Oak: A hard working farmer. He’s the first one that fell in love with Bathsheba. When he asks her to marry him she tells him she doesn’t (yet) want to. But he will stay loving her. After Gabriel loses his farm Bathsheba asks him to work for her. And he agrees. During the time that he works he knows about the two other lovers of Bathsheba. And instead of jealousy, he gives her the good advice that she needs about them and remains the great friend of Bathsheba. And finally he’ll be rewarded for it and marries her in the end.
(these were the most important characters. The other two are important too, but less then these.)
Farmer Boldwood: A rich, good-looking man, with a big farm. The second man that’s trapped in the trap of love. He also wants to marry Bathsheba. His love for her is growing and poor Bathsheba feels so sorry for him, because she doesn’t love him back. After a kind of rejection he’s starting to be more and more depressed. When Bathsheba marries another man he gets jealous and tries almost everything to get her.
Sergeant Frank Troy: A handsome but selfish and bad guy. He attracts Bathsheba and they get married. But Sergeant Troy seemed to have another love before Bathsheba. He kind of left that girl, and she was found dead. He doesn’t really love Bathsheba and doesn’t behave like a good husband. He leaves the village and Bathsheba gets a message that her husband probably will be dead. His body isn’t found, but his clothes are found near dangerous waters and he isn’t seen after that. But he isn’t dead. A bote picked him up and after a year he shows up, and not everybody’s happy with his company.
Who I would meet: I think that would be farmer Oak. He’s a nice, good and honest man. He helps Bathsheba all the time so he’s a good person and that’s why I would like to meet him.
Who I wouldn’t meet: I don’t want to meet Sergeant Troy. He’s the bad guy, and he ruins peoples lives. He’s a misleading man, and that’s why I wouldn’t like to meet him.
Look-a-like?: The character in the book that looks most like me is Bathsheba. I recognise myself in her feelings and thoughts. Her way of acting is a bit the same as mine. The acting in some kind of situations.

Background:

Where and when?: The story takes place in the beautiful countryside of the south of England, in a small town called Weatherbury. I think the story takes place around the time it’s written. This time’s 1874. It takes place in a time that farming was very important and cars didn’t even exist.
Important?: A bit. There are some things that are typical for the time, and that couldn’t happen in this time. Some habits and other customs that are important for the book need to play in that time. The place isn’t really important. Only that it plays in a farming region.
Circumstances: These are quite important. You need to know how people lived by then and how the society’s divided. You need to know the positions of people in that time.

Summary: The girl Bathsheba is loved by three men. One by one. The second man, Boldwood, is owner of a big farm. After a valentines joke he thinks that Bathsheba likes him, and since then his love for her grows. And the first man, farmer Oak, still loves her, but stays the good friend of Bathsheba and gives her his good advice, and tells her to marry Boldwood, instead of Sergeant Troy. Sergeant Troy is the third man, and he’s a selfish bad man, who probably doesn’t even love her. But she falls in love with Troy cause of his allurement. After everybody thinks that Sergeant Troy’s dead (because of drowning), Boldwood wants to marry her again. But because of the body of Troy has never been found, they can only marry about six years. She agrees, but hen Troy returns at Boldwood’s Christmas party. When he wants to take Bathsheba back home Boldwood gets angry and shoot him. After a period of grieving Bathsheba walks around the village and there she speaks to Gabriel Oak. They have a little conversation, and they come to the conclusion that they loved each other all the time, and the marry. (And a happily ever after).

Title: ‘far away from the madding crowd’. I don’t really know but I think it’s good. I think it is, because I think it means that this all plays behind the madding crowd. It’s mainly about feelings and all of the doubts and confusing is all far away from the villagers, the village, and all the hullabaloo and crowd of the town. So I think it is good, because it’s a fact of the story and the case, that this feelings and tragedies are hidden for the other people.