A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN

Thomas Hardy (2nd June 1840 – 11th January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. He was influenced by Romanticism and it has been reflected in his novels and poetry. He was criticised by the victorian society on the issue of the declining status of rural people in Britain. He was basically a poet. Initially he started writing poems. But he gained fame after his novels, such as – Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Caster bridge, Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. Two of his novels, ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ and ‘Far from the Madding Crowd, were listed in top 50 on the BBC survey- The Big Road.The story of ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ revolves around a 16 year old very simple girl, named Tess Durbeyfield, who is the eldest daughter of John and Joan Durbeyfield. Since the family suffers acute financial crisis, so they approach the d’Urbervilles family who are holding huge land and having lot of money. There Tess meets Alec d’Urberville, who finds himself attracted to Tess. When Tess started working as a caretaker of Alec’s blind mother’s poultry farm, Alec gets an opportunity to rape her. After that there are many ups and down in Tess’ life. She meets Mr. Crick for another job. She also meets one more fellow Angel Clare, who is a travelling farmer’s apprentice. They marry each other. But after knowing her story, again there is a turn in Tess’ life. How she manages all such situation, how she meets all the financial aspects, lot of things happen with Tess. Even Alec and Angel both start searching for Tess. So, the story has become very interesting, full of climax. How Tess meets Alec or Angel? Whether she gets involved with any of these two again? There are so many presumptions. Readers will surely enjoy the story, full of suspense and never expected ups & downs in the life of all the characters. At last, how Angel helps Tess and her family is the climax. Go ahead and must grab the book.A must read book for self development and how to be a good leader.