Finished the first story. Return to the Lucy Barton story. MC has his barn burn down. He loses everything and becomes school janitor. Meets up with young Barton girl, befriends her (sort of). Now she is a successful author, though back then she was a battered child. MC goes out to visit her brother. He learns that perhaps the elder Barton burned down his barn, killed his cows, etc. out of spite for having been caught masturbating, and also out of PTSS from WWII concentration camps. MC has never told anyone that he felt God spoke to him on the night of the fire, telling him to value his family and people over all. Now he tells Barton this . . . and is immediately doubted. O'Henry ending, almost. For years he wouldn't tell anyone of his religious experience; it was his secret. Now he has told his wife and the Barton son about it . . . but he no longer believes that God spoke to him. His lack of faith becomes his new secret.
"To all humankind, Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends, she was only a frequently passing thought." Angel Clare is a good character. He's "enlightened," in so many ways, but when Tess's confesses her "crime," he reverts to ancestral form . . . Tess's "confession" comes earlier than I expected, right after Angel reveals that he has had a bad moment with a woman. Tess points out the similarity in their transgressions, though his is the only true transgression, expecting forgiveness. She doesn't get it. She returns to her mother . . . realizes she can't stay with her. Thoughts to suicide. Unhappiness that divorce is not possible. Departs. Tragic in that the two, if Angel could just see clearly, would indeed be a great couple, each adding to the other. Nature as a definite force involved in the tragedy. It's not neutral--when things go bad, the very skies mock Tess. Tess as unaware of the power of her bea...
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