The plot of “Here on Earth” closely follows that of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”: Boy with a dark, mysterious past is adopted by the Man-of-the-House; Daughter of the Man-of-the House and the Dark Boy get into some cosmic-defying relations; Son of the Man-of-the House hates the Dark Boy with venom that consumes him; Man-of-the-House dies leaving his progeny scattered to the winds to fend for themselves; the characters all meet again sometime in the future to torture each other once again; and these characters have brought forth sons and daughters fated to replicate their parents’ dark stories.
The main problem with “Here on Earth” is that one cannot avoid comparing it to Wuthering Heights. Hoffman’s Hollis manages to merely look like a deranged, cruel man who physically and psychologically abuses women and children as opposed to Bronte’s Heathcliff who somehow is able to elicit sympathy notwithstanding all the darkness surrounding him. Hoffman’s March feels inconsequential and flimsy compared to Bronte’s fiery Catherine who was a force to reckon with. Hoffman was not able to fully develop certain of her characters and to explain their purpose in the story (What was that triangulation of Mr. and Mrs. Justice and the deceased Judith Dale all about?). Whereas Bronte was able to elevate the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine to something almost spiritual, Hollis and March are nothing more than irresponsible, selfish, unthinking individuals.
“Here on Earth” is much more graphic, especially the sex and violence scenes, but is still unable to reach that level of pathos, darkness, and malignancy that “Wuthering Heights” was able to achieve.
Or perhaps this is none of Hoffman’s fault. As Wuthering Heights has always been one of my favorites, any writer who attempts to scale the heights reached by Bronte’s opus will feebly fall short of my estimation.
No comments:
Post a Comment