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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Return of the Native, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humans vs. Nature
Modernity vs. Tradition
Class and Morality
Deception
Summary
Analysis
Twilight closes in on Egdon Heath, a “vast tract of unenclosed wild.” Although the coming night has already darkened the land, the sky still retains light. Egdon Heath is a special stretch of land; it is “majestic without severity, impressive without showiness, emphatic in its admonitions, grand in its simplicity.” It is a mixture of beauty and wildness that appeals to “the moods of the more thinking among mankind” as well as a remote and primitive place, which rejects civilization and has looked the same since “prehistoric times.” To the north of Egdon Heath is an important highway, once traveled by the Romans, which is still visible even as darkness settles in.
Egdon Heath seems almost like a character itself. Throughout the novel, long passages are dedicated to descriptions of the heath and its beauty. The Return of the Native is a work of naturalism, a genre which is known for its portrayal of nature as sublime, yet indifferent to the struggles of mankind. This theme is at play in the opening of the novel and will continue to be present throughout. Also important is that the heath remains untouched by outside influences; the people who live there are largely isolated from the outside world. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that much of the novel takes place at night, including the opening.
Themes
Literary Devices
