9/7/08

Thomas Hardy’s short story The Son’s Veto has been my favorite story that we have read in class. Although I usually do not like Victorian literature, because of the role that social status and money play in the lives of its characters, I found this story to be somewhat different. There are several themes presented in this story I liked in particular. One of them being the humans need for company, and the timelessness of this condition. Another less common theme, but one that I find more interesting, was that of a mother seeking acceptance from her son. This Idea puts a twist on the more common theme of parental acceptance of their children. I found it interesting that Hardy gives Sophy a physical impairment that seriously cripples her, which creates a contrast to the obstacle of her son’s approval. This physical obstacle also helps move the story forward by allowing for Sophy to become cut off from the world and then once again reconnected. She is able to overcome her physical disability by sheer will. However she cannot change her social class. It is for this reason that she does not marry. Her social class creates an internal conflict within Sophy, she wants to marry Sam but out of love for her son Rudolph, she does not, because it would shame her son saying “If it were only myself I would do it and gladly, though everything I posses would be lost to me by marrying again.”(p53). Rudolph complicates matters by his staunch objection, “I am ashamed of you! It will ruin me! … It will degrade me in the eyes of all the gentlemen”(p54) Although sophy does not get married to Sam she does think of him often and wish that they could be married. We could conclude that she has become very depressed with her lack of social contact, saying that she “will struggle against [her desires to marry]”(p54) and her inability to get around on her own. We could conclude that it was this lack of contact or friendship that lead to her death rather than her physical health.