We've begun our first novel for the course, Waverly by Sir Walter Scott. This covers the Scottish representation of literature, and it features many important historical figures and events, such as the Jacobian uprising. To better understand the plot of the novel, we examined a complex web of royal families and their connections. It's possible that Waverly is a commentary on the relationship between England and Scotland. Readers are introduced to protagonist Edward Waverley, an unusual character who immediately strikes me as absent minded. To be fair to Edward, he has his reasons for being slightly odd.
His father and uncle have a tumultuous relationship due to their views on the uprising. Richard Waverly is a classic Whig, while uncle Everard sides with the Jacobites. In classic sibling fashion, the brothers are petty and refuse to let one or the other own the estate, which results in a split ownership. Edward spends time going back and forth between his uncle and father like a child of divorce, by a sort of "tacit compromise" (12). This is confirmed at the end of chapter two: "The education of the youth was regulated alternately by the taste and opinions of his uncle and of his father" (12). I imagine that young Edward heard vastly different information from both sides of the issue. As Edward grows up, he doesn't show serious interest in education or expanding his novels. Instead, he spends a lot of his time daydreaming and developing his interest in romance. One of the most comic parts of Waverly comes with poor Cecelia Stubbs. She is unremarkable, but one of the more suitable prospects for Edward, so he begins to pursue her. Edwards Aunt Rachael doesn't see Cecelia in the same light apparantley. "Mrs. Rachael applied herself, with great prudence, not to combat, but to elude, the approaching danger..." (21). In the same breath, she suggests Edward needs to see more of the world, which results in his position in the military. I just thought it was an incredible way to deal with the situation. If you don't like someone a family member is dating, distract them by sending them to war.
Edward being more of an introspective romantic doesn't easily fit in during his military days. He uses some time off to visit a friend of Everard, "the baron of Bradwardine, for he was generally called so in Scotland," (29). He resides in Tully-Veolan, and when Edward arrives, he observes "The houses seemed miserable in the extreme, especially to an eye accustomed to the smiling neatness of English cottages" (35). This is one of the many comments in which Waverly's narrator voice and Sir Walter Scott's actual voice are blurred.
(This is in progress, I am adding more later!)
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