Wuthering Heights 12

In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte tells the tale of a savage, tormented foundling between two families living in the Yorkshire moors.   The novel is a reflection of the Romanticism movement during the early 1800s. This mirroring characteristic is also connected through music in the modern society today. When characterizing the opposition of nature and culture and emphasizing character's separation, Bronte gives the tale a universal appeal.

Refusing to choose between Healthcliff and Edgar, Catherine locks herself in a room and refuses to eat. After feeling neglected, she rants to Nelly saying, "'Oh, if I were but in my own bed in the old house!'" (Bronte 117). During Catherine's despair, she chooses to dream of Wuthering Heights rather than her present home, Thrushcross Grange. During her dispair, Catherine feels imprisoned at the Grange and she would rather be in her "own" home. Her isolation characterizes Catherine's enlightenment. It shows Catherine's longing, her "old house", Wuthering Heights. The Romantic ideals of Catherine's isolation   are juxtaposed in Avril Lavigne's "Nobody's Home." In the song, the speaker portrays the isolation of a girl with no home.   "Her feeling she hides. Her dreams she can't find. She's losing her mind. She's fallen behind. She can't find her place. She's losing her faith" (Lavigne). The speaker's depiction of the girls separation is evident, but the song shows the realization of the girl when she discovers her own isolation from the world. Just like Catherine, the girl "can't find her place" and "she's losing her faith." Catherine's loss of faith and her isolation ultimately leads to her death.

After Catherine and Hareton begin their growing relationship, she and Healthcliff become embroiled in an argument over her inheritance and her relationship with Hareton. After the quarrel is settled, Nelly observes Hareton learning from Catherine. "His honest warm, and intelligent nature shook off rapidly the clouds of ignorance and...