These Twain

Description

Arnold Bennett is an English novelist and journalist well known for his contributions to literature. “These Twain” is the third novel in the Clayhanger Family trilogy which continues the story in the first two.

Set in Victorian England, the Clayhanger Family deals with the lives of the members of a poor family which eventually becomes affluent and rich. The first two novels depict the life of Edwin Clayhander, a boy who grows to take for granted the efforts of his father to provide an income to the then-struggling family. He eventually grows, leaves school and plans to become an architect. However, his authoritarian father refuses him this option so that he unwillingly becomes an office junior in the printer business of his father. The second novel tells the parallel story of Hilda Lessways, who will eventually become Edwin’s wife.

In These Twain, the story of the married couple unfolds. Having just escaped from the domineering style of his father, Edwin is now able to take control of his life as well as his business. He can pursue his goals and he tries to make his business prosperous. However, his wife Hilda appears to interfere in his role as a business manager, a thing which would have been inappropriate at the time. Edwin begins to be increasingly tired of his wife’s constant interference with his work and business, despite having married her just because of her different way of life.

While Bennett does not clearly state it, the married couple is compatible sexually, so all the problems are outside the bedroom, mostly because of Hilda’s refusal of being a submissive wife. The novel deals with and anticipates the feminist movement, while also showing the struggles of women and their desire for self-expression and how society disempowered them.

“These Twain” is also a novel about a young couple whose future is uncertain: will they remain together or separate?
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