CHAPTER 18

- Here begins the story of the second generation. Ellen Dean
introduces the characters by comparing the young Cathy to her
mother. This sense of continuity, of one generation bearing the
sins of another, will continue through the rest of the novel.
(There are 34 chapters; each generation gets 17.) Although one
generation mirrors another, they are not exactly the same.
Cathy, for instance is saucy and spoiled, but not to the extent
her mother was, and the younger one adds a gentleness to a
capacity for intense attachment.

In the last chapter Ellen told you that Edgar had become a
recluse, perhaps the only possible reaction of a Thrushcross
Grange character to the mad passions released in the preceding
scenes. Edgar has also sheltered his daughter, who knows
nothing of Heathcliff or of Wuthering Heights. But when Cathy
is thirteen, Edgar learns that Isabella is dying. Thirteen is an
age when you start to find things out about life. What Cathy
finds out about is Wuthering Heights.

When Ellen finds Cathy, she and Hareton are enjoying
themselves. But as soon as the subject of their parents'
generation comes up, the youngsters quarrel. This is
appropriate, since they will act out the problems that plagued
their elders. Cathy, hearing that the owner of the house is not
Hareton's father, mistakes Hareton for a servant. She's horrified
to learn that this rough young man is her cousin. Again the
Thrushcross Grange-Wuthering Heights conflict is being acted
out: Cathy is civilized, educated, and socially proud; Hareton is
foul mouthed, ignorant, and crude.

Table of Contents