Types of Obscurity in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure and ...

Types of Obscurity in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure and Maurice Blanchot's …The impossibility of establishing any human contacts is the primarypostulate of the novel: human beings are doomed to be wide apart,although they do their utmost best to bridge the gap or overcome suchbarriers. Obviously this is beyond their conscious will,The only possibility I would have to diminish the distance betweenus would be to remove myself to an indefinite distance. But Iam infinitely far away now and go no farther. As soon as I touchyou Thomas...(p.55)As this is the main issue of the novel Blanchot elaborates it and shows itsvarious dimensions, especially the presence of others which represents asort of intimidation a neutralizing force, Slowly, by a pitiless protocol,they took from her the tenderness and friendship of the world. If sheasked for the flowers she loved, they gave her the artificial roses with nosent [...].They had exiled the pleasant seasons, asked the children to cryout in joy elsewhere, called into the streets all the anger of theworld.(p.79)If others have downgraded her position in society, ignored her mostintimate desires in her moribund state, Thomas sees that she typifies thebest thing he admires,'I suppose', he said, and 'that Anne had premeditated her death. Thisevening she was peaceful and noble...without the last cowardice whichmakes the dead wait to die by the doctor's hand.(p.89)It is a tautology to state that in the above-mentioned excerpt Thomas hassome imperceptible change in his character, thanks to Anne's sustainingrole in his life. However, the final outcome of this imperceptibletransformation does not change the status quo in that he remainsessentially an alien individual, failing pathetically to unravel the threadsof his predicament.Blanchot's narrative structure deserves a further elaboration as itserves to represent the obscurity of the title and its implications. In thefirst six chapters of the book, it is Thomas's conscious thought that isforegrounded and the reader's perspective concentrates on his character.The rest of the book (with the exception of the last chapter) is devoted toshowing Anne's perceptions where Thomas engages the forefront. If we142