Good point, PATH. I think providing Rosa with the opportunity of a good education was
great, but I can see a problem with the idea that she is to be made a 'fit' wife for
Watt. Rosa loves him, though, and she may see the whole thing as a wonderful passage
into a better life.
The cottage seemed a bit much, LAURA, but I think you're right that Dickens made it
believable. The little house was also a blessing to Jarndyce, as it became the place
where it had a loving 'family'.
JOANP, there's no way, really, to know why Dickens chose the title of "Bleak House".
But I like to think, since it refers to the unhappy ending of old Tom Jarndyce, that
he wanted the cottage to represent the restoration of happiness. It does seem a fitting
end to the book.
As a small note of farewell, a final walk in the moonlight.
“Light mists arise, and the dew falls, and all the sweet scents in the garden are heavy
in the air. Now, the woods settle into great masses as if they were each one profound
tree. And now the moon rises, to separate them, and to glimmer here and there in
horizontal line behind their stems, and to make the avenue a pavement of light among
high cathedral arches fantastically broken."
It's been lovely.
