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William è figlio di Titus Price, metodista anche lui, sovrintendete del pomeriggio della scuola domenicale. Quest’ultimo è un affittuario (sfortunato) di Anna continuamente indietro con l’affitto da pagare, poiché la sua azienda di ceramiche non va molto bene e rischia la bancarotta da un giorno all’altro. Pur di salvare la sua azienda, Titus, da uomo irresponsabile che è, arriva a sottrarre una somma di denaro dai conti della scuola, divenendo un ladro; nonostante ciò la sua azienda fallisce e lui, divorato dal rimorso e ormai dedito alla bottiglia, decide di mettere fine alla sua esistenza. The separation from the tight paternal grip lightened Anna's mood on holiday and she nearly ventured to initiate a conversation before thinking better of it. Fortunately Mrs Sutton's daughter caught influenza and Anna was able to stay indoors and nurse her. "Tis far better that someone dull should risk infection," she thought, "than that Mrs Sutton should be put in jeopardy." Los personajes. Anna, personaje femenino que representa la vida de una mujer joven acorralada por la iglesia, su padre tiránico y lo que la sociedad esperaba de una mujer joven con muy poca libertad para seguir su propio camino hacia la felicidad. At first, this seemed wooden and dated, a pale imitation of Trollope or Eliot, who had been writing in a similar vein two generations earlier. Initially, I found the main source of interest in the detailed descriptions of the industrial landscape of "The Five Towns", a kind of verbal Lowry, if the latter had painted the Potteries rather than Manchester.
Anna is an ordinary girl, who leads a simple existence with her tyrannical father and her younger half sister. She performs her duties without complaint, without any fuss or expectations. She is humble and austere and shy and not sure of what religion or love means, even though society imposes them on her.
How Anna longed to tell Mr Price that he could forget the rent! And yet she had a duty to her father, who she knew would not relent on even a half-penny of what he was owed.
Quest’anno, nel mese di maggio, ricorreva il 150 anniversario della nascita dello scrittore inglese; per celebrare quest’avvenimento in Inghilterra, si sono svolte commemorazioni, celebrazioni e anche una trasposizione teatrale di questo romanzo. A plot summary would make this short, but perfectly formed novel sound parochial, unoriginal and maybe dull. It is not. Bennett is a wonderful observer and writer of the small-scale aspects that make life real and characters spring to life. He's also pretty good at writing female characters. In fact, by far the weakest character is male: the faultless Henry Mynors.Should one read this story for plot or for character portrayal? For both or for either. Each character is well drawn. This makes you need to know what will happen to them, making plot equally important! Bennett situates us immediately with Anna's character in the small industrial town in the Midlands, a bright, attractive girl protective of her close sister, liked by the socially respected neighbour, Mrs. Sutton, and friends with her daughter. She often spends time at social evenings with the Suttons, but at home her time is spent serving her miserly and miserable father, Ephraim. Caring for the characters as I did, I needed to also know what would happen to them and how the story would end. It becomes known that before his death, Mr. Price defrauded the chapel of fifty pounds. Anna tries to keep the information from Willie, but someone tells him just as he is ready to leave for Australia. When he tells Anna good-bye, he looks like a whipped child. As Anna looks into his eyes for the last time, she realizes suddenly that he loves her and that she loves him. She lets him go, however, because she feels bound by her promise to Henry. She was dutiful all her life; it is too late for her to change.