Thomas Hardy is a bit of a sucker for nature. In most of his books, you'll find a lot of nostalgia for a nice rural, nature-filled world that used to exist. This nature-filled world wasn't always a happy place: plenty of bad stuff happens to the country-dwelling characters in Far from the Madding Crowd, for example. But at the same time, Hardy always looks to nature as a source of hope, since nature always seems to be there, watching calmly over whatever drama comes out of human lives.
Questions About Man & the Natural World
- Do you think that this book idealizes Gabriel Oak's relationship with nature? In other words, does Hardy turn Oak into a saint for being so close to nature all the time? Why or why not?
- Can you think of any scenes in this book in which a character needs to battle against nature? What does it tell us about the natural world?
- What do we learn about Gabriel Oak through his interactions with his flocks of sheep? Does he treat them kindly all the time, or is he practical about when to help them and when to kill them?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
In Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy shows us a world in which human beings are at peace with nature.
In Far from the Madding Crowd, we learn that nature is a cold, uncaring thing that is completely indifferent to human life.