At the moment, I am reading a Victorian novel entitled Ruth that is, in my opinion, a very annoying and boring book. The main character of the book is a fallen woman, a woman that had sex before marriage, who is only sixteen years old, fifteen at the very beginning. Not unlike The Scarlet Letter, this book seems to be heading in the direction of revolving around the effects of bearing an illegitimate child. What makes this book so annoying is the main character. Ruth not only takes extra blame upon herself, while excusing the man that coerced her into such an action, but she cries constantly. I'm not sure how much more crying I can really take. She cries about this, and then she cries about that, and then she cries when the sun is shining because she feels she doesn't deserve it. You get the idea.
Although the book is annoying, it is sharply pointed in what it tries to accomplish. At the time of its publishing, fallen women were looked down upon as the lowest of the low, with blame resting solely upon their shoulders and the weight of society crushing them. I am interested in how this book will turn out, meaning that I want to know the moral conclusion that is drawn about fallen women in the Victorian Period, but I still have to get past the annoying thoughts and actions of the main character. I hope it can be accomplished.
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