As I started reading Wuthering Heights I immediately noticed how the story was being told. The story is initially told from the perspective of Lockwood. Lockwood has very little contact with the actual events of the story and he also seems slightly uninterested. The way the story is told is through the diary of Lockwood. He recounts all that happens to him, including the story Nelly tells him. However, based on what we know of Lockwood, there is the possibility is that he is biased. He might not be the most reliable narrator as he is not directly involved in these events, and therefore he might not fully grasp what is going on as well as the significance of it. This wrong understanding could then be translated in his retelling of it, creating an even less reliable recounting of it to the reader. Do you think this could be the case? Is Lockwood an unreliable narrator and does it affect the story?
I also wanted to discuss what happened briefly in these chapters. We are introduced to the narrator, Lockwood, and then told of his connection to Wuthering Heights. He has an interesting event, a meeting with the ghosts of past residents, happen at the manor and he immediately returns to his home. Here he is told the story of Wuthering Heights and its residents. He is told the past of the three children of the manor, and the rejection of one of them in particular, the owner’s natural son. The owner loves his practically adopted son, Heathcliff, more, and his natural son, Hindley, is sent away. Heathcliff and the owner’s daughter, Catherine, become very close. Eventually the owner dies and Hindley obtains control of Wuthering Heights and makes Heathcliff a servant. This causes Catherine to ultimately marry someone else, and Heathcliff to run away and become a gentleman. His return spells bad news.
