{"id":1019,"date":"2022-11-17T21:22:19","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T21:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=1019"},"modified":"2022-11-17T21:22:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T21:22:19","slug":"jobs-bugs-are-colonial-thugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2022\/11\/17\/jobs-bugs-are-colonial-thugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Job’s Bugs are Colonial Thugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

What are we to make of Job Leigh and his entomology? On the one hand, they create a cookie cutter image of the working class intellectual portrait that Elizabeth Gaskell paints in the opening of chapter 5 \u201cThere are entomologists, who may be seen with a rude-looking net\u2026\u201d This shallow portrait, however, doesn\u2019t seem to explain the prominence of science and insects in the novel, which even appear in the closing lines.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a narrative tool they position Job as a disinterested character, unaligned with either the hand-loom weavers or the masters. They also create some endearing interactions with Margaret and William, and just generally make Job Leigh seem like a cute and kooky old man who\u2019s not quite on the right page. However, what more can we learn about the meaning they create by utilizing Elaine Freedgood\u2019s metonymic Lens?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Outside of class I have done some research on colonial writing and discovered Mary Pratt\u2019s book Imperial Eyes <\/i>where she details her theory that the emergence of natural sciences had a significant role on colonial exploration following the publication of The System of Nature <\/i>in the 18th century. The same book which is responsible for latin naming method Job Leigh is so infatuated with.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While I do think there is an interesting reading where Job\u2019s scientific drive can be seen as a colonizing force (he supports Williams imperial expeditions and wants him and other sailors to bring him back specimens) that doesn\u2019t have much impact on our understanding of Mary Barton<\/i> itself. Instead, I would direct our attention to another way Job\u2019s specimens serve as metonymic device: they stand in for international competition. Reading Gaskell\u2019s propagandizing description of Mancunian already makes it clear that she is proud of Job\u2019s entomology, but I think this lens helps to understand why.\u00a0 <\/span>Entomology is not just a silly hobby for an old man, it is the space race of the colonial age. Traveling the world, naming plants and animals, that was how colonial power\u2019s fought their intellectual battles, and little old Job Leigh was a player! Poor working class Manchester was a player! In very small ways of course, but still, readers at the time would have associated Job\u2019s hobby, not like we might, with our cliche\u2019d old man hobbies like gardening, but with a scientific pursuit of national importance.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are we to make of Job Leigh and his entomology? On the one hand, they create a cookie cutter image of the working class intellectual portrait that Elizabeth Gaskell paints in the opening of chapter 5 \u201cThere are entomologists, who may be seen with a rude-looking net\u2026\u201d This shallow portrait, however, doesn\u2019t seem to … Continue reading Job’s Bugs are Colonial Thugs<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4708,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344620],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4708"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}