The Title The Return of The Native

Justification of the Title
 The title must be appropriate and significant, just as the

signboard indicates the contents of shop. This title
certainly seems a straightforward enough-it’s all about a
native returning from somewhere, but Hardy loves its
deeper meanings. He always gives titles to his novels
after a good deal of consideration. As such, his titles are
really appropriate, significant and suggestive, of the
central theme or spirits of the novel. Most of his titles
are after the names of the heroes or heroines of the
novel concerned. They are ‘A Pair of Blue Eyes’, ‘Two on
a Tower’, ’Under the Greenwood Tree’, ‘and Far From the
Madding Crowed’. The title ‘The Return of the Native is
also a poetical and highly suggestive.
 The story of this novel revolves around a
long absent native of Egdon Heath returning
from the Paris and stirs up the drama. The
story of this returning native is kind of like a
biblical story of prodigal son but with a twist.
In the story of prodigal son(Luke 15;12-35), a
son loves to party and waste the money but
finally partied himself out, came back home,
humbly, ask for money from the family whom
he had ignored long.
 Egdon Heath forms the tragic background of
the novel “The Return of the Native”.
 “The place perfectly accordant with the
man’s nature, neither ghastly, hateful, nor

ugly; neither common place, unmeaning, nor
tame; but like man, slighted and enduring;
and with singularly colossal and mysterious
in its swarthy monotony.”
 All the characters of this novel belong to the
vicinity of the Egdon Heath, and all the action
also take place in the same heath. All those
characters that have accepted and adopted
completely themselves according the condition
and the environments of the heath are happy,
while those characters that have not been able
to adopted themselves completely according
to the surroundings of the heath are unhappy
and came to a tragic end.
 The title “The Return of the Native” is quite
justified, suggestive and meaningful. Clym
the hero of the novel is a native of the
Wessex countryside around the Egdon Heath.
He migrated to Bud mouth in France to work
with a diamond merchant while he was quite
young. Then he went to Paris and became the
manager of a big firm dealing in diamond
merchant.
 He comes back home to spend his Christmas
with his mother after a long time. He has
become fed up with the fast going and
artificial life of the Paris and longs to come
back and settle down peacefully in his native
countryside. Earlier he had thought the life of
city is better than the life of the village. After
living in Paris he has come to see that city life
is not better than the rural life. He also feels
tired of the flashy trade of diamonds and fined
out that this does not suit his genius.
 The return of Clym to his native Egdon causes much sorrow,
suffering in the life of at least five people —Clym himself,
Eustacia, Wildeve, Mrs. Yeobright and Thomasin. Clym was
disgusted with the life at Paris, and he intended to devote the
rest of his life to the education of the Heath-folk. He intended to
stay for ever in his birthplace to start a sort of school for the
education of the rustics. This is a noble end, indeed, but it too
idealistic and is bound to result in frustration and
disappointment. The illiterate Egdon people would never have
appreciated his nobility or his attempts at education them. In
order to put his plan into practice, he studies hard late into the
night. The result is that he grows-semi-blind, and is obliged to
take to the humble work of a furze-cutter to support himself.
This is a great tragedy, and Clym’s suffering can better be
imagined than described.
 But this is not all. His return brings tragedy in the
life of others also. Eustacia, the Queen of Night,
falls in love with him and marries him in the hope
that he would take her to Paris, and in this way her
craze for city life would be satisfied. She is
disgusted with Egdon, regards it as a Hell, and
yearns for the pomp and glitter of city life. When
she finds that Clym has no intentions of returning
to Paris, her frustration knows no bound. She turns
once again to Wildeve, and plans to elope with him.
The result is that both of them are drowned in the
dark and stormy night.
 Had Clym not returned, Eustacia would have
married Wildeve, and all would have been well. As
it is, his return makes Wildeve marry Thomasin,
and the two are incompatible by their very natures.
Wildeve does not remain faithful to Thomasin for
long, and makes love to Eustacia again. Thomasin
suffers silently as long as he lives, and finally has
to suffer the pangs of Widowhood. Her life would
have been a long tale of misery, had not there
been the faithful Diggory to marry her and thus
bring a ray of sunshine into her dark life.
 Again, it is the return of Clym to Egdon, that brings him into
direct conflict with Mrs. Yeobright, his mother. Mrs. Yeobright
loves her son deeply and devotedly. She lives for him alone. A
wise and shrewd woman, she knows that Eustacia would
never make a good wife to him. She, therefore, warns Clym
against a hasty marriage with her. She strongly objects to
their marriage. The result is that the two quarrel violently,
and finally separate and live apart. The result is that both of
them suffer acutely, but silently. Their suffering is terrible.
When Mrs. Yeobright comes to know that her son has turned
a furze-cutter, she relents and goes to his cottage to be
reconciled. But cruel Destiny has willed otherwise. The door
of Clym’s house remains closed in her face, she turns back
disappointed and exhausted, and dies on the Heath.
 Thus the novel narrates the story of the tragic
consequences of the return of Clym to Egdon,
his native place. Hence the title is
appropriate.

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Justification of the Title

 The title must be appropriate and significant, just as the

man’s nature, neither ghastly, hateful, nor

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