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Favourite book theories


KEV67

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What are your favourite book theories? I am looking for things hidden in the text, that the author may or may not have intended.

 

My favourite theory is about Daniel Derona by George Elliot. There is a theory that one of the two principle character, Gwendolen Harleth, was sexually abused by her stepfather, Captain Davilow, and that she was frigid as a result. Given that the book was written in the C19th, that would be quite a bold thing to write about. None of the reviewers from the time seemed to have picked up on it. Captain Davilow was dead before the book started. Nevertheless, the theory would explain a lot.

 

 

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Not a book I've read unfortunately, so I can't comment on that particular book. However, there is a similar theory to do with Daphne Du Maurier's  "Julius" (or The Progress of Julius - it seems to be sold under both titles).  In it Julius has a daughter, but their relationship is odd. Again, this was written in 1933, and it may be modern eyes just reading too much into it.

Then there is Eugenie Danglers in The count of Monte Cristo. Depending on how you read her character, she's either a liberated woman who just doesn't want to be dependant on a man, or she's gay. I suspect either would have been quite a shocking proposal at the time the book was written!

 

I'm sure there are heaps more, but these were the two that came immediately to mind. Of course, it's ambiguous things like this in books that make them both fascinating and frustrating in equal measure! 

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Another interesting theory is that The Wizard of Oz was a commentary on the American monetary system. I watched an hour long video about it. Dorothy wore silver shoes in the book. The yellow brick road looks rather like gold. There you have the bi-metallic US currency system. The Emerald City represent Greenbacks, which I believe was a type of money not tied to gold or silver and not created by debt either, just issued by the treasury. The straw man represented the farmers. The tin man represented industry. The lion represented a particular politician who was trying to do something with the US currency system around the time L. Frank Baum wrote the book.

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