You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.
BEFORE YOU READ
1Read about Thomas Hardy. Hardy set his novels in Wessex. Is Wessex a real place name? Where is it?
Wessex is a place name. It's in .
2Read the background to the story. Who does Farmer Lodge bring home one day?
He brings home.
About the author
Thomas Hardy
Born: 1840 near Dorchester, England
Died: 1928 Dorchester
Important works: Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), Jude the Obscure (1895)
Did you know? As a child Thomas Hardy loved school, and he studied many subjects including Latin and Greek. In 1856, when he left school, he worked for a local architect and church restorer. In 1862, he studied architecture in London, but returned home two years later. He wrote poems and stories. It was his second novel, Far from the Madding Crowd, that made him successful and famous.
Hardy set his novels in the countryside of Wessex. This was a fictional name he gave to the south-western part of England, where he lived all his life. He wrote four great tragic novels, all of which display a pessimistic view of life. In his novels Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, Hardy criticised Victorian morals. This caused a scandal and some people burned his books. Hardy didn't write any more novels after this, but wrote poetry for the rest of his life. He wrote Wessex Poems in 1898. Hardy's ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey in London, but his heart is buried in the graveyard at Stinsford Church, alongside the graves of his parents, his grandparents and his first wife.
BACKGROUND TO THE STORY
Rhoda Brook is tall with beautiful, dark eyes, but she is very poor. She works very hard as a milkmaid on Farmer Lodge's farm. She isn't married, but she has a twelve-year-old son. The boy is Farmer Lodge's son, but the farmer never comes to see them.
One day the farmer brings his new wife home. Rhoda doesn't want to meet her, but she wants to know what she looks like. She sends her son to church so that he can tell his mother what Mrs Lodge is like. The boy tells his mother that Gertrude Lodge is small and very pretty. Rhoda makes a picture in her head of the farmer's new wife. The picture is like a photograph.
The phantom has on her third finger.
One night, two or three weeks later, when the boy was in bed, Rhoda Brook sat by the dying fire in her little house. She stared at the fire for a long time, but she saw only the picture in her head of the new wife. At last, tired from her day's work, she went to bed.
But the picture of Gertrude Lodge did not go away. When Rhoda slept, the young wife was still there in Rhoda's dreams. She sat on Rhoda's body in the bed, staring into Rhoda's face. Her blue eyes were cold, and with a cruel laugh, she put her left hand in front of Rhoda's eyes. There, on the third finger, was her wedding ring. And the phantom of Gertrude Lodge laughed again.
Rhoda turned this way and that way, but the phantom was still there. It sat, heavier and heavier, on Rhoda's body, and now Rhoda could not move. Always in her ears was that cruel laugh, and always in front of her eyes was that left hand with its wedding ring.
At last, half-dead with terror, Rhoda suddenly put out her right hand, took hold of the phantom's left arm, and pulled it hard.
The phantom fell off the bed onto the floor, and Rhoda sat up.
'Dear God!' she cried. She felt cold, so cold. 'That was not a dream – she was here!'
She could still feel the young woman's arm under her hand – a warm, living arm. She looked on the floor for the woman's body, but there was nothing there.
Rhoda Brook slept no more that night, and at the dairy early the next morning, she looked pale and ill. She could not forget the feel of that arm under her hand.
From The Withered Arm, Oxford Bookworms. Text adaptation by Jennifer Bassett.
One night, two or three weeks later, when the boy was in bed, Rhoda Brook sat by the dying fire in her little house. She stared at the fire for a long time, but she saw only the picture in her head of the new wife. At last, tired from her day's work, she went to bed.
But the picture of Gertrude Lodge did not go away. When Rhoda slept, the young wife was still there in Rhoda's dreams. She sat on Rhoda's body in the bed, staring into Rhoda's face. Her blue eyes were cold, and with a cruel laugh, she put her left hand in front of Rhoda's eyes. There, on the third finger, was her wedding ring. And the phantom of Gertrude Lodge laughed again.
Rhoda turned this way and that way, but the phantom was still there. It sat, heavier and heavier, on Rhoda's body, and now Rhoda could not move. Always in her ears was that cruel laugh, and always in front of her eyes was that left hand with its wedding ring.
At last, half-dead with terror, Rhoda suddenly put out her right hand, took hold of the phantom's left arm, and pulled it hard.
The phantom fell off the bed onto the floor, and Rhoda sat up.
'Dear God!' she cried. She felt cold, so cold. 'That was not a dream – she was here!'
She could still feel the young woman's arm under her hand – a warm, living arm. She looked on the floor for the woman's body, but there was nothing there.
Rhoda Brook slept no more that night, and at the dairy early the next morning, she looked pale and ill. She could not forget the feel of that arm under her hand.
From The Withered Arm, Oxford Bookworms. Text adaptation by Jennifer Bassett.
1One evening Rhoda's son is .
2Rhoda stares at the fire and she can see a picture of .
3The phantom on Rhoda's body.
4The phantom had a cruel .
5Rhoda is afraid and she the phantom's arm.
6The dream makes Rhoda feel .
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3. Read the questions and give your opinion.
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READ ON
The next morning a woman comes to Rhoda's cottage. It is Gertrude Lodge and she has some shoes for Rhoda's son. Gertrude looks the same as the phantom in Rhoda's dream, but her eyes are kind and not cruel. Rhoda and Gertrude become friends.
One day Gertrude tells Rhoda that she had a bad dream and then her arm hurt. There are yellowy-brown marks on her left arm. They look like finger marks. Rhoda is afraid that she did this to Gertrude. Only witches can harm people in dreams. Is Rhoda a witch? Gertrude asks Rhoda to take her to Mr Trendle's house. He is a wise man and he can look at her arm. Rhoda doesn't want to meet the wise man. He understands dreams and witches.
has a withered arm.
She sees it .
1 is at home.
2 looks at Rhoda for a long time.
3 is surprised she has an enemy.
4 can see into the room.
5 sees the face of her enemy in the egg.
6 can't hear the name Gertrude whispers.
7 has a very pale face.
7. Read the questions and give your opinion.
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8 Witches in stories can do good things and bad things. In this story, Rhoda has a dream and she hurts Gertrude's arm. Imagine that she can also make Gertrude's arm better. Use the ideas to write a good ending to this story.
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