Visceral | Elyse Georgeson

Rereading Wuthering Heights has been a disturbing event. The book is filled with characters that I hate—I can’t understand why anyone would act that way. Yet, though I hate the book, I keep reading. Why? Because these characters, though they are so awful and mean spirited, are alive. I want to find out what happens. What happens with Heathcliff? Many times I’ve tossed the book aside in frustration with these ill-behaved people. As I toss the book aside, I scream, “Why can’t you people play nice? Why do you always have to get revenge? Don’t you know you’re not the center of the universe?” Of course, no one answers back. How can they? They’re just characters in a book that were never physically alive. But their deeds and misdeeds haunt me until I find out just what happens to them all. It’s been fascinating, delving into their world of deceit and distrust, but it’s always a breath of fresh air when I come back into my own.