When reading the novel “The Return of the Native” by Thomas Hardy, it is hard to find out at the first moment, why the author has used such a title for his work. It is necessary to understand, who are those native and why they have to return, and such an understanding can be reached only when we began to consider the role the author has given to the heath in his novel. It seems, the main protagonist of the novel is heath in reality and not characters having their homes in it.
The introduction of the novel begins with the description of the heath and Rainborrow, only after this description human beings appear upon the scene, and the novel ends with the same Rainborrow. Heath and ancient traditions accompanies all the events from the beginning to the very end; it is the stage on which all the turns of the plot take place. The descriptions of heath reflect its changes during the course of seasons. Cold autumn wind is blowing when bon-fires are burned in accordance to ancient and almost forgotten Keltic traditions: “The wind, indeed, seemed made for the scene, as the scene seemed made for the hour.” (60)1 Winter comes with rain and fog, with mummering and “winter solastice having stealthily coming on, the lowness of the sun causing the hour to seem later than it actually is.”…
