Talk Literature: Re: Trollope (no spoilers)

The tone of The Warden is reasonably light, although not as directly comic as Barchester Towers. The ethical problem is not particularly light at all. I agree that the question of how much is fair for what we do is, in fact, a difficult and puzzling problem. Even for a psychologist.

It's even more difficult when you're managing a charity. Your salary is then directly funds that might go to those for whom the charity was designed. What is a fair income? Suppose you're the CEO of, I don't know, the International Red Cross. I imagine that can be as stressful a job as running any other large multi-national entity. But it's not for profit. It's not a business. What is fair?

I don't think that Harding was a fool, although I doubt that I would measure up, if I were somehow placed in a similar situation. I agree that Mr. Harding is surely one of the most ethical characters in all literature.

The deeper I get into Barchester Towers, the happier I am that I read The Warden first. Trollope seems to assume that his readers have done so. He doesn't bother to characterize either Mr. Harding or Eleanor adequately in Barchester Towers alone. Consequently, the stakes for both of them seem so much lower since we have not already learned to care about them.

--Previous Message--
: Thanks a lot, it will be really helpful. I was born and
: raised a Roman Catholic (like the overwhelming
: majority of Mexicans), but I'm not religious anymore.
: Anyway, the Anglican hierarchy is very different from
: the Roman Catholic.
:
: I have finished "The Warden", and very glad
: to have read it. It actually doesn't seem a light work
: to me, though the tone is gently satirical. There is
: certainly a difficult ethical problem, one that many
: people today face (and many more simply ignore): how
: much is fair for what we do? Is my "public
: affairs director" position worth more to society
: than the rural teacher's? What are all those
: "advisors" doing while the maid cleans up
: the house? Mr. Harding is, no doubt, one of the most
: ethical persons in literature; most other people would
: have fought for their sinecure and simply shrugged the
: shoulders at the "Jupiter" (The Times).
:
: I, who live in one of the most corrupt countries in
: the world, would like to go about smashing Mr.
: Harding's example on our politicians' heads, they who
: steal and cheat unashamedly. Mr. Harding's decision is
: surely idiotic to most people, but it is ethical and
: honorable nonetheless.
:
: "The Warden" is, of course, a novel about a
: moral dilemma, but it also shows the power of the
: press in the mid-XIX Century and the difficult
: problems with religion in the UK.
:
: Soon to "Barchester Towers"!
: