HEATH AND KATHY

  HEATH AND CATHY

darrell romine

Dec 16 - 2019

Catherine (Cathy) Littleton sat in the big classroom 4 of Xander Hall, waiting for English Literature 101 to begin. The teacher, Doctor Heath Browning, was a few minutes late, as usual. He was known in the college as a brilliant lecturer, but a rebel against the schools norms. He was handsome and sought after by the girls, whom he showed almost no attention to. Consequently, it was rumored that he was still in the closet. Heath strode in, stood behind the lectern and looked the students in their eyes like he was searching for a friend. His eyes fixed on Cathy, he smiled and put his class materials down and began asking the students questions about several novels they had been studying. His eyes reflected dissatisfaction at their rote, deterministic answers. "Can't anybody tell me why these characters are so complex, pedantic, confusing and sometimes act in direct opposition to their own best interests?" Cathy raised her hand. "Miss Littleton, care to enlighten us?" "I think that the authors are trying to present the uncertainty, fear and haughtiness of various classes and levels of Victorian society as they attempt to survive and possibly even flourish in such a difficult environment. Women and girls, for instance, had to walk a particularly narrow path of behavior to be accepted by a society that supposedly had their best interests in mind, but often just marginalized them to servanthood and being under the heel of the male dominated society."

"Oh, we have a new feminist voice trumpeting the misdeeds of us miscreant males once more. *Laughter* Still, she makes some good points. If you attempt to put the people in that period in a construct of todays social norms, you err. The authors wrote of the difficulties of life and love and just surviving as a member of a fairly rigid social structure. Elizabeth Bennet, for instance, risked a lot by being an outspoken intellect, though she did have to do some serious rethinking of her own prejudices. Still, in more primitive societies of the period, women were treated even more oppressively. Some fresh air was being breathed by English society, in anticipation and preparation of more egalitarian times ahead. Thank you, Miss Littleton for those learned observations. Now, class, please open the Pride and Prejudice study guide and let's begin with the first question on page one hundred eight." He began his lecture examining the relevancy of the material to todays world.

He kept glancing back at Cathy and showing a slight smile, she smiled back. The class drew to a close and she waited in line to get a quick audience with the teacher. The T.A.s were handing out graded essays, but Heath handed hers back personally with a blue '100%' on the front. She asked him a question about his opinion of Mister Darcy and the turnaround of his opinion of Elizabeth Bennet. He smiled, " I think those two fell in love and Jane Austen over analyzed the situation in a feminist framework. I hope I didn't burst your bubble. I'm here to present the literature without worshipping the authors. C'est La Vie, which is French and out of place in an English Literature class." He smiled at her again, then asked everyone to excuse him and left the classroom, after talking to the Primary T.A.

Cathy grabbed her backpack, and went to the Commons to have coffee and look the essay over. She sat at a tiny little table, and reviewed the notations on the four page document. She was confused because there was a little slip of paper on the back side of the second page. It was taped to the sheet and contained a cryptic notation, and a warning to 'share this with no one'. Because it had an 'at' symbol, it was obviously a URL for an email box. She looked around, no one was near. She opened her lap top and tapped in the URL. It was the personal email of Dr. Heath Browning. She was puzzled, but tapped out a little message and then shut the laptop to keep it private. "Dr. Browning, thank you for allowing me to email you. I won't let anyone know about this. I liked your observation today about Bennet and Darcy falling in love. I'm not really a rabid feminist, but I do think that you would agree that women have gotten a raw deal throughout history. I'll see you tomorrow, you have a nice smile. Cathy."