Windswept

Wuthering Heights is a novel from 1845 from an English society very focused on class, prestige, and treatment of those in a lesser position.  The two main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff, fittingly come from the two polarized classes, Catherine from the rich and enviable, Heathcliff from the poor and dispicable. Both of them had to deal with the harshness of life no matter which set of circumstances they were born into.  Mainly the book centers on learning two lessons.  Lesson one was to learn to live with the cards that had been dealt them.  Lesson two was to learn to overcome the situations in the cards that had dealt them.  Catherine's character was developed primarily around the first lesson, Heathcliff's primarily around the latter although both characters experienced the taste of both types of lessons.

I really identify with Heathcliff's character because he had to overcome so much.  Life was not kind to him.  He started at the lowest rung in society and, through a lifetime of two steps forward and one foot backward, he slowly climbed to a rung near the top as a wealthy landowner.  The title says it all.  Yes, Heathcliff made it to the height of society, but oh what circumstances wuthered his way as he climbed to that height.

"To wuther" was a word in regular use at the time of the book, so people knew what it meant.  It has since dropped from use in America, but in the 19th century, readers would have known that the verb meant a blustery wind blowing or a person coughing in fits.  Both images are planted throughout the book.  Heathcliff symbolically had many a coughing fit due to the damp weather and plenty of blustery wind as it blew across his life.

The song, Send Me an Angel, by Scorpions, signifies so very well the theme of the book as described above.

Wind will blow into your face
As the years pass you by.

No truer words... wuthering.

Close your eyes and you will find
A passage out of the dark.

Yes, a way to overcome, to achieve heights.

And I rise every day, to work at bettering my life, or in the words of the song,

Here I am
In the land of the morning star.
Will you send me an angel?

I have to say, that an angel did appear in my life... with laughter and cheer, love and strength... and taught me much about the horizons I was viewing and those I was missing out on in my life.  This angel taught me to

Seek the roses along the way,
Just beware of the thorns.

and to listen to

My voice inside, and
The call of my heart.

I am without my angel for now... But, I still awake every morning to work at bettering my life.

Here I am
In the land of the morning star.

This time, though, without asking the question that follows.  I have seen my angel, and I am so, so very grateful to have been in the presence of my angel to learn true happiness, true love, true loyalty, true enjoyment.

I was sent an angel who guided me out of the wuthering dark.