CASTLE RACRENT

For your second blog post, read through the entirety of Castle Rackrent (For those of you reading the Penguin edition, you do NOT have to read Ennui. I do, however, recommend reading the introduction by Marilyn Butler. She’s the premier scholar on Edgeworth. The intro might also help give you a little bit of historical background on the novel). Make sure you read the Preface, the Editor’s notes, and the Glossary. Remember that your blog is due on Tuesday at 11:59 pm. It should be between 500-800 words and it should include some quotes from a text, albeit the novel, the David Lloyd essay, another student, or an online source. Make sure that you provide links and that you cite your sources. Below are some questions for discussion. You do NOT have to use them. They are merely here to help you get started. Feel free to develop your own analysis or use another student's blog as a springboard for your own.

1. 
   Do some independent internet research using these three terms as a key word search: Ascendancy, 1798 uprising, and the Act of Union (1800). How does a little knowledge about these key terms affect your reading of the novel? Specifically, how does it change your reading of the Preface? You could also do some independent research on the Catholic middle class, the Penal Laws, and Edgeworth herself if you so choose.
   
2. Castle Rackerent is a satiric, multi-layered, self-reflexive novel. In it, we find Thady’s narrative, the Editor, and then there is Edgeworth, herself. Choose one of these "authors" and find a specific quote or passage that seems to reveal this specific "author’s" perspective. How would you characterize this author’s tone? How does this author characterize the Irish? The English?
   
3. Do you see Jason as a hero or a villain? Explain your response with support from the text.