How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
He walked on, speaking to the mothers and patting the children, while Mr. Irwine satisfied himself with standing still and nodding at a distance, that no one's attention might be disturbed from the young squire, the hero of the day. Arthur did not venture to stop near Hetty, but merely bowed to her as he passed along the opposite side. The foolish child felt her heart swelling with discontent; for what woman was ever satisfied with apparent neglect, even when she knows it to be the mask of love? Hetty thought this was going to be the most miserable day she had had for a long while, a moment of chill daylight and reality came across her dream: Arthur, who had seemed so near to her only a few hours before, was separated from her, as the hero of a great procession is separated from a small outsider in the crowd. (24.19)
There are emotional tensions beneath this display of amicability. A "pretend I don't love you" act is never fun, but try that act with someone from a whole different social class. Arthur's calm patronage of his "inferiors" hides his anxiety toward Hetty, while Hetty quietly submits to Arthur's ceremony despite her disappointed hopes. Which of them seems more uncomfortable?
Quote #8
"Here is the prize for the first sack-race," said Miss Lydia, taking a large parcel from the table where the prizes were laid and giving it to Mrs. Irwine before Bessy came up, "an excellent grogram gown and a piece of flannel."
"You didn't think the winner was to be so young, I suppose, Aunt?" said Arthur. "Couldn't you find something else for this girl, and save that grim-looking gown for one of the older women?"
"I have bought nothing but what is useful and substantial," said Miss Lydia, adjusting her own lace; "I should not think of encouraging a love of finery in young women of that class. I have a scarlet cloak, but that is for the old woman who wins." (25.26-28)
In the course of this dialogue, Lydia Donnithorne reveals her hoity-toity attitude toward Hayslope's working class. The "young women of that class" are attracted to finery. Such vanity will not, must not, cannot persist. So Lydia gives her inferiors practical yet aesthetically unappealing presents. Thanks a lot, Lydia.
Quote #9
Hetty laid her small plots and imagined her little scenes of cunning blandishment, as she walked along by the hedgerows on honest Adam's arm, quite as well as if she had been an elegantly clad coquette alone in her boudoir. For if a country beauty in clumsy shoes be only shallow-hearted enough, it is astonishing how closely her mental processes may resemble those of a lady in society and crinoline, who applies her refined intellect to the problem of committing indiscretions without compromising herself. Perhaps the resemblance was not much the less because Hetty felt very unhappy all the while. The parting with Arthur was a double pain to her—mingling with the tumult of passion and vanity there was a dim undefined fear that the future might shape itself in some way quite unlike her dream. (30.5)
Eliot's narrator looks beyond Hetty's relative poverty and compares her to an upper-class coquette. Hetty may be "shallow-hearted," but she can apply a fair amount of brainpower to the tricks of cunning and manipulation that ladies of a higher station also practice. See that, Hetty? You can be a Mean Girl too.