Heights 3

Passage:
"she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once, and she defying us with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words; turning Joseph's religious curses into ridicule, baiting me, and doing just what her father hated most - showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more power over Heathcliff than his kindness: how the boy would do her bidding in anything, and his only when it suited his own inclination."

-This passage is significant because it sets up the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. This chapter is when the reader is able to see how their relationship originated and developed, and this passage seems to capture all of that. It also is very important in characterizing both of them. We are able to see Catherine's mischevious side and Heathlcliff's soft side - which seems to come out around Catherine. This passage is also important because we know that the relationship between these two is the main issue in the novel and therefore this may represent what is to come.

-This passage has a lot of words in it that oppose each other to create juxtaposition. It sets happy against scolding, religious against ridiclue, pretended against real, and insolence against kindness. This is important to the passage because it causes the reader to become aware of these extreme opposites that seem to reflect the characters and their emotions (Previously, it was seen that Healthcliff can be both cold and compassionate). The syntax also places Catherine's wants and desires before Heathcliff's - and the use of the word "power" alludes to the power that she continues to hold over him.