Answer:
(i) The 19th century
British novelist Thomas Hardy, wrote about traditional rural communities of
England that were fast vanishing.
(ii) This
was actually a time when large farmers forced off land, brought machines and
employed labourers to produce for the market.
(iii)
The old rural culture with its independent farmers was dying out. We get a
sense of this change in Hardy's 'Mayor of Caster bridge'.
(iv)
This novel tells us the story of Michael Henchard, a successful grain merchant,
who later became the mayor of the farming town of Caster bridge. He is a
mixture of opposites-generous as well as cruel to his employees. Consequently,
he is no match to his manager and rival, Donald Farfrac, who runs his business
on efficient lines and always treats his employees well.
Hardy
mourns the loss of the more personalized world that is disappearing, even as he
is aware of the contradictions of the new social order.
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