# VI: A Conjuncture, and Its Result Upon the Pedestrian explained — The Return of the Native

> Chapter companion for The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

## What happens

Wildeve visits Eustacia by day, finding Clym asleep after hard labor. They discuss their past relationship and Eustacia's discontent with her marriage. Mrs. Yeobright arrives and knocks, but Eustacia hides Wildeve and does not open the door; Mrs. Yeobright leaves before Clym wakes.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Marriage

Eustacia and Wildeve's conversation reveals the disillusionment in her marriage and the lingering passion between them.

### Social Class and Ambition

Eustacia laments Clym's manual labor and her lost dreams of a more exciting life, contrasting with Wildeve's elegant appearance.

### Isolation and Loneliness

Eustacia feels trapped in her marriage and isolated from the life she desires, while Wildeve envies Clym's peaceful sleep.

## Character check-ins

### Damon Wildeve

Visits Eustacia by day, dressed elegantly, and rekindles old tensions.

### Eustacia Vye

Confronts Wildeve about their past, expresses dissatisfaction with her marriage, and hides him from Mrs. Yeobright.

### Clym Yeobright

Sleeps deeply after physical labor, unaware of the visit and his mother's arrival.

### Mrs. Yeobright

Arrives at the house, knocks, but leaves when no one answers.

## Key lines

> The spell that she had thrown over him in the moonlight dance made it impossible for a man having no strong puritanic force within him to keep away altogether.

The enchantment Eustacia cast on Wildeve during their dance was so powerful that he, lacking strong moral restraint, could not stay away.

_Highlights Wildeve's irresistible attraction to Eustacia._

> I have certainly got thistles for figs in a worldly sense, but how could I tell what time would bring forth?

I have received something worthless instead of valuable in material terms, but I couldn't foresee how things would turn out.

_Eustacia expresses regret over her marriage's failure to provide worldly benefits._

> But do I desire unreasonably much in wanting what is called life—music, poetry, passion, war, and all the beating and pulsing that is going on in the great arteries of the world?

Is it too much to ask for a life full of excitement, art, and intensity?

_Eustacia articulates her yearning for a vibrant, passionate existence._

## Links

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- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_of_the_native_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_of_the_native_se/chapters