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When Edgar brought Linton to the Grange to live with him and Cathy after Isabella’s death, he expected Heathcliff to come sooner or later for him. In my opinion, Edgar tried his best to prepare the boy as best he could, which meant giving him what he could in the little time he had. After they had reached the Grange, he wanted Linton to get some rest and prepare for the worst to come. When Cathy wanted to become friends with him he knew he couldn’t stop her from growing acquainted with him, he could only delay it. With that being said, instead of telling her no, he simply decided to tell her “don’t harass him much by talking; let him be quiet this evening, at least, will you?” (Bronte, 194). You don’t really get a chance to see Edgar in the parenting stage until you’re near the end of the book, but in that short time, you see that he has very relaxed protective style with Cathy. He wants her to be happy and live her life that way Catherine did, but he also wants what’s best for her, which sometimes causes the two to collide. When Edgar was on his deathbed, Nelly had said to Cathy “to say, she should be happy with young Heathcliff.” (Bronte, 270) By agreeing to this, Cathy brought closure to her father. Both Nelly and Cathy didn’t want him to die thinking his entire life trying to keep Cathy safe had failed. Edgar had died with that closure from Cathy that she would be happy.
In the real world, many parents are like Edgar. They want their child to be their own person, but sometimes they need to hold on till they are ready to let go. In any family, you never really just let your child ‘leave the nest’. I know a family whose children are all grown up, like 35 years old grown up, and they still live at their parent’s house. Although this is cliché, I don’t think you should be living at your parents’ house, when you’re married with two children. However, connecting that point to the topic at hand, I find that sometimes, parents can rub their protection off on the kids, making them not want to leave at all. Even though Edgar’s protection was a little overbearing, it rubbed off on Cathy in the good way, making her responsible, which is what you want as a parent.
My question is was Edgar the responsible adult he thought he’d be for Cathy?