thus, although i would reach for my

thus, although i would reach for my red pen if i recieved an essay from a student which argued that catherine never really died but lived on the moor as a hermit, it seems to me that wondering what would have happened had catherine not died is an absolutely normal part of reading a novel such as wuthering heights. now it is certainly true that what it may be interesting to wonder during one's reading of a novel is very often not worth discussing once one has finished the novel; but this should not lead us to reject such wondering or comparable indulgences of fantasy, imagination, day-dreaming as illegitimate, 'wrong', unauthorized, or whatever. it is from the soup of such responsive processes that our interpretative and analytical understanding is distilled.