In Chapter 31, the narration returns to Mr. Lockwood, who has nearly recovered from his illness and decides to visit Wuthering Heights once more before leaving Yorkshire. Nelly Dean gives him a note for young Catherine, asking him to deliver it secretly. When he arrives, Hareton Earnshaw—handsome but rough in manner—lets him in. Inside, Lockwood finds Catherine busy with domestic chores, looking subdued and withdrawn, her spirit clearly crushed by her confinement.
Lockwood tries to hand her Nelly’s letter discreetly, but Catherine’s curiosity exposes the gesture. Hareton snatches the letter first, insisting that Heathcliff must see it before she can read it. Catherine’s eyes fill with tears at this humiliation, and though Hareton eventually relents and throws the letter at her feet, his gruffness deepens the tension between them. After reading it eagerly, Catherine sighs with longing for her old life and freedom, speaking wistfully of riding and roaming the moors—an image of a caged spirit remembering its lost liberty.
Their conversation soon turns bitter. Catherine complains that Heathcliff has destroyed all her books, leaving her nothing to read. When she discovered Hareton’s small private collection of Latin and poetry, she accused him of stealing them out of spite, mocking his attempts at self-education. Hareton, deeply hurt, tries to defend himself, but Catherine continues to ridicule his clumsy reading and pronunciation. In a flash of shame and anger, Hareton throws his books into her lap, only for her to reject them with contempt. Finally, humiliated and enraged, he burns his beloved books—a powerful act that symbolizes how her cruelty has crushed his fragile efforts at improvement.
Lockwood observes that Hareton’s efforts to learn sprang from admiration for Catherine, whose scorn only hardened his pride. Their hostility, however, conceals an undercurrent of emotional tension that suggests the possibility of future reconciliation.
When Heathcliff returns, he meets Hareton storming out of the house, visibly upset. In a rare, reflective moment, Heathcliff mutters that he can hardly bear to look at Hareton because the young man resembles Catherine Earnshaw, not Hindley, evoking painful memories of the woman he loved and lost. His remark reveals the deep torment beneath his hardened exterior.
Lockwood informs Heathcliff of his decision to give up Thrushcross Grange and return to London. Heathcliff reacts indifferently, though he invites Lockwood to stay for dinner. The meal proves dismal—Heathcliff silent and grim, Hareton withdrawn, and Catherine exiled to the kitchen. When Lockwood departs, he reflects on the bleakness of life at Wuthering Heights, contrasting it with what might have been a romantic tale had he and Catherine escaped together to a brighter world. His musings close the chapter on a tone of melancholy irony, as he leaves the moors behind—at least for now.
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