On The Black Hill

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On the Black Hill is a novel by Bruce Chatwin.

[edit] Plot summary

The novel's setting is based on the Black Mountains, Wales. It is told through the technique of flashback and portrays the lives of two twins, Lewis and Benjamin, who develop a bond that is shown throughout the novel as a very special one. Lewis is portrayed as the stronger more masculine twin, whereas Benjamin is the more feminine one, in appearance and in the tasks which he does around the house. He seems to be constantly drawn to his mother's side while she is alive, and there is also a suggestion of more than a brotherly love toward his twin Lewis.

Lewis is the one who wants to break free, but his efforts are frustrated by his brother. Chatwin also tells the reader of the brutality involved in farming. Amos, the father of the two twins, shows how his day-to-day job has brutalised his caring and loving attitude, and we see this later in the novel he hits his wife Mary on the temple with the book she is reading - Wuthering Heights. A jealous man attacks his wife with the very material that shows her intelligence; he feels threatened by this, feeling that the man is supposed to be the head of the family, and he feels anger because of his limited intellect.

On the Black Hill is a novel which portrays themes such as love, hate and social values, as is shown when Amos finds out that his daughter Rebecca has become pregnant by an Irishman. His religious fanaticism forces him to throw her out of the household, and she is not mentioned in the novel again until the latter part.