Wuthering Heights Chapter 32 Summary

Summary

Nelly recounts how she came to Wuthering Heights at Heathcliff’s request to take care of Catherine, initially hoping to make her comfortable by bringing books and diverting her. Catherine is restless and frets at confinement and loneliness; she teases and tests Hareton, attempting to rouse him from his sullen indifference. Hareton, crude and surly, resents Catherine’s mocking manner and pride, but Catherine persists in conciliatory gestures—ultimately wrapping a book for him, offering to teach him to read, and kissing him on the cheek. The present of the book breaks down some barriers: the two sit together studying pictures and begin to form a genuine intimacy that delights Nelly, who foresees a hopeful union between them.

Key events

1. Lockwood detours to Thrushcross Grange and seeks lodging
2. He walks to Wuthering Heights by moonlight and overhears Catherine and Hareton
3. Lockwood meets Nelly in the kitchen and learns Heathcliff died three months before
4. Nelly explains she moved to Wuthering Heights to tend Catherine
5. Catherine teases, then earnestly seeks friendship with Hareton
6. Catherine gifts Hareton a book and offers to teach him to read, breaking his reserve

Analysis

This chapter resumes Lockwood’s role as an inquiring outsider and uses his return to reconnect the narrative to the present. The revelation of Heathcliff’s death is a structural pivot delivered as local gossip through Nelly, keeping the novel’s fragmented narration: information filters through a trusted domestic narrator rather than direct reportage. The scenes at Wuthering Heights emphasize education, class, and transformation—Catherine’s efforts to civilize Hareton by offering books contrast with his rough upbringing and self-protective pride. The book as gift operates as a symbol of cultural capital and moral amelioration: literacy stands for gentility, possibility, and reconciliation. Nelly’s warm approval frames the budding intimacy as restorative rather than transgressive, reversing earlier antagonisms between the households. The moonlit walk and open doors create a liminal atmosphere between private and public, past and present; overhearing the lovers foregrounds themes of observation and narrative voyeurism that recur across the novel. Stylistically, Brontë (through Nelly’s voice) balances domestic detail, dialectal characterization (Joseph, Hareton’s language), and emotional interiority to advance character growth and foreshadow further rapprochement without revealing outcomes beyond this chapter.

Important quotes

““That for the third time, you dunce! I’m not going to tell you again. Recollect, or I’ll pull your hair!””

NarratorOverhears the playful reprimand as Lockwood approaches and glimpses the tender study scene between the young couple, signaling intimacy and instruction.

““Heathcliff dead!””

Mr. Lockwood (exclaims)Lockwood’s shocked reaction on hearing Nelly’s startling news that Heathcliff has been dead for three months.

““I shall have naught to do wi’ you and your mucky pride, and your damned mocking tricks!””

Hareton EarnshawHareton’s violent, dialectal outburst reveals his wounded pride and resistance to Catherine’s teasing, highlighting social tension between them before reconciliation.

Characters in Chapter 32

• Edgar Linton
• Zillah
• Mr. Lockwood
• Catherine Linton
• Hareton Earnshaw
• Linton Heathcliff
• Heathcliff
• Isabella Linton
• Nelly Dean
• Catherine Earnshaw
• Hindley Earnshaw
• Joseph
• Mr. Earnshaw