The plot in six lines
On Egdon Heath, Diggory Venn brings Thomasin Yeobright home after her wedding to Damon Wildeve fails because of a fault in the licence.
Eustacia Vye, who longs to escape the heath and still draws Wildeve's attention, sees Clym Yeobright's return from Paris as a possible way out.
Clym wants to teach the poor on the heath, but Eustacia falls in love with him while hoping he will return to Paris.
Thomasin and Wildeve marry, while Clym's marriage to Eustacia deepens his rift with Mrs Yeobright and rests on hopes neither partner fully understands.
When Clym's failing eyesight interrupts his studies, he becomes a contented furze cutter, while Eustacia despairs over their life and renews contact with Wildeve.
Eustacia tries to flee with Wildeve, but both die in the weir at Shadwater during a storm, while Thomasin marries Diggory Venn and Clym becomes a wandering preacher.
Themes
Conflicting hopes: Clym and Eustacia love each other but imagine incompatible futures, showing how affection can coexist with a failure to understand.
Place and belonging: Egdon Heath offers Clym comfort but makes Eustacia feel imprisoned, giving the same landscape opposing meanings.
Chance and choice: Small mistakes, missed messages and bad weather connect personal choices to consequences that nobody fully foresees.
Love and control: Mrs Yeobright's concern for Clym shows how sincere parental love can become entangled with ambition and control.
Tradition and change: The heath's ancient customs contrast with Clym's ideas about teaching, while Hardy shows that both tradition and progress have costs.
Characters
- Clym YeobrightA thoughtful native of the heath who gives up the diamond trade in Paris and longs to teach the poor people of his home.
- Eustacia VyeA proud, passionate young woman who hates the heath and dreams of a grand love that will carry her to a bigger world.
- Mrs YeobrightClym's strong-minded mother, who wants the best for her son and fears that his choices will lose him his future.
- Thomasin YeobrightClym's gentle, good-natured cousin, who hopes to marry Damon Wildeve and find a settled, respectable life.
- Damon WildeveThe restless innkeeper of the Quiet Woman, a former engineer whose heart wavers between two women.
- Diggory VennA reddleman stained red by his trade, who quietly watches over Thomasin and works to see her happy.
For the AP English Literature exam, May 2027
- The AP English Literature and Composition exam is on Wednesday 5 May 2027, in the first session of the day.
- The College Board sets no reading list for AP English Literature and Composition. The Return of the Native is one of the works it prints with its sample Question 3, the literary argument, where you choose the work yourself.
- Section 1 is 55 multiple-choice questions in 1 hour, 45 percent of the score. Section 2 is three free-response questions in 2 hours, 55 percent.
A two-week plan
- Day oneRead the 15-minute summary of The Return of the Native from start to finish, then tell the story back to yourself in five sentences.
- Day twoEgdon Heath is a character too: Notice how the opening landscape makes human desires seem small beside the heath's enduring presence. A failed wedding sets everything moving: Watch how the failed wedding exposes social pressure and distinguishes Venn's loyalty from Wildeve's restlessness.
- Day threeEustacia longs for a larger life: Follow how Eustacia's signal fire links her desire for love with her longing to escape. A native comes home from Paris: Notice the irony between the Parisian life Eustacia imagines and the local purpose Clym chooses.
- Day fourLove grows fast between two dreamers: Watch how each lover interprets the other through hopes rather than through careful understanding.
- Day fiveA quarrel, a marriage, and a rift: Trace how the mishandled money and the marriages turn small misunderstandings into lasting divisions.
- Day sixWhen his eyes fail, his plans change: Compare Clym's contentment in physical work with Eustacia's despair at the same change.
- Day sevenFate, nature and the cost of wanting more: Consider how chance and personal choices work together without making any character wholly responsible.
- Day eightHow Hardy builds his tragedy: Notice how narrative distance, recurring symbols and the heath folk's commentary shape the tragic pattern.
- Day nineThe cast: Clym Yeobright, Eustacia Vye, Mrs Yeobright, Thomasin Yeobright and Damon Wildeve. Write one line on what each of them wants.
- Day tenThemes: Conflicting hopes; Place and belonging; Chance and choice; Love and control; Tradition and change. Pick one moment in the story for each.
- Day elevenForm: study how the story is told: the narrator, the order of events and the settings.
- Day twelvePractice: plan and write an open-question essay on this work, with a clear claim and evidence from the story.
- Day thirteenPractice: try the same work with a second prompt about a character, a setting or a conflict.
- Day fourteenRecap: reread your notes and the summary, say the plot out loud once, then rest.
From the College Board's AP Central exam page and its course and exam description (effective fall 2024), read on 23 October 2026.
Questions
What is The Return of the Native about?
The Return of the Native is about conflicting desires for home and escape within a small community on Egdon Heath. Clym's wish to serve the place he loves clashes with Eustacia's longing for a wider world.
Who are the main characters in The Return of the Native?
The main characters are Clym Yeobright, Eustacia Vye, Mrs Yeobright, Thomasin Yeobright, Damon Wildeve and Diggory Venn. Their relationships bring competing ambitions, family loyalties and different ideas of happiness into conflict.
What are the main themes of The Return of the Native?
The main themes are conflicting hopes, belonging, chance, pride, and the tension between tradition and change. Hardy connects these themes through a landscape that shapes people's feelings and through small choices with unforeseen consequences.
Is The Return of the Native on the AP English Literature reading list?
The College Board sets no reading list. The Return of the Native is one of the works it prints with its sample Question 3, the literary argument, in its course and exam description (effective fall 2024). On the exam you choose the work yourself.
When is the AP English Literature exam in 2027?
The AP English Literature and Composition exam is on Wednesday 5 May 2027, in the first session of the day.
