there's a couple things about Nelly's gift at the beginning of her story that i keep thinking of. one, she's the only one who doesn't get to choose what she wants - Cathy asks for a whip, Hindley asks for a violin, but Mr Earnshaw tells Nelly what he'll bring for her (a pocketful of apples and pears).
two, the way she even brings up this gift is a double negative: "he didn't forget me," implying it would have been natural and expected if he HAD forgotten her. she expresses gratitude for this, this not-forgetting, and connects it to him having "a kind heart."
and three, when Mr Earnshaw returns with Heathcliff instead of the promised gifts, we find out what happened to the others... but not Nelly's. the whip got lost, the violin got broken, and the apples and pears are just never mentioned again. like it's not even worth bringing up the fact that Earnshaw didn't follow through on his promise to Nelly. she's just a servant girl. they're just apples and pears. the offered generosity disappears unspoken. this gift, which was so noticeably less than the others, was more than she had reason to expect in the first place, so no use complaining about its loss.
and it creates this interesting commonality for Nelly and Heathcliff: they're both recipients of Mr Earnshaw's kindness, but in both cases, that kindness does not - cannot - extend to making them equal to the others. Nelly's still a servant girl; Heathcliff's still an outsider and a kid of color. Mr Earnshaw, the benevolent White patriarch, may be generous to both of them, but that generosity will never challenge the structures of power that fund it.
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