ABSTRACT
Besides his mayoral duties, Henchard holds the social function of leading com-factor, but by supplying bad flour which makes bread that runs all over the ovens, he has not met his basic obligation to the community standing outside the King's Arms. He has overreached himself; and we learn that there has never been such 'unprincipled' bread in the town before (Mayor 32). Hardy uses the adjective not just to convey dialectal vigour but to place in a derisive light Henchard's meteoric ascent to the position of judicial and economic head of Casterbridge. Ironically, this 'com-king', who appears elevated well beyond the harm of petty criticism, is actually on the brink of financial collapse, and must bear responsibility for polluting the staff of life. He deserves immediate dethronement instead of being lionized. Although he nonchalantly converted his wife and child into cash at Weydon-Priors Fair, he cannot reverse the deleterious organic processes that have already taken place in Casterbridge, and make 'wholesome' the 'growed' wheat (starting to sprout in the ear before being gathered). Hardy, through his withering depiction of the feast and the furore surrounding the bad grain, indicates a fundamental failure of confidence in Henchard's position as prime com-factor. In this bustling farming town which is the 'pole, focus, or nerve-knot of the surrounding countryside', fertility is the people's most highly prized value:
'thesubjectsofdiscussionwerecorn... sowingandreaping,fencingand planting'(Mayor62);shopsarerepletewithagriculturalequipment;and eventherainfloats'likemeal'.ButHenchardispreoccupie~with accumulatingcapitalinsteadoffulfillinghisroleasspokesmanforand servantofthepopulace.Hisgriponthecom-tradeisslipping,andforthis thepoorerfolkmustsuffer.Thebanquetisamockrepresentationof worldlyandmaterialsupremacy:apuppetshowofemptyposeshidinga disreputablepast.
