I was initially struck by how much thicker of a book Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is to Pride and Prejudice. It wasn't so much that I didn't realize that there would be some thick books in this series of 100BYSRBYD, but it did give me pause. Had I chosen to I could have blown through Pride and Prejudice in a week. Instead I wanted to take the time to ruminate on it and pace myself so I didn't burn out. Jane Eyre's girthiness made me realize that this project is going to probably take two years at minimum, but more likely 3 or more. Surprisingly that doesn't bother me.
What does bother me is knowing that Tolstoy's War and Peace is coming down the pike and it's even bigger than this book. I literally used that book as a doorstop back when I tried to hork it down after high school. Don't ask me why. My friends were in college, I was working as a grocery bagger and had little mental stimulation so I was feeling bad about myself and...yeah. I got 4 pages in and my brain went numb. It was a particularly warm summer for Alaska and the door to my room had to be kept open somehow. It was either going to be a $9.99 paperweight or a doorstop. I could have used it as a meat tenderizing mallet, now that I think on it.
So...Jane Eyre intimidated me a little bit upon pulling the book from it's Amazon.com box.
The first thing I noticed, when I finally plucked up the courage to begin ingesting the text, was "Holy Carp, this book starts out DARK." By comparison Pride and Prejudice is a ditzy, floofy summer beach read. Seriously, from here on out we'll determine a books darkness and/or heaviness of subject matter on the Bronte/Austen Scale (tm) (Patent Pending). Granted my knowledge of the classics isn't as vast as others, but ,bloody hell, it can't get much more bleak than this. Even Dickens comes off marginally lighter.
The darkness begins at Gateshead with "leafless shrubbery...cold winter wind...sombre clouds...penetrating rain..." Essentially "It was a dark and stormy night" for the literary set. This pall is cast over the whole first 8 chapters and never lets up on the life of the eponymous Jane, who is an orphan sent to live with her uncle who dies soon after and leaves her with an aunt and three cousin who despise her. She is very conscious of her "physical inferiority" to them. Honestly, I thought the Dursleys from Harry Potter were the worst most despicable family in all of fiction. Many people state that the terrible muggle family was based on the horrible families portrayed in the works of Roald Dahl. Other people claim they are Dickensian in origin. I submit that it is here, the the heinous Reed family, that we find a more likely inspiration.
Jane is physically abused by the eldest boy, detested by the sisters, and considered the source of all problems in the house by Mrs. Reed. Within the young Jane lies the heart of a lion, however, that meets the injustices head on with equal ferocity though it gets her in even more trouble. She develops a distinct sense of independence and is fine with being alone and despised...up to a point, naturally. All want to be loved and appreciated at some point and she wonders why all hate her.
She gets sent to "The Red Room" as punishment one night and has a fit that I'm not sure I understand. It's unclear whether what she sees is the result of her mind playing tricks on her or actual events amplified with meaning and dread through the mind of a child.
"Children can feel, but they cannot analyse their feelings; and if the analysis is partially effected in thought, they know not out to express the result of the process in words."
Aunt Reed decides she is too much trouble to keep and an annoyance to her household at best and decides to find a school to send her off to. A man appears named Mr. Brocklehurst who is the patron of Lowood. Aunt Reed, of course, tells him that Jane is a liar and one of the worst sinners she has ever seen in her life. And here is where I being to lose my cool.
I have, what has been called, an "overdeveloped sense of justice". I see how things could be and should be rather than things as they are. Little perceived injustices cause me anxiety and the great injustices of the world give me fits. I've gotten a lot better with age but there was a time where I would think an American Feminist is an idiot and lacked the courage of his/her convictions because they were spending time, energy, and resources in vast amounts for something like protesting for the legal right to breastfeed in public as if that's the greatest threat to women's rights when people within our own country and elsewhere in the world are performing genital mutilation. I still am bothered by the fact that people want to overturn a minor "evil" rather than create resistance for a major evil. There is a better chance for success against a minor evil and success makes us feel like we actually accomplished something, no matter how petty it is, while a greater evil threatens without. Here, I had forgotten the 200 year old notion that the rich and "genteel" were always considered morally right and beyond reproach while the poor were obviously poor because they were sinners and needed to have their souls purified by abuse. (not exactly stated as such...but I trust my meaning is understood).
All that to say, I felt the creeping anxiety and white hot fury of "justice" once again throughout this novel. I cheered Jane as she took these injustices head on. My heart raced and my soul felt the "righteousness" of it burn within me. I mean, come on, who can't cheer at this: (between Jane and Mr. Brocklehurst with the later beginning)
"Do you know where the wicked go after death?"
"They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer.
"And what is hell? Can you tell me that?"
"A pit full of fire"
"And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?"
"No, sir."
"What must you do to avoid it?"
I deliberated a moment: my answer, when it did come, was objectionable: "I must keep in good health and not die."
I mean, that is just a perfect rejoinder that can't help but get a "Go girl!" from someone in the reading audience. When she finally lets loose and rips into Aunt Reed with complete honesty and accuracy I bloody well cheered while reading in bed and that's not something I'm wont to do. My cheering did not last very long, however.
We transition to Lowood and meet the terrible teachers, but for Miss Temple, and are introduced to the horrid conditions there. We are also introduced to Helen, a bright little ray of sunshine who seems to be the opposite to Jane in outlook. While Jane will fight back to those who would punish her, Helen accepts the abuse and points out where the individual was right to correct her. Jane confronts her on this point.
"But I feel this, Helen: I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved."
"Heathens and savage tribes hold that doctrine; but Christians and civilised nations disown it."
The notation I made next to this section is "What?!?!"
(Here is where I make a disclaimer. What follows is steeped in Christian thinking and, as such, may be completely illogical to those who are not Christians. It is written by a Christian struggling with his faith and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and is meant for an audience on a similar path. If you continue...you have been advised. I do not expect those outside of the Christian faith to understand, agree, or feel that it applies to them.)
I immediately rejected it as two century old ridiculous claptrap and fell into the fault of regarding our more modern age as so much more "enlightened" on this subject. I found myself oh so very conflicted with this notion that the abusers should go unchallenged, the perpetrators of such horrible treatment should be just allowed to continue, that this book was advocating that these children should just "take it" and accept the system as is.
And then Helen pops off with a quote from Jesus, "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to those who hate you and despitefully use you."
Well...crap...
When Mr. Brocklehurst comes to the school and says that the children are better off being forced to eat burnt gruel or starve, should have their hair cut short to protect against vanity, and they need only ever wear plain dresses and should receive no comforts at all for the betterment of their souls...when Miss Temple says nothing but nearly laughs at the ridiculous man as his wife and daughters walk in plump, hair beautifully curled, and wearing silks and satins with ridiculous hats, I could only say, "What the freaking heck! Here is a clearly terrible, wicked, inconsistent, hypocritical A-hole! Why is nobody pointing out the hypocrisy to him and putting him in his place?!?!" The darkness and misapplication of scripture is all around and no one does ANYTHING to push against it. And then I remember further words of Christ:
"...do not resist and evil man..." Matthew 5:39
It goes against every justice and consistency loving fiber in my body. I want to smack this man who is doing this to these children. I want to force him to see what he is doing in the light of the same Bible he's using to support their mistreatment. I want him to blatantly admit his own hypocrisy and...dangit...that's not following what my Lord and Savior says to do. It feels SO wrong, but there's a still small space in me that sees that the Lord has called most of us to be Miss Temples and Helens...providing light in the darkness and rest and encouragement for the souls of the weary and mistreated.
I still don't like it. I'm still not fully convinced...but I see the upside down nature of everything Jesus tells us. To those not in the faith it sounds like insanity and enabling the abusers. But I can't deny the spirit of it just the same.
*sigh*
I have a feeling this is going to be quite a soul searching journey, this novel.
Pax,
W
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