SeptembEYRE Check In: XII-XXI

I hate being late for things, but alas, I am late writing my thoughts about this second SeptembEYRE reading.  For this, I apologize to my fellow SeptembEYRE-ites.  Being away on the weekend allowed me to catch up on the reading but not to organize and write down my thoughts.  Sadness, I know.  But I’m here now, so let’s do this thing!

It’s incredible how many different plot layers Bronte has woven into this novel.  On the most basic level we have Jane’s coming of age story, where Jane travels from torments of Gateshead to the lifeless Lowood boarding school and now to Thornfield where Jane really comes to life. Intermingled with the development of Jane, we have the complicated relationship between Jane and her employer, the less than handsome, ever-so-mysterious Mr. Rochester.  Mr. Rochester’s story is another sub-plot.  Who exactly is he and why all the drama?  And the life of this secretive gentleman is inevitably tied to whoever is haunting the attic.  There’s just so much to this story!  I’m loving it!

Throughout the novel, Jane’s introspection and self-analysis allow us to see how she is developing as a strong solitary woman.  However, I find that Jane has a tendency to over-analyze.  And I know, from personal experience, this only leads to trouble and/or unhealthy self-deprecation.  For example, Jane tries to convince herself that she is no match against the exquisitely beautiful Ms. Ingram and proceeds to draw herself and a fictitious portrait of Blanche.  Of course, she draws herself quite plain and unattractive while Blanche Ingram is picture perfect (pun intended?).  Is this really a productive exercise?  Doubtful.  And as proof, several pages later, Jane reminds herself “you have nothing to do with the master . . . he is not of your order . . .keep to your caste”.  Need I remind everyone: love is in the eye of the beholder!

Which leads me to the relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester.  I am a sucker for a good love story.  Even though I find Mr. Rochester a curious and confusing character, I really just want him to admit that he has feelings for Jane.  Of course, like most love stories, this one is also complicated by a third party, namely the arrogant bitchy Blanche Ingram (Ugh).  In Jane’s earshot, she describe Jane: “she looks too stupid for any game of the sort”.  Wow.  I guess people really weren’t more polite back in the day, like my romantic would like to believe.  But, back to the love story . . . I know Mr. Rochester says he will marry Ms. Ingram, but I still hope for Jane.  And I will hope, until the very last page.

I think what sets Bronte’s novel apart from the Austen novels is the darker, mysterious (some might call gothic?) aspects.  Whereas I find Austen’s novel purely romantic, Bronte adds more drama to her story.  Obviously something strange is happening at Thornfield involving the attic and someone called Grace Poole.  Now, since I’ve read this novel previously, I’ll admit I know more about what’s going on there, so for the time, I will not comment on this.  However, I had forgotten all the vicious attacks!  I’d be scared if I was living at Thornfield hall!

Now to end, I’ll end with this quote that I thought especially provocative and one to live by.  It is Jane at her finest:

“I can live alone, if self-respect and circumstances require me to do so.  I need not sell my soul to buy bliss.  I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.  The forward declares, ‘Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms.  The passions may rage furiously like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision’”.