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| Jane Eyre: Charlotte Bronte |
"My eyes were covered and closed - eddying darkness seemed to swim round me, and reflection came in as black and confused flow. Self abandoned, relaxed, and effortless, I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river; I heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, and felt the torrent come: to rise I had no will, to flee I had no strength. I lay faint; longing to be dead. One idea only still throbbed lifelike within me - a remembrance of God - it begot a muttered prayer: these words went wandering up and down in my ray less mind, as something that should be whispered; but no energy was found to express them...It was near: and as I had lifted no petition to Heaven to avert it - as I had neither joined my hands, nor bent my knees, nor moved my lips - it came; in full, heavy swing the torrent
poured over me. The whole consciousness of my life lorn, my love lost, my hope quenched, my faith death-struck, swayed full and mighty above me in one sullen mass. That bitter hour cannot be described: in truth 'the waters came into my soul; I sank in deep mire; I felt no standing; I came into deep waters; the floods overflow me..." ...Jane Eyre 1847
poured over me. The whole consciousness of my life lorn, my love lost, my hope quenched, my faith death-struck, swayed full and mighty above me in one sullen mass. That bitter hour cannot be described: in truth 'the waters came into my soul; I sank in deep mire; I felt no standing; I came into deep waters; the floods overflow me..." ...Jane Eyre 1847
Charlotte Bronte's words is still as alive today as it was 164 years ago.
From the time the book opened in Chapter 1 up to its ending in Chapter 38, it is clear that as a reader Jane Eyre is personally narrating to me her coming of age from an emotionally and physically abused 10 year old orphaned girl: 'humbled by the consciousness of her physical inferiority' her penchant for keenly observing people constantly irked her adoptive aunt Mrs. Reed and her more physically endowed cousins; to her panic after seeing the vision of her uncle who died in the room where she was locked in by Mrs. Reed; to her education on Lowood School where she found a friend and model in a fellow orphan Helen Burns: who like her was subjected to deprivation, humiliation and oppression in that orphan asylum, and an ally and champion in her teacher Miss Temple; to her first work as a governess; through her passionate and all consuming love for her employer Mr. Rochester.
Had this been the usual romance story, it could have ended in Chapter 25 with a phrase "and they lived happily ever after". But when as a reader I am already rejoicing with the heroine, Charlotte Bronte' brought me to a haunting mysterious gothic twist that makes me stand witness to the deepest abyss of human emotions. As a reader I am so vividly moved actually giving my advice and personal opinion to Jane: this just proves that as a 21st century woman, I am able to live through every chapter in the life of a resilient woman child who in spite of being plain looking is able to uphold her uniqueness and inner strength in an era where beauty and physical attributes are of utmost significance; where women are restrained by confining customs and tradition dictated by gender; where women are not supposed to learn more than what is basic for their sex. The statement "I married him" rather than "He married me" eloquently asserts a woman's independent character; a statement holding up a conviction that "marriage is between equals", unconventional as it is in the 19th century where the heroines are set as 'Damsels in distress' waiting for their knight in shining armor to sweep them off her feet, marry them and live happily ever after.
Charlotte Bronte is able to create a woman whose character is way ahead of her time; making me wonder if she is the "pioneer in the so called feminist movement". Her choice of words is well thought out. Every sentence indulges and stimulates thus with kindled interest, the reader continues reading every chapter up to the end.
Charlotte Bronte is able to create a woman whose character is way ahead of her time; making me wonder if she is the "pioneer in the so called feminist movement". Her choice of words is well thought out. Every sentence indulges and stimulates thus with kindled interest, the reader continues reading every chapter up to the end.
Reading this book inspired me to go on writing, yet I shrink with inferiority at the genius of Charlotte Bronte'. Writing was in her vein nourished by her father and rallied round by the other Bronte sisters Emily and Anne.
"It is a very strange situation to inexperienced youth to feel itself quite alone in the world, cut adrift from every connection, uncertain whether the port to which it is bound can be reached, and prevented by many impediments from returning to that it has quitted. The charm of adventure sweetens that sensation, the glow of pride warms it; but then the throb of fear disturbs it; and fear with me became alone. I bethought myself to ring the bell."...who among its readers would not relate to this sentiment when in their youth they had so many doors to open, many chapters in their life to begin with?
I won't mind reading this book again and again in my lifetime!
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