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Jun
30
So I read Jane Eyre…
2009 at 6pm Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
And I really don’t have much to say about it. But that’s not to say I thought it was boring.
I chose Jane Eyre as my selection for Ann and Michael’s Beowulf on the Beach summer reading challenge because I’d been wanting to read it for quite a while and could never quite get motivated for it. I’m glad I read it. I appreciated the writing, and I get why it’s a classic.
But man, is it ever plot-driven. I had no idea there would be so little character development and so many extensive descriptions. The action is almost “blink and you miss it,” as Jane spends a hundred pages talking about day-to-day life and then makes a major revelation in just a few sentences. And she does that several times.
It also doesn’t help that going into this, my first reading of Jane Eyre, I already knew two important plot points: the big secret and how it ends. Now, I did enjoy seeing how the story unfolded, and I tried to be objective and think about whether a moment would have had tension if I hadn’t known what was going to happen, and the answer was usually yes. Brontë takes forever to build up to things, even after she’s given us plenty clues, and the revelations—quick as they are—are thoroughly satisfying.
If not for the antiquated language and all of the 19th century obsessing about propriety and social strata, I might have forgotten how old this book is, and that’s a good thing. Brontë’s writing is significantly less affected than that of many of her peers (Mr. Dickens, I love you, but I’m looking at you right now), and it allowed me to get pulled into the story rather than tangled up in phrasing. Jack Murnighan also points this out in Beowulf on the Beach by saying “it takes a masterful hand to write prose that feels so uncrafted,” and I couldn’t agree more.
Reading the chapter on Jane Eyre in Beowulf on the Beach definitely made me appreciate how difficult Brontë’s life was and, because of that, how amazing it is that we have this book at all.
Many young people screen themselves from their agonizing lives by reading books; the Bronte sisters did so by writing them.
I’m all for overcoming odds and making lemonade out of lemons and all that good turn-your-frown-upside-down stuff, so I’ll give Ms. Brontë her due props. But I still can’t say I loved her book.
I know Jane Eyre is a favorite for many of you, and I’d love to know more about why—maybe I missed something, or maybe knowing the big secrets ruined it, or, well, maybe 160-year-old gothic romances just aren’t my speed.
[...] So I read Jane Eyre… [...]
After your excerpt about Penelope and “hitting some of dat,” I went out and bought BoB. I usually don’t like litcrit but this is amazing.
I’m glad you took his advice on Jane Eyre.
Oh no! I’m so sorry you didn’t love it. Boo-hoo
Why do I love it? I love Jane’s strength to do what she wants rather than what everyone else wants her to do. I also love the Jane/Rochester thing!
I read the Jane Eyre for the first time a few years ago. I enjoyed reading it and am glad that I did, but I’m not sure that it is a book that I would pick up again to re-read. I was surprised when my mother, who doesn’t read a lot of classic fiction, told me that it was one of her favourite books. It seems to dark and heavy to quality as a favourite (for me, anyway).
For me, the best thing about reading Jane Eyre was the added insight it gave me into Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair, which I loved. I’m pleased that I had read Jane Eyre first.
I really enjoy classic fiction, but sometimes the pleasure comes as much from reading something that is part of the literary “global consciousness” rather than finding the book enjoyable in and of itself (does that make sense?)
I don’t believe that knowing the secrets of the plot can ruin the book. Most readers love it not for its plot (actually this is a weakness partly for its Cinderella story and coincidences) but for the apt portrayal of characters and the vivid description of being passionately in love. I am at a loss to read that you found “little character development” in it since Jane Eyre is considered a novel of development, a study of how a little abused orphan girl turns out (despite the opposition and the constant telling her that she is worthless) to be a great, confident, bold woman who makes her own choices and doesn’t let others to trample her down. Rochester too learns a lot about relationships in order to be with his Jane.
Why people love it? Well it is a highly symbolic text and includes so many dilemmas and choices that each person sees a different thing. Others like the spirituality and religion of the book, others the idea of love, others the character development etc. Anyway it is also a great book about the need to conciliate conflicting but basic elements to our happiness: personal needs vs societal demands, love vs independence, passion vs reason, passion vs morality. All these questions continue to concern us and are treated in a highly realistic way despite its being a wonderful fairytale.
Susan, I completely agree about it being enjoyable to have read and understood something that’s part of the “global consciousness.” I think of it as the literary version of Jung’s collective unconscious. My friend Wendy (an English teacher) says that we don’t always read the classics for what they are but because so much else refers back to them that we need to have that initial point of reference. It makes sense to me.
I did love the way that Jane changed and grew and overcame her circumstances, but I felt like we should have seen more of that development while it was in process….to me, it seemed that instead of showing us how Jane was growing, Bronte just showed that she had grown. It felt very much like “This happened, and then this happened, and then this happened.” I know I might be in the minority on this one…and again, I didn’t hate the book. I just didn’t love it.
I did appreciate Jane as a (for the most part) strong female character. The whole romance line just didn’t really do it for me.
I am not sure if I understand you correctly. It didn’t seem to me that she didn’t show her development in process. Her change of feelings from antipathy to love towards Rochester is a great example of this. But we also have examples for the contrary: lets take her return to Gateshead. Jane realizes the change in her once she has to face her cousins again. She is no longer an individual filled with hate for them because her emotional needs have been partly met with her meeting Rochester and because she now has a life of her own. She reflects herself on that and understands she has matured. You may say that is the effect and not the process but how many times are we aware of the process. People believe that they make a choice after deciding, but sometimes it so happens that we make a decision and we get to justify our conduct later. And Jane Eyre being a story that has happened where the narrator reflects about herself is certainly more due to present some things after some events have taken place.
. You are not that strict anyway.
I understood you didn’t hate the book
I’m having a hard time articulating it, but I think what I wanted was to see more of how she changed, rather than just seeing that she changed. I think my issues with this are related to a few things: it’s a byproduct of the time in which Bronte wrote that there’s not a whole lot of internal monologue, and I tend to prefer contemporary fiction—informed by modern psychology—that does explore the process. Not that any of this makes Jane Eyre a bad book; it’s just not the perfect fit for me.
I’m thinking you’re on the right track in your last comment. You have to have a certain mindset to be able to read and enjoy the Bronte sister, Dickens, Austen, Thackery. I love them but my parents, who are both avid readers and very intelligent people, just do not care for them.
[...] So I read Jane Eyre… [...]
I recently read Jane Eyre too… just because it’s a classic. But I’m so glad I did read it. I loved her strength of character which is somewhat surprising given her terrible childhood. I agree with what you said about it being easy to forget the age of this book. I guess Jane’s strength and independence and dare I say, intelligence would have been all the more impacting for the original readers.
[...] 4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte [...]
SPOILERS LIKE CRAZY.
I’m mad crazy about Jane Eyre. I’m even considering a tattoo. It’s true.
I first read Jane Eyre when I was 15, and to this day I can’t believe Charlotte Bronte got away with that plot. It’s so crazy, so downright hilarious, and yet somehow so delightful. Can you imagine pitching that? Pitching a psycho wife in the attic of a gentleman’s quaint English manor–to say nothing of the fact that he’s the romancee. The blindness! Governess lovin! Running away through the moors! This book has everything. It’s quite frankly the most delicious, dishy classic ever. The happy ending is in the middle!
Foofy, over descriptive, and sometimes ridiculous, yes. Her emphasis on Jane’s ugliness is sometimes just as bad as other authors at this time’s focus on too-perfect ladies. But it’s the only book I know with a passive-aggressive male lead and a balls-to-the-walls governess falling into the weirdest love triangle this side of prim society has ever seen.
It’s hilarious, ridiculous, and so much fun. The romance, in some way, is awful and will never work. It is SO much more than a “classic”, and it’s a helluva lot more than foofy language and bad psychology. This book is MADNESS.