Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

Ah.  Good fictional literature.  It's been a while.  What is there to say but that Jane Eyre lives up to its status as a staple in the Western canon.  Having read it nearly ten years ago, there was not much I remembered about the heroine, nor Ms. Brontë's lush descriptions.  I had forgotten so much, it may as well have been my first time.  Ah.  

Reading her story, I am so proud of Jane.  And why shouldn't I be?  Faced with tremendous temptation, she replies

I care for myself.  The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth--so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart is beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.

Good grief, Jane!  Way to make all the rest of us women feel horrible about decisions we've made against the law of God and man... And yet by your example, you remind us that we, too, can choose to plant our feet, and that a choice for good will not be in vain.

This book explores, at length, gender relations, social class, grace and law, atonement, real romance, integrity, and education.  All things that I love.

It's almost a cliché to recommend this book.  But seriously, if you haven't yet read it, you cannot claim to love literature.  This is no exaggeration.

I hear the movie version with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender is a rather faithful portrayal.  Cannot wait to see it!