Life of Lydia

Well my beloved readers, something very unexpected happened this week. I listened to the audiobook of Jane Eyre! I totally didn’t expect that to happen, and I bet you didn’t either!

I am in a class this semester at L.C.A. called British Book Club. The purpose of the class is to read British classics and talk about them. The first book that the class is reading is Jane Eyre. Although they are taking a few weeks on the book, I went ahead and listened to the whole thing on audio all at once, and Oh! It was purely delightful.

Well readers, I am sorry to say that it is not within human possibility to pour out my heart in regards to Jane Eyre without spoiling it for everyone else. So, if you have yet to read Jane Eyre don’t read the rest of this post!!!!

I am now going to go through the major characters in alphabetacal order and state my thoughts about them. Be prepared for a lot of Lydia-Tyndall-nes.

Brocklehurst, Mr. – The english language does not contain adequate words to express my hatred for this man.

Burns, Helen – I wish Charlotte Bronte would have written another book just about Helen Burns. The part of her story that was chronicled in Jane Eyre left a deep impression on me, and I won’t soon forget it.

Eyre, Jane – Poor girl. Her life is full of rare and unfourtunte situations. Like really how many people can say, “So when I was eighteen, I was homeless for a few days because I was engaged to this guy but turns out I couldn’t marry him because he had a secret mad wife locked up in his attic, and then he wanted me to be his mistress and I really didn’t want to do that so I ran away, but I had literally no money or family so yeah, that was a rough season of my life.”

As I was thinking through the situation described above, I genuinely couldn’t think of any better options than wandering around in a random town and asking people for food. She really needed to leave Thornfield, and she really didn’t have anywhere else to go. If I ever make a list of the greatest scenes in all of literature, the scene where she runs away from Thornfield will definitely be included. Can you imagine how hard that must have been?

Throughout most of the book, I desperately wanted Jane to just meet a guy who was actually mature and well rounded. I thought that the only reason she had fallen in love with Rochester was because he was the only option. (Excuse me for a moment while I heve a heavy sigh.) At the end of the book, my heart, which I believed to be forever hardened against a marriage between Jane and Rochester, was suddenly open to it! (I will discuss this miraculous occurrence in more detail later on.)

Fairfax, Mrs. – This woman is my hero! She is perhaps the one bright spot amid all the gloom and doom of Thornfield Hall, and she’s a knitter, so what’s not to love? I really want her to come be the housekeeper at Tyndall Hall!!! Also she was totally right to be a little apprehensive about the whole Jane and Rochester getting married business.

Hall, Thornfield – Okay, okay. I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I realize that Trornfield Hall is not a person, but that’s not going to stop me from including it on a list of characters. To be honest, I don’t really have anything else to say about it. I just really wanted to be able to write the last name (Hall), before the first name (Thornfield).

Poole, Grace – This lady had a hard job. I can’t blame her for drinking gin sometimes.

Rivers, St. John – I really hate this man. Sometimes I want to punch him in the face, but I don’t because that would be rude.

Rochester, Edward – This guy has issues!!!! At one point I told my mother “I thought I disliked Darcy, until I met Rochester.” (By the way I’m super proud of that quote.)

To prove my point I am going to make a list of grievances against Mr. Rochester. contradict me if you dare.

#1 – He thinks he’s better than everyone else.

#2 – He’s not very conciderate of other’s fealings.

#3 – He isn’t very nice to Adele.

#4 – He dosen’t speek well of Mrs. Fairfax.

#5 – He has had mutiple mistreses. (And acts like it’s no big deal.)

#6 – He kisses Jane before she’s even accepted his marriage proposal.

#7 – He makes that proposal in the first place, and doesn’t even tell her about his secret wife.

#8 – He emotionally hijacks Jane when trying to convince her to stick around after she finds out about the mad wife in the attic.

#9 – He’s super creepy.

I’m sure I could think of more, but I think you are getting the point. I am not a big fan of Mr. Rochester. But yet, somehow at the end of the novel my sentiments towards him became less harsh. I really think what he needed all along was for Jane to leave for a while, his house to be burned down, and to lose his eyesight.

Rochester, Bertha – It’s really too bad that Mr. Rochester was forced to marry this woman, because their marriage didn’t go too well.

Varens, Adele – The main thing that little Adele needs is for someone to love and nurture her. I think Jane does a pretty good job at that, but sadly Mr. Rochester does not.

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Well my friends, that is all that I have for you today.