By Charlotte Brönte
Libby ebook . . .
Published: 1847 (this version 2012)
Genre: gothic fiction, romance (nowadays, we'd call it historical!)
I have read this book many, many times, but have not apparently ever blogged about it! I thought I would surely be adding to a previous entry. Alas, I highlighted many passages and words. I really love this book. I love that this version had the preface from "Currer Bell," Brönte's alias when the book was published.
I'll dive right in with my "notes" and then try to figure out why I love this book so darn much!
Preface: "Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded: appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ."
Her excessive use of colons aside, I like the notion that human doctrines should not be substituted for Christ's redemption. I won't take the time now to dig in to what people in 1847 thought of "Currer Bell" or why Brönte chose this name, but I am a bit curious to know more.
Chapter 1: Of these death-white realms I formed an idea of my own: shadowy, like all the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children's brains, but strangely impressive.
I love how she uses language so expressively and how she also captures the way a child's brain can work. In this scene, Jane is reading Bewick's History of British Birds and the description of the birds' habitat has struck such a powerful image in her mind. Right after this is when her cousin John Reed comes and harasses her.
Chapter 2: I was a precocious actress in her eyes; she sincerely looked on me as a compound of virulent passions, mean spirit, and dangerous duplicity.
It is so ironic to me that Mrs. Reed was incredibly vile to her niece while her own children were the really awful ones.
Chapter 4: ". . .. I doated on this little toy. . . "
I simply had to look it up. "Doat" is an archaic form of the word "dote." I love (and sometimes dislike) how language changes!
Incidental note: the Libby ebook had the chapter numbers in Roman numerals; my print book has the chapter numbers written out fully. I am simply choosing to write the numbers here.
Chapter 5: I was now nearly sick from inanition, having taken so little the day before.
I understood, of course, that she was faint from hunger, but I was curious about the word "inanition," especially since Blogger is giving it the little red squiggle line that means it is misspelled. The dictionary recognizes it as a legitimate word meaning "
exhaustion caused by lack of nourishment." Perhaps one reason I like this book so much is because I'm a word nerd and I love her use of the English language!
Chapter 5: " . . . it was "Rasselas;" a name that struck me as strange, and consequently attractive."
The semi-colon after the title . . . why, Charlotte? And now I'm curious to read The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (which is what turned up in a Google search).
Chapter 6: ". . . if I do anything worthy of praise, she gives me my meed liberally."
"Meed" instead of "Mead" caught my attention. Ah! I was in the wrong. "
"he must extract from her some meed of approbation"
Tip
Similar-sounding words
meed is sometimes confused with
mead and
mede
Chapter 6: "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world: but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us with this cumbrous frame of flesh, and only the spark of the spirit will remain, . . . "
This is one of those places where I simply say "Yes!" Life is far too short to get bogged down in being upset.
Chapter 7: " . . . a double ration of bread - a whole, instead of a half, slice - with the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter: it was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath."
This reminds me so much of Dickens' poor orphans! To consider an entire slice of bread with a "scrape" of butter as a treat! Once a week! And "hebdomadal" simply means "weekly." I thought for sure it had a more significant meaning! But I needed to look it up, so go Charlotte!
Chapter 8: "Exhausted by emotion, my language was more subdued than it generally was when it developed that sad theme; and mindful of Helen's warnings against the indulgence of resentment, I infused into the narrative far less of gall and wormwood than ordinary. Thus restrained and simplified, it sounded more credible: I felt as I went on that Miss Temple fully believed me."
Oh, Jane. I, too, often fill my storytelling with too much drama and emotion. I'm glad she was exhausted enough to share her story well.
Chapter 8: "Then her soul sat on her lips, and language flowed, from what source I cannot tell."
Jane is listening to Helen Burns and Miss Temple and marveling at her friend's eloquence. I love that phrase "her soul sat on her lips."
Chapter 8: ". . . Cuyp-like groups of cattle . . . "
Again, I love being pushed in my understanding of the English language. "Cuyp" refers to a Dutch painter named Aelbert Cuyp who painted pastoral scenes in the 1600s. There are so many things I'm curious about and so many rabbit trails I can follow!
Chapter 9: "'My Maker and yours, who will never destroy what He created. I rely implicitly on His power, and confide wholly in His goodness: I count the hours till that eventful one arrives which shall restore me to Him, reveal Him to me.'"
Helen is answering Jane's question "Where is God? What is God?" I love Helen's response. She goes on to say:
"I am sure there is a future state; I believe God is good; I can resign my immortal part to Him without any misgiving. God is my father; God is my friend: I love Him; I believe He loves me."
This is a conversation the two girls have while Helen is on her deathbed.
Chapter 10: "A new servitude! There is something in that," I soliloquised (sic) (mentally, be it understood; I did not talk aloud), "I knew there is, because it does not sound too sweet; it is not like such words as Liberty, Excitement, Enjoyment: delightful sounds truly; but no more than sounds for me; and so hollow and fleeting that it is mere waste of time to listen to them."
Her soliloquizing made me smile. I have so many internal conversations that I sometimes have to tell my brain to be quiet! Jane is contemplating leaving Lowood for a new situation.
Chapter 12: "This, par parenthese, will be thought cool language by persons who entertain solemn doctrines about the angelic nature of children, and the duty of those charged with their education to conceive for them an idolatrous devotion: but I am not writing to flatter parental egotism, to echo cant, or prop up humbug; I am merely telling the truth. I felt a conscientious solicitude for Adele's welfare and progress, and a quiet liking for her little self: just as I cherished towards Mrs. Fairfax a thankfulness for her kindness, and a pleasure in her society proportionate to the tranquil regard she had for me, and the moderation of her mind and character."
I just love the language she uses! The line just before "I am merely telling the truth" just rolls off the tongue.
Chapter 13: "'Et cela doit signifier,' said she, 'qu'il y aura le dedans un cadeau pour moi, et peut-etre pour vous aussi, mademoiselle. Monsieur a parle de vois: il m'a demande le nom de ma gouvernante, et si elle n'etait pas une petite personne, assez mince et un peu pale. J'ai dit qu'oui: car c'est vrai, n'est-ce pas, mademoiselle?'"
I love that I know enough French to understand Adele's communication! Google translate has improved so much in recent years that I decided to see what nuance I may have missed. Translation: "And that must mean, "she said, 'that there will be a present inside for me, and perhaps for you too, mademoiselle. Monsieur spoke about you: he asked me the name of my governess, and if she was not a small person, quite thin and a little pale. I said yes: because it's true, isn't it, mademoiselle?" I don't know if I'm encouraged or disappointed that I didn't find any new meaning!
Chapter 13: "'Sir, you have now given me my 'cadeau;' I am obliged to you: it is the meed teachers most covet - praise of their pupils' progress.'"
I love this answer that Jane gives to Mr. Rochester's cross examination of her! Talk about calm under pressure. Adele's impulsiveness and emotion cannot take away from Jane's presence of mind and honest contemplation.
Chapter 17: The descriptions of the cleaning of Thornfield . . . I would love to have a team of servants to give my house a thorough cleaning of every bit of my house!
Chapter 17: ". . . in case of contumacy."
Again, the context clues helped me understand this. It is, however, a word I do not know well. "Stubborn refusal to obey or comply with authority" fits with how I understood it. (Mr. Rochester is talking about "fetching" Jane if she does not come to the drawing room after dinner.)
Chapter 17: "'As if loveliness were not the special prerogative of woman - her legitimate appanage and heritage.'"
Miss Blanche Ingram is waxing poetic about her thoughts on beauty and the sexes. "Appanage" means "a gift of land, an official position, or money given to the younger children of kings and princes to provide for their maintenance." (Historical) Basically, their inheritance. Whatever, lady.
Chapter 17: "'Here then is a Corsair-song. Know that I doat on Corsairs; and for that reason, sing it con spirito."
Again, the use of "doat" for "dote" and Blanche Ingram playing Queen Bee.
Chapter 18: " . . . pushing her away with some contumelious epithet if she happened to approach her . . . "
That Blanche again, being rude to Adele. "Contumelious" is archaic according to dictionary.com It means "scornful and insulting; insolent."
Chapter 20: ". . . again, however, I head him call "Jane!" He had opened feel portal and stood at it, waiting for me." (Sic)
I re-read this several times and was confused. (Read it aloud and see what I mean.) In my paperback copy of the book, it reads ". . . again, however, I head him call "Jane!" He had opened the portal and stood at it, waiting for me."It's only one word - feel instead of the - but my distrust of relying on technology and especially AI sharpens in cases like this. That said, sometimes (too often!) I come across errors and typos when I re-read my blog entries. Human failure and tech failure . . . signs of imperfection everywhere.
Chapter 21: "Feeling without judgment is a washy draught indeed; but judgment untempered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition."
This reminded me so much of the teaching on God's love and God's truth. I'm not sure which quote I'm thinking of (Timothy Keller, John Bevere, . . . ) but here's one I found from Warren Wiersbe: "Truth
without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy. God
doesn't bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a
blessing." Did I mention how much I like the way Brönte writes?
Chapter 22: "Then I thought of Eliza and Georgiana; I beheld one the cynosure of a ball-room, the other the inmate of a convent cell; and I dwelt on and analysed their separate peculiarities of person and character."
I love words! "Cynosure" means "a person or thing that is the center of attention and admiration."
Chapter 22: ". . . not to send for a carriage, and come clattering over street and road like a common mortal, but to steal into the vicinage of your home along with twilight, just as if you were a dream or a shade."
"Vicinage" means just like it sounds - vicinity.
Chapter 22: " . . . stopped my cars . . . " (sic)
Of course it is "ears"! My brain really has issues with this.
Chapter 24: "I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol."
Jane is nineteen years old and in love for the first time. She should cut herself some slack! It is too easy for us to idolize people who are most definitely not worth it! Only God deserves all glory and honor.
Chapter 27: ". . . his gripe (sic) was painful, and my overtaxed strength almost exhausted."
Checked the print book - yep. "grip" not "gripe." Where are the editors?! That said, it was nice to have a "print" book for our trip to Florida.
Chapter 28: "We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us; and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their silent course, that we read clearest His omnipresence. I had risen to my knees to pray for Mr. Rochester. Looking up, I, with tear-dimmed eyes, saw the mighty Milky-way. Remembering what it was - what countless systems there swept space like a soft trace of light - I felt the might and strength of God. Sure was I of His efficiency to save what He had made: convinced I grew that neither earth should perish, nor one of the souls it treasured. I turned my prayer to thanksgiving: the Source of Lie was also the Saviour of spirits. Mr. Rochester was safe; he was God's, and by God would he be guarded. I again nestled to the breast of the hill; and ere long in sleep forgot sorrow."
Jane is homeless and penniless. She has left Thornfield and is searching for what she will do next.
Chapter 28: "I would fain at the moment have become bee or lizard, that I might have found fitting nutriment, permanent shelter here."
"Fain" is listed as archaic. It can be used as either an adverb or an adjective. Here it means with pleasure, gladly.
Chapter 28: "Life, however, was yet in my possession, with all its requirements, and pains, and responsibilities. The burden must be carried; the want provided for; the suffering endured; the responsibility fulfilled."
I love it when life triumphs over defeat!
Chapter 28: "Solitude would be no solitude - rest no rest - while the vulture, hunger, thus sank beak and talons in my side."
Hunger is simply not something that I experience often. And I have never been even remotely close to starvation. This description is powerful.
Chapter 29: "Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised (sic) by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones."
Here, the author is observing Jane's approach to Hannah and setting her straight about some misconceptions she has. I can't help but think of modern day biases and prejudices, though.
Chapter 38: ". . . made fair progress in her studies. As she grew up, a sound English education corrected in a great measure her French defects . . . "
Jane is talking about Adele, but I can't help wonder how French readers view this perspective. It makes me giggle to think about cultural biases. One of the things I like about Jane Eyre is her mixture . . .
Hmm. I posted this on 2.1.2025 and here I am on 2.12.2025 to add something. Apparently, I posted this before I finished writing it. Or I finished writing it but it didn't save? In any case, I have no idea how I was going to finish that sentence. I found a piece of paper with notes I wanted to record here.
Mr. Reed married the awful Miss Gibson and had John, Eliza, and Georgiana.
Mr. Reed had a sister, Miss Jane Reed. She married Mr. Eyre who was a poor clergyman and her family rejected her for it.
They had little Jane and then died.
Mr. Reed the clergyman had two siblings - a brother and a sister. The brother was John Eyre, a wine merchant in Madeira. The sister married Mr. Rivers and had three children - St. John, Diana, and Mary.
I'm too lazy to make a graphic here, but I found this online:
Much thanks to the folks at https://jane-eyre.guidesite.co.uk/jane-genealogy for creating this!
