Catching Up- a personal blog for my two adoring readers

OK so it's been three years since I've last posted and I admit that I have no idea what it's like to blog anymore. My last "real" post was probably written over four years ago, though for good reason. You see, I was so busy studying and writing for English classes (as well as courting my now husband) that I elected to share more essays rather than my random reflections, which strangely seemed to get more attention from people. In fact, the reason for my return to this blog is because I just discovered that I have followers whom I didn't know existed! It is strange to me that anyone would want to read my thoughts, but it is so flattering knowing that there are people who do and who are waiting for me to show my face again and tell my tale. Knowing I have an audience does motivate me to write again, so thanks for the support. I did start "The Anneotated Bib" in an attempt to refresh myself in this blogging thing back in 2009, but to no avail. Pregnancy and depression prevented such endeavors. However, now that I have some time on my hands with my two children and husband asleep, I feel like I can begin once more dusting off the old key board and perusing through this nearly neglected mind of mine.

Alright, to begin, I want to state that the tone of this blog will most likely be changing since the tone of my personal life has also changed. The aloof essayist of the past is no longer. My days as a student are over and the new life I am living tends to be more humble and deals with, what I believe to be, the more important aspects of life. You see, I am now a mother of two adorable "Irish" twins who have literally transformed into a person I honestly did not know existed. And as a result, I have found myself reflecting less on philosophical ideas and more on whether or not a half used diaper could be reused after a bath, or how in the world I can get my little toddler to stop screaming when she doesn't get her way. Thus will be the mode of all future posts barring I get a moment of personal reflection and, dare I say, have a moment to think real thoughts again! For now this will simply be a transitional piece that will open the door to future thought provoking, if not domestically entertaining conversation. Good to be back with you all, but for now, Ciao!

Cracking Water: A Commentary of Cracking India

Women and water have much in common. Both are lucid and appealing. Both satisfy and refresh the soul and body. In the night they capture all beauty and in the day they sparkle in the golden hues of the sun. Without it man dies. Yet women and water are also impressionable, and can be sculpted to assume a shape and form by those in authority over it. Having almost no will of its own, it is formed into the cast it finds itself placed. Taking on diverse forms or qualities, it adjusts to the changing environmental conditions surrounding itself, managing to subsist regardless of the circumstances it is made to confront. This simple analogy, though much oversimplified, briefly describes both the power and the vulnerability women possess. Reflecting upon the history of civilization, woman has proved herself to claim these qualities. Regardless of culture or time, women have appeared as the more beautiful, gentler and influential sex while also being the weaker. Contrarily, men have claimed the role of authority being the protector, provider and the one to make the decisions. Though it is natural for a man to take the role of lord and women that of maiden, these positions have ultimately been decided and enforced by declared religions of particular regions of the world. And since time immemorial these gender role traditions have been handed down through the learned behaviors retained by children of such cultures. Children, watching, listening and learning, come to understand who it is they must be by the environment they are raised in, and thus learn their appropriate positions within that society. This idea of what gender roles are, how are learned and how they can evolve in specific cultures, is poignantly portrayed in Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel Cracking India. Written from the naïve narration perspective of five-year-old child Lenny Sethi, the author represents the varied roles women in early twentieth century India exhibit. In portraying the lives of three women who play a pivotal role in Lenny’s upbringing, Sidhwa exposes the reader to the realities women in India had to face in a period of political and religious upheaval during its 1947 Partition. As horrific consequences manifest themselves in this state of unrest, Lenny attentively observes and considers the lifestyles of Mother, Ayah and Hamida, and comes to understand what gender roles are, how they are manipulated and how they are abused in a world of particular male dominance.

The first person a child learns the lessons of life from are its parents. For girls, it’s almost always her mother. However, depending upon the region of the world one comes from, the role of a mother in the life of her children varies. In Lahore, India, during the time of the early 1940’s, the definition of what a woman as a mother was depended upon the class in which she existed and sometimes the religion which her husband followed. Being the sole provider for one’s children came most frequently in those households of poverty. Class structure, therefore, played a significant part in deciding what a woman’s expectations were as a wife and mother in the family household and in society at large. Because Lenny’s mother is a woman of middle to upper class status, she shares her husband’s money to hire servants and uses them to help raise her children. Though she loves her children and does not neglect them to provide for their needs, she does not become the prime feminine influence in Lenny’s life, though she does teach her much about the importance of gender roles during this time.

The relationship between Mother and Father Sethi represents much of what Lenny learns about married women. Since Lenny’s parents were modern in that they were not radical religious followers, as they belonged to the more passive Parsee religion, they had more freedom with their style of living and embraced more of the British culture in the way they dressed and ran their home. However, when regarding gender roles, Father preferred those the Hindu/Muslim religious cultures demanded. This division between the new western customs and the old eastern traditions existing in the Sethi household causes a tension for Mother and creates in her a way of compromising both cultures into one of her own. This she does by obeying her husband while also manipulating her feminine guiles to soften her husband into giving her what she wants. The cat and mouse games she plays with her husband to get him to lend her money, the flirtatious advances on him to get him out of bed, the childlike behaviors on his way home from work, these all show the ways she dotes upon her husband in order to coerce him into subjection to her. In seeking to please her husband and do all things according to his pleasure, she fulfills what women of her position are meant to fulfill and he though liking it, hides this secret pleasure from her.

As times change, so too do the characters as they begin to experience the pains of violence and death which war creates thus cracking not only India, but the Sethi home as well. When dangers surmount and people start killing each other for the sake of land and religion, Mother transforms from a woman of frivolity to a woman of heroic action. Though her secret deeds of hoarding gasoline tanks and driving distances to rescue fallen women and return them back to their families are known to her husband, he never-the-less seems perturbed by her new role as a woman. For soon after this alteration occurs, Father and Mother begin fighting in the bedroom at night. Crying and even physical abuse are suffered by Mother. They barely speak to the children or to one another. Though Mother’s actions are noble, this idea of a woman performing tasks more man-oriented does not sit well with Father, which reveals how profoundly men of that culture, even of the more progressive households, resented the idea of a woman being more than just a wife and mother. Mother realized she wanted to do more than sit back and watch as women suffered under the hands of men and so she, being a true mother with magnanimous love went out to save them. And so she breaks the gender tradition to do what her true motherly heart bits she do for the preservation of her sex. And for this she is derided.

Aside from the role Mother has in Lenny’s life, Ayah plays a most significant role, for she both directly and indirectly exposes Lenny to the truth about life for women of single status and what happens to them if they fall into the hands of dissolute men. Because Ayah is beautiful, she attracts the attention of many men throughout the city of Lahore. Her “presence galvanizes men” (41). However, this possession of beauty works both for and against her as the men in her life use her to their own advantage once the country breaks into warfare.

Opposed to Mother who had to cajole Father by posing as the cute and sensuous housewife to acquire her desires, Ayah had only to speak and her wishes were granted. Being a contemporary Hindu woman who didn’t place her religious beliefs before her personal life, it was easy for her to welcome suitors from various diverse religious affiliations. She was the paradigm of religious ecumenism in female form. “Hindu, Muslim, Parsee [all…] unified around her” (105). Her beauty did not discriminate nor reject any man of differing beliefs. Though she used her beauty towards her advantage by getting free food, silks, and sharpened knives, she made sure that men respected her, for she was a virgin and would not give herself physically to any of them unless through marriage. This sense of self-respect made her all the more desirable and drove men to do all in their power to make her theirs. Furthermore, this acquaintanceship she shared with men allowed her to partake in discussions most women would not be aloud to engage in at that time. Although these men made her think that they respected her by including her in their conversations of war and politics, they also, when given the chance, would pay to see her perform acts exhibited only by women of ill repute or desperation.
Once Ayah’s lover Masseur is killed and she is kidnapped by Ice-Candy-Man, Ayah’s character falls apart and Lenny witnesses what happens to women because of selfish men who’ll kill to possess what they desire. This realization that men can have their way with women and take them for their property and abuse their beauty, kills Ayah’s spirit. For when Ice-candy-man arrested and forced her to become a dancing girl and prostitute in order to survive, she died within herself. “… I can not forget what happened[…] I am not alive” (273-4). All the men whom she thought respected her now used her for her body and showed themselves for who the brutes they were. Because she was a single woman beautiful to behold and free to taste and because corrupt men exploited the war to get what they wanted from women they lusted to consume, Ayah turns into a woman of misfortune though much against her will.
Though families of this area of the world would refuse to admit women who had “fallen” (233) Ayah attempts to escape knowing that she may be rejected by her family. Regardless of the consequences, she risks everything to be liberated from her master. “Please get me away from him […] I want to go to my folk”(275). Having suffered the robbery of her freedom and beauty, she leaves Lahore to start a new life though with no promise for success. In the name of freedom her freedom was despoiled. This brutal reality breaks the heart of Lenny touching her so deeply as to be willing to travel all distances to rescue her from her lot.

The other women figure to teach Lenny the brutality in women’s lives is her subsequent nanny , Hamida. Hamida is most subservient as she is a woman rescued by Mother from the fallen women camps. She was kidnapped by the Sikhs because she was Muslim and was raped by their men, making her a victim of social disgrace. Although what happened to her was against her will, society condemned her as an outcast and she suffered the rejection of her husband who refused to admit her back to his home or to care for her children since she “was touched by other men”(227). Lenny is told by Hamida that her “kismet ”(234) or fate is bad and that there is nothing she can do to change it. Muslim women believed that life’s course was predestined and unchangeable, and Hamida, being Muslim obediently submitted herself to the beliefs of her religion. Lenny, however wonder if what they believed was true. “I don’t believe that! […]The line on our hands can also change”(234). While Hamida’s clings to her beliefs, she fails to see that it is precisely because of the rejection of such ideas that she escaped from her horrid “fate” in the first place. This blind acceptance of one’s fate resulted in many women’s demise and Lenny would not be a victim of such destiny. Hamida’s character reveals how fanatical religions and oppressive patriarchical cultures take away women’s hope for amelioration and how such belief’s leave women to feel controlled by their circumstances.

As the story ends, much is left unsaid about the future of all three women. Ayah ventures to be reunited with her family though without the knowledge of their accepting her, Mother continues in her role as the heroine to help the victim women at the Recovered Women’s Camp without much reconciliation between she and her husband and Hamida stays with the Sethi’s to care for Lenny and her brother without making attempts to be with her children again. But from these women, Lenny learns of what it is to be a woman and what it is to love. Though her role as a woman is yet to be decided, her preparation for whatever life hands her will not be without readiness. For from the lives of these women who touched her life, she beheld the power, strength and suffering women can endure. Like water they touched her soul and strengthened her body; they sustained life when life seemed doomed. In the cracking of India all was cracked, but for these women their crack was like cracking water which kept on flowing and refused to dried up.




Works Cited

Sidhwa, Bapsi. Cracking India: A Novel. Minneapolis: Milkweed, 1991.

Tragic Awakenings to Reality: A Review of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening"

Living as children, things appear wonderful. Life is grand and fantasies gallop in the wild pastures of young, freshly sprung minds. Problems are few, cares are whimsical and dreams soar high above the playing fields of man. Yet, as time progresses, people, environments and life experiences met with along the path of adulthood, open the eyes of the young to the realities existing in the world in which they live. And the choice of either embracing or rebelling against life’s trying demands, inevitable in every man’s life, molds a person into the individual they ultimately become, thus leading to either glory or defeat. In Kate Chopin’s 1899 controversial coming of age novel, The Awakening, the issue of a woman finding liberation from the traditional expectations of women held by current social norms, poses as a key dilemma for novel protagonist, Edna Pontellier. As novel critic Emily Toth states, Chopin focuses her writing on Edna’s “pursuit of solitude [and] independence” (114). Chopin highlights this want for solitude and independence in creating a new Edna who dares to escape from the “outward existence which conforms to the inward life which questions” (14). However, as Edna embraces the social liberty she longs to possess, she opens herself to an inner awakening, thus leading her from a woman of marital discontent to a woman of social discontent. Unwilling to endure the obstacles set before her and her state of life among both lifestyles, a hunger for solitude envelopes her spirit, leading her to a premature decay of personhood. Through nature and personal relationships, Chopin educes the defeat of Edna after she recognizes who she is and what life is and that the two cannot merge without tragic consequences.

In defining a coming-of-age novel, one may best describe it as a novel where a protagonist gains insight into life’s difficult realities, leading the character from naïvete to maturity, to a greater understanding of self and circumstance (Letham). Edna Pontellier, a young twenty-nine year old mother, fits this description, as she peels back the curtains from the social norms of society and unconsciously admits that her marriage leaves her with “an indescribable oppression”(8), thus making her want for happiness. As she subtly considers the unhappiness that her marriage offers her, due to the fact that she is not the “mother-woman […] who idolize[s] [her] children and worship[s] [her] husband” (9), she looks for diversions from these womanly paradigms, ultimately channeling her towards darker despondencies and seclusion from society.

In developing the awakening, Chopin first uses nature to engender the growth of Edna’s want for liberation. The ocean is particularly important in this regard. Commentator John May, in his article “Local Color in The Awakening”, states that the sea presides over the dawn of Edna’s awakening as it does over the night of her fate” (213). The sea introduces and concludes the time in which Edna comes to know the inner person she never knew existed within herself. Comparing the ocean to a memory Edna had as a girl in Kentucky, she describes “a meadow that seemed as big as the ocean […] she threw out her arms as if swimming when she walked, beating the tall grass as one strikes water [… feeling] as if [she] could walk on forever without coming to the end of it” (17). Edna later comments to her companion , Adele Ratignolle, that “sometimes I feel this summer as if I were walking through the green meadow again; idly aimlessly, unthinking and unguided.” (17). The crossing of thresholds for Edna is apparent from this exchange had between she and Adele. After swimming at sea for the first time, Edna experiences something of what admirer, Robert Lebrun , calls the “semi-celestial” (29) resulting in the spanning of her budding wings into a world foreign to anything she has ever known before, and wishes all the more to scale.

Using parallel characters, Chopin develops Edna’s realization of her diverse nature leading to her seclusion from society. The homely and socially disagreeable musician, Mademoiselle Reisz, contrasts Edna by her singular individuality, alien among Edna’s sphere of existence, thus ironically becoming a major influence regarding Edna’s decision to defect from traditional societal living. Being a single woman unattached to man or children, Edna “not a woman given to confidences”(14), trusts herself to Mlle. Reisz regarding her secret love for Robert Lebrun. Though not disapproving her affections, Mlle. Reisz warns Edna that however much she may want to “soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice, [she] must have strong wings” (79) in order to fly against such heavy currents. While supporting Edna’s rebellion from local culture and gender expectancies, Mlle. Reisz imprudently holds up the illusory dream that Edna can live in a world diametrically opposed to what is honestly obtainable, which ultimately crashes down upon Edna causing her progressive withdrawal from society and end in suicide.

Along with Mlle. Reisz, Chopin utilizes Adele Ratignolle in influencing Edna. Adele is typified as the Creole “mother-woman” who loves both her children and her husband, consenting to love and do most anything to please them. Edna loves her; her beauty, her charm and the way she allows her to let down her guard. Learning to relax her soul among such a matronly influences, Edna, “ intoxicated with the sound of [Adele’s] own voice and the unaccustomed taste of candor” becomes inebriated “like wine, or like a first breath of freedom”(19) which she soon follows, though to extremes. Upon admitting that she is a mother whose children’s “absence was a sort of relief”(19) rather than a joy as it was for Adele, she seeks to live a according to her own fashion. And Adele, detecting this unorthodox spirit within her and knowing of Robert Lebrun’s affection for her, last tells her to “think of the children […to] remember them!”(104). With Adele’s faithful motherly persona shadowing over Edna, Edna reconsider the life she newly posseses, leaving her to want for escape through the taking of her own life.

Leaving her home, abandoning her children, beginning a new life as an artist in her “pigeon- house”, escaping to the suburb gardens, following a new life of adulterous living with lover Alceé Arobin, Edna swallows the wine of independence she thirsted to consume, yet never obtains the self-contentment she thought she’d acquire. Edna begins to live what writer Lewis Leary states as “love outside of marriage and passion outside of love.” In Elizabeth Elz’s essay, The Awakening and A Lost Lady: flying with broken wings and raked feathers”, Elz claims that Edna recognizes that in living she will […] merely be moving from one type of confinement to another: "To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be some one else" (108).” This observation illustrates that Edna knew she couldn’t possess the life she sought. Her dreams were crumbling. Time and culture would not permit her to span the horizons of extreme moral disobedience hoped for in vain. Unwilling to carry the consequences of her state as wife and mother, being rejected by the only man she really wished to love, Robert, and seeing she cannot live with herself in the state she’s presently living, the systematic defeat of Edna was only a matter of time. Standing on the shore naked and free from all attachments, Edna chooses to live in weakness and defeat, not strong enough to endure life’s crosses brought upon by her own doing.

Through the usage of characters and nature, one can detect how Kate Chopin progressively portrays the demise of protagonist Edna Pontellier. Though finally possessing the liberty she longed for, Edna does not evolve into a woman of strength and nobility as she meets with life’s pains and denials. Rather with a “never lifting[…] despondency” (108) she becomes like the bird seen on the beach “with a broken wing beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water”(108). She selfishly leaves behind all who love her, her children, her husband, her friends, thus leading to her final desire of being lost in the sea’s “maze of self-contemplation”(212) with nothing but a tragic awakening to reality to greet her at the center of the sea.



Works Cited

Elz, Elizabeth. “The Awakening and A Lost Lady: flying with broken wings and raked feathers.”
Literature Online 2003. Electronic Resources Campbell Library of Rowan University.
Glassboro, NJ. 8 Mar. 2005 < http://lion.chadwyck.com>.
Leary, Lewis. “Kate Chopin and Walk Whitman.” The Awakening: A Norton Critical Edition.
Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1994. 217-220.
Letham, Susan.“The Coming-of-Age Novel: It’s a Woman’s World.” Inspired 2 Write 2002. 8
Mar. 2005 .
< http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/04/17/60II/main286163.shtml>.
May, John R. “Local Color in The Awakening.” The Awakening: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed.
Margo Cully. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1994. 211-217
Toth, Emily. “A New Biographical Approach.” The Awakening: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed.
Margo Cully. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1994. 113-119.

Il Primo Libro

Hurrah! My first book has just been published and is ready for you and your children's enjoyment. You may find it by clicking on the title of this posting (found above).
I would love to hear your thoughts about the plot and/or how you think it reads for children. Hopes of continuing to write so your critiques are most necessary. Cheers tutti!

Reflections Upon Franklin’s Savages

In Benjamin Franklin’s essay “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America,” he contrasts the American and the Native American peoples, showing how their ideas regarding “politeness,” (226) or accepted civilized behaviors, vastly differ. He objectivity shows how the American idea of politeness is not necessarily the best standard to follow nor that is it superior to that of the Natives. By pointing out the hypocrisy of the impatient American and the genuinely kind and generous Savage, Franklin forces one to ask themselves “What makes one civil? What makes one savage?” Writing in defense of the Natives, Franklin proves that indeed, Americans have much to learn from the Natives on how to be polite. However, this writer’s perspective is that both the Natives and the Americans have something to learn from each other. While Franklin rightly reveals the good found among Native Americans, he does not equally express the good that American people can give to the Natives. On the one hand, Americans need to learn how to treat different people with respect and common courtesy, while the Natives needed to learn the importance of education and the means of how to live among contemporary society.
Although Native people are labeled Savage, Franklin nevertheless shows them to be more polite than the typical “civil” American. Franklin justly represents how the Natives posses qualities worthy of imitation. For example, he explains how the Natives take great care to show respect towards others. They have something they call the “rule of politeness” which means one is “not to answer a public proposition the same day it is made; [since] they think it would be treating it as a light matter”(227) if they do. They take to heart the relationships they have with others to try and maintain that sense of formality, thus showing their sincerity. Furthermore, when they conduct public councils, the man to speak rises while the “rest observe a profound silence”(227) They believe “[t]o interrupt another, even in common conversation, is reckoned highly indecent”(227). Comparing the Natives’ meetings to those of the British House of Commons, Franklin states “how different from the mode of conversation in many polite companies in Europe, where if you do not deliver your sentence with great rapidity, you are cut off in the middle of it…”(227). Indeed, this aspect of politeness escapes the minds of “polite” society and is something people even in our own day still need to learn.
Another quality they possess is their deep sense of hospitality. Whenever travelers found themselves along the Native villages, the Natives saw they had a “vacant dwelling” (229) to rest in. They would provide them with complimentary “victuals, and skins to repose on” (229), have communal conversation, and extend them free service if they desired it. Contrarily, when the Natives entered American villages for their needs, the people asked “Where is your money? and if [they] have none, they say ‘Get out you Indian dog’”(230).Such an exchange demonstrates the fact that hospitality was not a strong virtue among “polite” society and that verily, the “Savage” often proved themselves the more civil, or polite, of the two peoples.
While the Natives were good in many respects, they did have need for the knowledge the Americans possessed. Their life and culture had to adjust to modern society which was rapidly enveloping their world. If the Natives were to assimilate into this new world, they needed to be educated. Franklin does not offer his opinion on the subject; instead, he provides the narration of an Indian and his opinion of what happened to Indians who studied in the American education system. The Native states “when they came back to us, they were back runners, ignorant of the means of living in the woods, unable to bear cold and hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy[…]they were totally good for nothing”(227). This passage reflects the Native belief that, if one could no longer perform certain actions in their community, they were of no use. Yet, this is false reasoning; the Natives could be educated and still retain their identity and usefulness. Indeed, it was good for them to learn how to live outside of the wilds of nature; it was good for them to be introduced to a world that provided them with the laws of truth relating to religion and science; it was good for them to open their minds to reality instead of error and myth. Again, while Franklyn does not insinuate his opinion, it might be assumed that he, being a man of such learning, would probably want to see these people instructed so to help them in the ways of modernity. While one cannot know for sure reading his essay, it makes for a worthy reflection. Regardless of his opinion, however, the truth remains that these people needed to grow in truth, in knowledge and in grace which the western world was able to extended to them.
So yes, while Franklin validly acknowledges the Native’s natural politeness which many Americans did not imitate, he fails to acknowledge the fact that Americans also had much to offer. The Natives had a need to be educated in the ways of truth so to be assimilated into the modern world which they could not escape. Ideally, if the Americans had learned manners from the Natives and the Natives the knowledge from the Americans, both would have been much better off, for such would have been acts of true human politeness.

Romantic Eyre's

In the twenty-first century, when a person is told something is romantic they almost always visualize one individual expressing their love to another by means of sweet and simple (or sometimes not so simple) acts of affection. Receiving flowers, writing hyperbolized letters of amorous sentiment, eating dinner by candlelight or sailing on a gondola down a Venetian lagoon while sipping Chianti are a few examples of what contemporaries might define as romantic. However, though this current view of romanticism is not incorrect, it does not provide the most complete explanation of the concept. For in truth romanticism is a profoundly multifarious concept, though not to the point of inconceivability. To best illustrate the fullness of the word’s meaning, one can look to a piece of literature written from the professed “Romantic” period; one such piece is Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. This novel is romantic for it truly represents the complexity, the depth and the richness found in the minds of men during this period of literary history. By reflecting upon the time in which Brontë wrote and then comparing her piece with other author’s from this period such as William Blake, William Wordsworth and Lord Byron, one can see what it historically meant to be a romantic and that indeed Jane Eyre justly falls under that category. Through her stress upon the simple man, nature and feelings, Bronte helps paint a new picture in the minds of readers as to what it means to be romantic and thus that the two ideas of romanticism, both the old and the new, can be harmonious and work together to create a beautiful masterpiece of literary art.

The first romantic aspect of this piece is its emphasis upon the simple man. Jane Eyre is a piece set in the early nineteenth century, a time of great industrial change. Most romantics were known to be anti-industrial since they saw the injury industry caused to the common folk and thus they emphasized the importance of the simple man in their works. Jane Eyre portrays this. Jane Eyre herself is a commoner. She is not wealthy. She is plain and is, in fact, an orphan, yet she is the protagonist of the story. She is the focal point of this portrait we study. The fact that Brontë chose her to write about is proof of her sympathy for and her glorification of the simple or common man/woman. This emphasis upon the simple folk predominated many minds . This theme can also be seen in such works as “Chimney Sweeper” and “We Are Seven” by the free thinking William Blake. Both his poems and Jane Eyre regarded the people of England such as they were. They exposed the abuse, the neglect and the sufferings endured by the innocent people due to the conditions which they were forced to embrace. People died and suffered the loss of those they loved: Jane’s parents both died in her early infancy, her best friend, Helen Burn, died of tuberculosis at a young age and Jane herself nearly lost her life after leaving Thornfield in her attempt to start over. Times were merciless for the poor and little pity was given to them, however the writers from this period were not blind their miseries and thus they wished to highlight the importance and the power of the simple and stressed that these people were worthy of recognition by society.

The second romantic aspect in the novel is the importance of nature. Nature for the romantic was what wine was for the drunk. Nature was where all things came to life; it was where the soul could breathe and find itself. Brontë likes to use great desciptive imagery when telling the tale of Jane Eyre. This importance of the country and of nature is pivital to the romantic since it was meant to encourage people not to destroy the beauty of creation but to preserve it. With industialization claiming the land, many individuals wanted England to stop pushing for progress and to stay in the natual setting for it was here that man was truly “enlightened”. Bronte it appears was one who sided more in favor with this reform than not. Jane, though a very precocious young lady and loved to study, nevertheless wanted an escape from all she knew. She wanted to experience life, she wanted to be in nature and see the world for the majestic splendor it possessed. One of her favorite spots at Thornfield was on the roof of the house, overlooking the courtyard and the green valleys. And by no coincidence did Jane both meet and consent to marry Edward Rochester in a “natural’ setting. This impression of nature and its power upon the soul was seen in other works of romantics during this time. One such poet, William Wordsworth, was notorious for his belief in and infatuation with nature. Nature for him was everything. It was where the spirit of creation conceived itself in the minds of people. As with Brontë, his works emphasized the simple man, but simple man in nature. His famous poem “Tables Turned” epitomizes Bronte’s idea of finding oneself in nature and that books are not where true wisdom is gained. It is in nature that one is touched and learns who one really is. For Jane the importance of nature was not as overtly intimate as was the case in Wordsworth, yet nevertheless she allowed nature to play a vital role in her development as a woman. Nature was her mother, it taught her how to love and to say yes to love through its powerful influence upon her.

A third concept frequently noted by romantics is the power of feelings (or passion) over reason. This idea is one of the more predominant themes of this time and is one continually recurring in Jane Eyre. When Jane was a girl she voiced her opinion to her Aunt, Mrs. Reed, and in a paroxism of emotion told her what she truly felt though she knew she could easily be scolded for doing so. This free expression of emotion was clearly encouraged by Brontë. Now as Jane matured, though she no longer yelled her opinions at others, she however believe in making herself understood, especially in regard to Mr. Rochester. In point of fact, it may have been her frankness with him that made her win his love. Additionally Mr. Rochester, the man of complete emotional expression could be rightly called passion incarnate. He was not a man to be restrained by reason; he did what he wanted regardless of the consequences. He knew that he was married, but would have married Jane adulterously. He detested formalities, he played games with life, he was a true example of what writers called the Byronic hero. This dark, chauvanistic character originated from yet another romantic poet, Lord Byron. Another work from this period which used this classic romantic figure was Byron’s famous comic epic, Don Juan. The type of man who seduces women by ego and force is one image of what was attractive to the romantic writer. Brontë uses both passion and the Byronic hero, two powerful tools to mold her story and chisel into the minds of her readers the significance of emotion and of doing what one feels is right over what one thinks is right. That Jane decides to marry Edward after all that happened, knowing him to be blind and deformed yet still choosing to give herself to him regardless of her reputation is representative of this kind of mentality that love or emotion conquers all. The power of the heart is greater than gold and nothing should discourage a person from seeking or from doing what in their heart they feel is right.

Therefore in looking at Jane Eyre one will see that it is a novel that fulfills both definitions of what it means to be romantic. It touches subjects such as the power of the simple man, the importance of nature and the power of feelings while also telling a moving story of two people who are madly in love with each other. This story can then be poetically called the marriage of the old with the new since it unites the two understandings of romanticism so seamlessly that it would seem as if all stories were meant to be written this way. Jane Eyre is romantic and hence it is an artistic masterpiece in literary form.

The New Me

Wow, I feel as though returning to this blog I am revisiting an old room I once lived in and yet long to return to and sit and peruse through the pages of entries and just reminisce upon the many places I have been since I was last within its walls. I must admit that although I have these feelings currently, I had been absenting this blog deliberately, why I cannot quite explain, but it will suffice to say that I felt its call long enough and am now here to revivify it once again. I am forcing myself to sit down and write about something, anything, I just need to write! Now what about? Well, I have since been married, am expecting my first baby, have moved to another state, am a stay at home wife and am going absolutely crazy with boredom! And that's all I wrote and have no idea why.
I'll leave it at that, because I never did get back to writing this blog entry until today, which is three years later. Briefly, I survived a hellish beginning of much rushed into marriage, and God be praised I did as I am stronger person for it. Gray hairs abound, but that's what fighting vanity is all about, right? I wish I had written more at the time since I think it would have helped me melt the interior walls that I built around me at that time and that have only recently begun to fall.

Anyway, the point I want to make is that it's never advisable to do anything out of guilt or pity for another person, esp getting married. Take this advice and never settle, not for anything. Your life will be much better for it.

This is not a post to rant on about the woes of married life because it can be beautiful, but not always. For those who like myself are not in a happy marriage, here is one comforting thought to remember -- if you look back at the lives of married saints, most of them were in bad marriages as well. And what does that teach us? That although life is hard and you just want to run away from that person and never look back, that they are an instrument of God and can lead you ever closer to that eternal paradise where no tears fall and where sadness dissipates like the morning dew of spring. Take comfort in your sorrows for you know that this burden is a weight meant to lift you higher and not to taken you down. You can get terribly distracted and emotionally bruised if you don't keep this in mind when you're suffering so take heart and know that you are not alone, and that God is with you, even in those most frightful of moments.