There aren’t that many books that hold up to multiple readings, but I found Jane Eyre to be one of them. I read it for the first time about five years ago, when my elder son got it for me for Father’s Day. I’d never read it, but it was on my long list of books that I intend to read someday. (That list, by the way, seems to grow longer rather than shorter with each passing year. I just can’t keep up by reading at the same pace that I add books to the list.)
I enjoyed Jane Eyre the first time, but had no intention of rereading it so quickly. However, as part of a study I’m doing of British women authors, I revisted Charlotte Bronte’s classic, and I’m glad I did. That old saying that we can never step into the same river twice really holds true with great works of literature. Bronte’s work hasn’t changed. In fact I read the exact same copy each time, so I wasn’t exposed to new commentary or notes that I’d missed the first time around. Nevertheless, my life experiences as a parent in the last five years influenced my reading of Jane Eyre in ways that I wasn’t prepared to see in my first reading.
Toward the end of Jane Eyre, I was struck with this thought: if I had daughters I would wish them to read Jane Eyre before they married. Bronte paints such a powerful portrait of an intelligent, confident young woman that it is an inspiration. Famously, Jane rejects two suitors in the novel. When we look at her reasons for those rejections, and hear her explain them to herself later, it becomes clear that this young woman has the confidence to know precisely what she is looking for in a spouse, and more importantly, precisely who she is.
Not being the father of daughters, (I am blessed with two 8th grade boys), I still wish for my children to read the novel at some point in their early adulthood. I would like for them to read it for the inspiration coming to know the confident and intelligent Jane Eyre can provide, and for the pleasure of reading a master of the art at her best.
No comments:
Post a Comment