Y’all Read This?

  Jane Eyre Ch. 4-5: • And now we’re isolating her from everyone! Lovely. Jane’s already treated like an outcast, but here it feels deliberate, almost like they want her to internalize exclusion. •  50–60% interest!  Good God! Eliza actually charges her mother interest for the "trouble"of keeping it safe. Imagine that ... a child exploiting her own mother for profit! It’s both absurd and a sharp little character sketch. Clearly, Brontë wants us to see how warped and transactional this household has become. • The little "Psalms boy" may be the only comic relief here. Clearly he’s figured out the trick to getting treats by performing piety on cue. Victorian hustle! • Aaaaand Mr. Brocklehurst enters. Ugh. Unsavory is the right word. His "religious"severity oozes hypocrisy from the start. • At least Jane gets her moment: good for her, standing up to Mrs. Reed and calling her out. It’s cathartic to watch Jane speak truth to power, even if she’s still just a chi...

  Jane Eyre Ch. 3: Guy Fawkes and a Toad • At least  someone  shows an interest in lessening childhood trauma... give the apothecary a round of applause... ✦  Reference of the Day:   Guy Fawkes  — soldier, executed via hanging (was also drawn & quartered 👀); involved in the "Gunpowder Plot" in the 1600s, a conspiracy to assassinate King James VI & I and members of the Houses of Parliament. • A  TOAD!?   First an assassin/conspirator, then a toad... these women hate Jane. • And why do they hate Jane? Why aren't they more sympathetic to her? Oh... that's right... because she's not pretty enough.  Cool...

I've been dying to do a re-read of Jane Eyre since I bought this gorgeous Painted Edition of the classic. The book made an impression on me many (10? 15?) years ago as the first classic I actually understood... and enjoyed. So while technically I know how the story ends, all the details in-between have, well... vanished . So, I'll be spreading out this read out, taking notes, and posting my thoughts chapter by chapter. Get ready! I've only just started and wow, what an opening.... Jane Eyre Ch. 1–2: Tiny Tyrants and Ghostly Gaslighting • Wow, John.... real bitch move ... What a tyrant! Bratty bully, total little despot. (Fuck the patriarchy!) • Jane reads as a melancholy child, smart, observant, and already far too aware of the cruelty around her. What she  needs  is love from the  adults  in her life, and instead she gets scorn. ✦  Word of the Day:   Ignominy  — great public shame, disgrace, or humiliation, or a specific act/situation that causes su...