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‘Well done, Lucy Snowe!’ cried I to myself; ‘you have come in for a pretty lecture - brought on yourself a “rude savon,” and all through your wicked fondness for worldly vanities! Who would have thought it? You deemed yourself a melancholy sober-sides enough! Miss Fanshawe there regards you as a second Diogenes. M. de Bassompierre, the other day, politely turned the conversation when it ran on the wild gifts of the actress Vashti, because, as he kindly said, “Miss Snowe looked uncomfortable.” Dr John Bretton knows you only as “quiet Lucy” - “a creature inoffensive as a shadow;” he has said, and you have heard him say it: “Lucy’s disadvantages spring from over-gravity in tastes and manner - want of colour in character and costume.” Such are your own and your friends’ impressions; and behold! there starts up a little man, differing diametrically from all these, roundly charging you with being too airy and cheery - too volatile and versatile - too flowery and coloury. This harsh little man - this pitiless censor - gathers up all your poor scattered sins of vanity, your luckless chiffon of rose-colour, your small fringe of a wreath, your small scrap of ribbon, your silly bit of lace, and calls you to account for the lot, and for each item. You are well habituated to be passed by as a shadow in Life’s sunshine: it is a new thing to see one testily lifting his hand to screen his eyes, because you tease him with an obtrusive ray.’

I have been attempting to read Villette for quite a while. Finally, due to some recent illness, I have finally turned my attention fully to Villette and am finally making some headway. While reading yesterday, I came across this quotation at the end of Chapter 28’s “The Watchguard” and could not help but smile. First of all, just check out the punctuation of this paragraph! Can you imagine one writing like this today? Next, I love the way the heroine has these internal conversations or rather, reflections, in isolation at the end of the chapter. It is a kind of cliff note for the reader who hasn’t been paying the closest of attention in the chapter. It is Bronte’s time to really search Lucy’s thoughts and inner monologue to bring the reader closer to this heroine’s psyche. Last, I appreciate the commentary that each individual in a person’s life has a lens in which to view that person. Your mom may see you in one way, your co-worker another, your neighbor another, etc. Yet, if you threw down all of those perceptions done on the floor together, you would see that the perceptions contradict one another, reflecting that one person cannot be encapsulated in one description as we are like water, constantly changing, moving with the ebb and flow of life.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Literature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.