Taryn Tyler's Blog

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lucy Westerna is killed by Dracula while the heroes figure out how to save Mina, the heroine of the book. Like most “final girls” in horror stories Mina is sensible, not like other girls, and doesn’t even seem to notice that she’s pretty. Lucy on the other hand is aware of her beauty, has many suitors, and is impulsive and emotional and is therefore deemed by the narrative less worthy of being saved. She’s treated as a disposable character to gain sympathy from the audience and heighten the stakes as the heroes fight to save Mina.

 In short, Lucy Westerna deserved better and in the beautifully told Gothic tale Lucy Undying, Kiersten White gives her just that. 

Lucy Undying is told, like Bran Stoker’s Dracula, in an epistolary format. We follow Lucy through a series of letters, diary entries and therapy transcripts in multiple timelines as she changes from a young heiress in the 1800s who never felt safe enough to be her true self, suffocated by expectations, to a world weary jaded vampire in present day who has been through two world wars and been both an assassin and a spy. 

As a teenager, Lucy is preyed upon by Dracula in the midst of heartbreak she doesn’t even know how to put words to. She is abandoned by everyone who claims to care about her, who see her as too foolish and childish to be consulted or informed in their flimsy attempts to rescue her. Despite having three eligible men who claim to be in love with her, no one actually knows her or understands her. To them she is just an object to enhance their own sense of worth, not an actual living breathing human with her own needs and feelings. This is never more evident than when she comes to them after she has been killed by Dracula.

“And do you know what they did,”  Lucy tells her therapist ”when I, the object of their mutual desire and lust, revealed myself ready at last to embrace them on my own terms? They recoiled in disgust and horror.” Pg 28

Lucy blames herself for her own vulnerability in allowing herself to be killed by Dracula and for how her family treated her before he appeared outside her window. She recalls that she “always twisted myself into unpleasant shapes in order to be accepted.” Pg 95. Once she becomes a vampire she muddles through her undead existence looking for a sense of meaning to her unlife. As she discovers her undead power of turning into moonlight she says 

“I was always good at moonlight though, because moonlight isn’t real either. It’s just a wan reflection of someone else’s light.” Pg 38

Lucy meets other traumatized vampires in her travels who have also been victimized by Dracula, including two of his brides, a Chinese assassin known as “the Queen”, a Byzantium intellect known as “the Doctor” and a Parisian party girl known as “the Lover”. They are each forgotten girls like Lucy, preyed upon by Dracula because society didn’t deem them worthy enough to be protected. They are unique, vibrant women who ultimately cope with their trauma in their own ways and help each other become stronger. 

“We’re mausoleums,” Lucy says ”holding the girls we were with tenderness, and love, and strength. His violence turned us into our own unhallowed ground, our own safe spaces to rest, carried with us wherever we go.” Pg 404

Lucy herself is still trapped in the immeasurable heartbreak that led her into Dracula’s arms. The pain of it lingers even in her unlife at the core of who she believes herself to be. She struggles to make herself whole, to understand who she is through the loss she has suffered.

“Have you ever been moonlight in a sun drenched world?” She asks. “Scattered and blown apart by light so much greater than your own? It took me ages to gather the particles of myself. I’d be so close, nearly there, and the sun would be back in its merciless honesty. I nearly stopped existing then, I think. At least in any form recognizable as myself.” Pg 109

Mysteries and conspiracies begin to unravel in the slow dark crawl of the truly Gothic. Kiersten White writes such beautiful poetic prose that you will be as lost in her intricate weave of words as much as the tightly woven threads of story as they come together to reveal a tapestry of betrayal and control that can only be unwoven by love. Real, deep love that teaches Lucy to love herself and every foolish thing she’d ever done trying to earn love from others. The sapphic love story interwoven into this rich Gothic tale of healing is both sweet and real, equal parts passion and support. Lucy’s new love helps her finally face Dracula and the deep pain of the betrayal she has suffered, but more importantly being loved shows her how to really and truly love herself.

Once she has learned to love herself Lucy reclaims her own narrative. She reframes her trauma and learns to recognize it for what it was. By realizing that Dracula is a true monster who hurt her for no other reason than that he could, she is able to forgive herself and reclaim her power. 

“I see exactly the way he left me vulnerable and unable to fight back. The manipulation that had me questioning whether I had somehow wanted that to happen, whether it was my fault, whether I deserved it. The way he turned my guilt and confusion back on me, making me feel complicit in my own assault.” Pg 403

 By the end of Lucy Undying, Lucy is no longer the forgotten girl deemed less worthy of saving. She takes control of her own story and fights to build a loving community around herself and cultivates her own sense of self worth. She is no longer the disposable girl but cherished and loved and empowered as she always deserved to be. 

“Several things break inside me, but what is a wall, a wall is nothing, what is a body, a body is nothing. I am moonlight, I am death, the sun might bind me but it cannot stop me.” Pg 380

You should read Lucy Undying. It’s really good and I just can’t stop talking about it.

The post A Love Song to Lucy Undying by Kiersten White appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a beloved fairytale known for its frolicking dwarfs, sweet naive heroine, and wicked queen obsessed with beauty. It’s a child-like story with tones of nostalgia and whimsey that, like the cottage core aesthetic, give us the illusion of a simpler time. Alongside it’s light hearted magic and happily ever after, however, is a Gothic tale of spooky castles, haunted forests, forbidden magic, and death. Even the 1937 Disney version of the old fairytale that most are familiar with feature these dark elements. Fairytales have always contained elements similar to Gothic literature and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an excellent example.

Gothic literature is a genre popularized in the seventeenth century describing a type of novel, short story or poem that features dark atmospheric elements such as a spooky castle or forest, a mysterious past that unravels throughout the course of the story, moody “byronic” heroes, symbolically angelic heroines, supernatural elements, and hints of madness. The genre relies heavily on the setting and weather to set the tone and emotion of the narrative and contains themes of horror and suspense woven into them in a slow, unsettling pace that makes the reader’s skin crawl. They are, in fact, my very favorite kind of book. Describing these kinds of stories as “Gothic“ began with Horace Wadpole when he subtitled his book The Castle of Otranto “A Gothic Story”, but such tales have existed since the days of oral storytelling, including many fairytales.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was originally an oral story told by word of mouth. The most well known written version is the Grimms brothers, added to their collection of folktales and fairytales in 1812. We often think of the Grimms brothers as the darker versions of fairytales, but while their versions are considerably darker than their Disney counterparts, the Grimms brothers themselves heavily censored the stories they collected. Both Disney and the Grimm brothers adapted Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to fit the sensibilities and values of the time and yet the darker Gothic horror elements remain. Something in the very nature of the tale demands an acknowledgement of the darker side of reality.

First there is the setting. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs contains not only a Gothic castle full of mystery and dark forbidden magic, but also a spooky forest that mirrors the feeling of fear and horror Snow White feels as she runs from her home in fear of being murdered. It is a scene that would be at home in any horror film. Similarly the spooky castle mirrors -perhaps more literally — the dreary and twisted heart of the wicked queen who so craves Snow White’s innocence and beauty.

Snow White herself is a textbook example of a Gothic heroine. She is naive and sweet and serves almost more as a symbol of goodness in juxtaposition to the dark realities of the world than a relatable flesh and blood character like Jane Austen’s Catherine Morland in her spoof of a Gothic novel. Still, she is endearing in her commitment to being kind in a world that is often cruel to her. She is trusting when she has every right to be suspicious and that is both what puts her at risk and what ultimately saves her. In the Disney version animals flock to her because of her innate goodness and in both the Disney and Grimms version it is trust and kindness to the dwarves that leads to her being put in a glass coffin so that the prince can find her.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is completely riddled with supernatural elements and while in many Gothic stories such as Jane Eyre the suspected supernatural turns out to have a logical explanation, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the magic is quite real. The wicked queen’s mirror speaks, telling her the truth she doesn’t want to hear. She uses magic to harm Snow White and magic brings Snow White back from the dead. The evil queen’s magic is poisonous and represents temptation in the form of forbidden fruit in the Disney version and not only forbidden fruit but also a comb and sash -vehicles by which a woman tries to be beautiful — in the Grimms version. While the Disney version features a questionably unconsented kiss and the Grimms brothers a decision by the prince to keep a corpse on display at his castle (his servants drop the coffin on the way back to his castle and the piece of apple falls out of her throat, bringing her back to life) in both versions it is the prince who unintentionally saves Snow White’s life.

The prince is not necessarily a moody byronic hero and there are no instances of a mysterious past in Snow White, but the evil queen is questionably mad with her desire for beauty. However, it is the elements of suspense and horror that truly make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Gothic. In the Grimms version the story opens with Snow White’s real mother pricking her finger and observing her blood drip onto the black ebony snow covered windowsill. She likes the black, red and white color palette and wishes for a daughter with lips as red as blood, skin as white as snow, and hair as black as ebony. This image of blood dripping over the snow sets the tone for the entire story. Soon the daughter’s step mother (or actual mother in older versions of the tale) wants to cut out her heart and is only stopped when she is fooled by the huntsman who gives her the heart of a deer instead. Once she realizes she has been fooled she tries three more times to murder Snow White and eventually succeeds. The dwarfs then put Snow White’s corpse in a glass coffin so they can admire it. These elements are toned down only a little in the Disney version, omitting the first scene with Snow White’s mother and reducing the murder attempts to one instead of three after the evil queen discovers that the huntsman has deceived her. The impending threat of the evil queen creates an undercurrent of suspense and horror throughout the entire story, even while Snow White is dancing with the dwarves or sleeping safely in their cottage.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a complicated story with many themes ranging from an Oedipal struggle between the younger and older generations, the danger of being beautiful and also the demonization of women who try to be, along with the duality of a “good” women vs a “bad” women and what they have in common. The Grimms brothers used the tale to perpetuate their racist agenda of German nationalism while the Disney version promotes the virtues of female domesticity. Beneath these themes however, and perhaps predating them in its original oral form, is a thrilling Gothic tale of horror as Snow White faces and ultimately triumphs over danger and unimaginable horrors.

Darkness in fairytales is important because it acknowledges the darkness of the real world and helps us imagine how to improve it. Snow White is so riddled with dark Gothic elements that even two attempts to sanitize the tale wasn’t enough to stamp them out. The dark undercurrent woven throughout the story is what makes the whimsey and sweetness feel so precious and the whimsey and frolicking is what makes the darkness so horrifying because there is so much to lose. This contrast between the two completely different tones may be part of what has made the story endure for so long as it has been told and retold from generation to generation. The complex tapestry of light and dark mirror the moments of horror mingled with moments of magic and joy that comprise every day life.

I’m hoping the 2025 live action version of Snow White smooths out some of the more problematic and outdated elements of the story. If you love Gothic fairytales consider checking out my own adaptation of Snow White (with Little Red Riding Hood mixed in and make it lesbian) Snow Roses by Taryn Tyler.

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Man or Wolf?

A young girl is walking alone in a forest. Shadows fall against the forest floor, darkening her path. She is miles from home and miles from her destination when she comes across a wolf.

Her mother told her not to speak to strangers, especially wolves and not to stray from the path, but the wolf seems quite kind and even charming. He tells her where some pretty flowers are and asks her where she is going. “To my grandmother’,” she says. Ignoring her mother’s warning she leaves the path to pick the flowers.

When the girl arrives at her grandmother’s house her grandmother doesn’t seem quite right. Her mouth and ears and nose are all too big, but as the girl gets close enough to be sure of this, her grandmother –who is really the wolf from the woods — gobbles her up.

So many of the older versions of fairy tales have dark themes. They were not necessarily meant to be fun, escapist tales like the tamer Disney versions audiences are more familiar with today. Rather, they were meant to help prepare children for a harsh world using metaphor and fantastic elements to help soften the unsettling truths.

The story of Little Red Riding Hood is a warning to children and young girls in particular, not to stray from the path or be distracted by pretty things. It is a warning to listen to one’s parents, and above all, not to talk to strangers in the woods.

Perhaps one reason Little Red Riding Hood has not been made into a Disney film is that its theme of stranger danger is rather difficult to sanitize. Even the 1966 rock song by Sam and Sham and the Pharaohs acknowledges the predatory sexual nature of the Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. The Big Bad Wolf is a potent metaphor for a man with a beastly nature. The confusing and deliberate predatory behavior he exhibits is more like a human than a wild beast. He wants to eat Little Red Riding Hood but he draws the process out. He doesn’t simply attack her. He charms her first. He tricks her. His behavior is predatory, yes, but it is also calculated and deliberate. He distracts her with pretty flowers. He pretends to be a loving member of her family.

Screenshot HQ’s TikTok asking women if they would rather meet a man or a bear alone in the woods was a catalyst for a discussion about women’s safety, but the topic is not new. Society has been discussing ways for women to stay safe since the 1600s and before. Women have always been afraid of meeting the wrong man alone in the woods and caregivers have warned their children to be wary.

While both men and women can be the subject of violence at the hands of men, women are chosen as victims far more frequently. Men who are the victim of violent attacks are also more likely to be attacked by a man than a woman. It’s no wonder that seven out of the eight women who were initially queried by Screenshot HQ chose the bear. A bear doesn’t pretend to be a friend if he’s not. He doesn’t scheme and deceive. It’s not that all bears are preferable to all men, it’s that the worst possible bear is better than the worst possible man.

The Grimm brothers added the woodsman to come save the day in 1812 as if to tell their readers “not all men”. The older version, however, recorded by Charles Perault in the 1697, had no woodsman. Little Red Riding Hood didn’t listen to her mother and death was her consequence. She allowed the wolf to charm her and paid the price for it. There is an element of victim blaming in this. Her safety is considered her own responsibility. Even the title suggests that she is drawing too much attention to herself by wearing red. Perhaps she was asking for it, leaving the house in that. The story warns young girls to be wary and protect themselves instead of warning young boys not to become wolves.

Fairy Tales offer us a unique peek into the collective consciousness of society. The things we tell stories about tell us a lot about who we are as a society and the stories we choose to continue to tell help us shape who we could become. Society has always known dangerous beastly men exist or folklore wouldn’t have so many stories warning children about them. Not just the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, but Bluebeard and so many more. Where are the folktales teaching young boys not to become wolves or how to expose them for what they are? If men like the woodsman are women’s protectors, why is her safety dependent on whether or not she wears red or strays from the path? 400 years and more since the writing of Little Red Riding Hood, why do we still have so many wolves in our woods?

It only took one wolf to destroy poor little Red, and it only takes one man to destroy a woman’s life if it is the wrong man. A man with a beastly nature can destroy her trust in goodness, her faith in not just men specifically, but mankind. The fear is not that it is all men, but that it could be any. Trying to guess who are the wolves and who are the woodsman is difficult because the animals are so good at disguising themselves in order to get close to their prey.

Women have always been afraid to meet a man alone in the woods. We have warned our daughters to be careful for centuries. It’s not a new discussion at all but I wish it were old. I wish this were an issue that was relevant in the olden times. An archaic seventeenth-century danger like cholera and the black death that education and the progress of society has stamped out with time.

Alas, it is not so. There are still enough beasts masquerading as men that women and men alike are at risk when they meet an unknown man alone in the woods. We still warn our children about talking to strangers. In human society friend or foe is not as simple as it is in the animal kingdom. Whether bear or wolf, a wild beast can feel like less of a threat than the risk of the uncertainty of a charming but untrustworthy human.

Perhaps it is time to stop warning young girls to be wary and time to stop arguing about whether or not women have a right to feel fear. Perhaps it is time to start fighting the human beasts who are more frightening than a wild animal, the wolves hiding in men’s clothing.

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The post How Little Red Riding Hood Warns Girls to Be Wary of Meeting a Man in the Woods appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

Intelligence

A flickering screen with words typed from

knowledge in a chip.

My mind’s�� ability seems�� obsolete

compared to its hip,

quick clicks, and artificial information

made of binary

synthesis, but machines will never learn

to write poetry.

I wrote this poem many years ago in college (2010 I think).�� AI was already in use, but it was not nearly as prominent as it is today. AI can do a lot of things, including mimicking poetry and other art forms. But is it really writing poetry?����

There are many discussions on whether or not the use of AI is ethical. It takes jobs from human creatives. However, even apart from the ethical concerns, AI simply cannot create poetry or any other form of art. 

What is Poetry?

“Poetry”, according to romantic poet William Wordsworth, is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” (Lyrical Ballads, Preface) Poetic devices such as rhyme, alliteration, and meter patterns have fallen in and out of fashion over the years but, at its core, poetry is human expression.�� The poet is expressing a piece of themselves to the reader or listener and the reader or listener finds something meaningful in sharing that experience with the poet.

Art is not merely an image or words strung together in a certain way. Art, from the Latin artem, is a skill or a craft. Skill and craft are both words referring to the process not the end result.����

This is why nineteenth-century French philosopher, Victor Cousin coined the phrase “L’art pour l’art” or “art for art’s sake”.�� True art has never been about the end result.�� It has always been about the process.����

There are many ways to define art, but intention and expression are always an integral element. The act of creation cannot be separated from the creation itself and the act of creation cannot be separated from human emotion.��

According to D’arcy Hayman, “Art is the essence of that which is human; it is the embodiment of the human experience and goal.”�� (The Arts and Man, A World View of the Role and Functions of the Arts in Society).�� Ultimately, Art reaches beyond the body and physical needs of the human race in search of a deeper existence.�� It is the scream of humanity. Pieces of ourselves reaching out to be heard.��

To put it in simpler terms “We read to know we are not alone.” (Shadowlands, 1994) We experience art in order to experience one another.��

Can AI Create Poetry?

How then can a poem written by an unfeeling computer mean anything at all? There is no connection to another human being (or lifeform or even consciousness), no emotion pouring out from one soul to another.�� It might have all the same pieces as a poem, but it is essentially meaningless. A computer cannot feel or express. It can produce a product, but it cannot create art

That isn’t to say a poem assimilated by AI cannot invoke emotion.�� On the contrary, many do. A reader might not be able to even tell it apart from a poem by a living (or once living) poet. And if it is indistinguishable from art is it not art?��

In a way, everyone who experiences a piece of art is part artist because we each experience it in our own way and thus participate in its creation. We bring our own experiences to the art and interpret it accordingly.  In that sense, art is a catalyst for feelings and the reader, the viewer, or the listener, is the true artist.  Cannot art -poetry- by a computer be used in this way? A bridge that connects people without needing to be created by anyone at all? It still invokes feelings.  It still shows us that we are not alone. Could AI be the scream of humanity?  An imitation of ourselves that we now strive to imitate? 

Not every poem assimilated by a poetry program, however, can invoke emotions. The poems assimilated must be sorted through and gleaned for meaning. In that sense, they could perhaps be called pieces of found art. Something a human found meaning in and chose to showcase.�� It can still connect us, and it can still enrich our lives, but the computer is never the artist.�� It is only a tool like a paintbrush or a blender.

A computer can be programmed to imitate art but it will never be the artist.  It could be argued that the programmer is the artist but the programmer only assimilated the tool. The program itself requires the works of hundreds and thousands of past writers.  Anything created by AI was created by every single artist whose work was used to create the program. All it can do is mimic what has come before. It cannot create anything new. 

Creative Innovation and Imagination 

Art will suffocate if nothing new is added to the mix. According to Phillip Sydney and many other philosophers, Art is a teacher. We create from imagination in order to envision what could be.  This is both why art is so important to society and a big reason why it cannot be created by a computer. A computer can only copy patterns.  It can only mimic what is. It cannot innovate. It cannot dream of things that have never been. 

Art is an important tool to escape conformity and improve society ( Hayman) It is the genetic variation in the evolution of society.�� True art is born of chaos. How then can an orderly program be expected to create it? Without innovation, it will only ever be a pantomime of art.��

AI might be used to help create poetry, but it cannot replace the poet. It has no investment in or comprehension of what it is assimilating. If the computer never feels or understands the words it is stringing together it cannot be true expression or creation. It cannot be poetry.�� It cannot be art.

AI does not necessarily need to be abolished in the creative world, but it is important that we use, and more importantly consume, it ethically.�� A computer does not need to be fed but an artist -a poet- does. An artist (or multiple artists) is still needed to create. There just isn’t a substitute for human emotion and imagination in creative work. A human (or feeling entity) will always be needed to create art.

The post Can AI Create Art? appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

At its core, the fairytale The Little Mermaid is the story of someone looking for more and who is willing to take risks to be true to themselves. It’s the story of a literal fish out of water, desperately wanting to belong in a world not meant for them.  

In Hans Christian Anderson’s original story the unnamed little mermaid longs for a soul. She rescues a prince and leaves him safely at a temple. Curious, she asks her grandmother about the lives of mortals and learns that marriage to a mortal is the only way the merfolk can receive a soul. She bargains with a sea witch for legs and must give up,  not only her voice, but her comfort and potentially her life.  Every time she takes a step on her new legs she feels pain like daggers shooting up her feet and if the prince does not marry her she will turn into seafoam and die.

Once on land the little mermaid finds the prince but he does not love her. He cares for her but sees her as cute and child-like rather than a potential bride. Ultimately he marries a princess who nursed him back to health inside the temple. 

On the wedding ship the little mermaid’s sisters bring her a dagger they bought from the sea witch with their hair. They tell her that if she kills the prince with the dagger she can turn back into a mermaid and return to the sea. The little mermaid, however, cannot bear to harm the man she loves even when he is wed to another. She throws herself into the sea, accepting her death. Because of her sacrifice she is given a soul after all and is permitted to enter heaven when she dies. 

There are many potential metaphors wrapped up in the tale of The Little Mermaid. 

Hans Christian Anderson was bisexual. Living in  the 1800s he would have often had to hide his liaisons. He may have often felt like he was being forced to be silent or as if hiding who he really was was like walking on knives.  Meanwhile the objects of his affection (male and female) often saw him as a friend rather than a lover, and he would be required to bear witness to their weddings.  

The story of someone longing to change their body in order to find their true self can also be a very elegant metaphor for being transgender. Unlike the other merfolk, our little mermaid is not satisfied with her life in the sea and is willing to risk the pain and awkwardness of transitioning to become her true self. (For a more in depth analysis of the transgender themes in The Little Mermaid watch this video by Lindsay Ellis).

Another interpretation that has been suggested is that the little mermaid is autistic due to her intense interest in the human world and lack of awareness of the danger of making a pact with the sea witch (Jessica Kellgren on Autism tropes). This would make a lot of sense because Hans Christian Anderson is also speculated to have been autistic.  In this interpretation the mermaid’s loss of voice and dagger sharp steps are an apt metaphor for masking or hiding one’s true self in order to be accepted.  

The feeling of longing and desire for a place in a world forbidden, is beautifully expressed in the classic “I want ” song “Part of Your World ” from the 1989 Disney adaptation of The Little Mermaid. 

The 1989 Disney adaptation of The Little Mermaid makes a lot of changes to Hans Christian Anderson’s story.  It names our mermaid Ariel and changes her desire for a soul to a curiosity for human life and love at first sight. The prince’s bride is actually the sea witch in disguise and Ariel must rescue him from her enchantment, rather than sacrifice herself to the sea. She succeeds, marries the prince, and lives happily ever after. 

On the surface the Disney version appears to be much more satisfying.  Everything is ultimately restored to our heroine and she is allowed to live in wedded bliss rather than turn into seafoam in order to gain her soul.  But, if we take the religious element out of Hans Christian Anderson’s original story, there is something liberating about learning that the little mermaid doesn’t need the prince to have her desire granted after all. 

The Little mermaid gives her life to save the prince but obtaining her heart’s desire ends up being about her own actions rather than who will choose her as a bride. Her soul is her own, earned by her own innate goodness, not borrowed through marriage. It shifts the narrative from a love story to a story about finding one’s true self. 

This theme of embracing and accepting one’s true form applies to any interpretation of the story. Whether the difference is sexuality, gender, neurotype, or anything else, it is when the mermaid is her truest self, regardless of the acceptance of others, that she ultimately transcends her pain and becomes all that she desires to be. Hans Christian Anderson’s little mermaid pays the ultimate sacrifice in order to be herself and, in the end, that was all she ever needed.

The post The Little Mermaid: A Tail of Belonging appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

Perusing a bookstore these days you are likely to see titles grouped by “Enemies to Lovers”, “Discovering Magical Powers”, or “Found Family”. More and more readers have been describing books by the tropes they contain. This trend is reflected in book recommendation sites, marketing strategies, and general conversations about books.

Categorizing stories based on well know story devices and patterns is not new. Folklorists have been keeping a catalogue of common patterns and motifs for centuries.

Carl Jung wrote about what he called Archetypes; types of characters that repeat, specifically in mythology. Joseph Campbell wrote about what he calls The Monomyth, a pattern he claimed all stories follow that is still used as a basis for script writers of major motion pictures. In his famous essay “On Fairy-Stories” J.R.R Tolkien speaks about The Tree of Story or Story Cauldron and how different elements of story are added to and expanded on over time, drawing from both history and the general human experience.

“The pot of soup,” Tolkien states, “the cauldron of story, has always been boiling, and to it have continually been added new bits, dainty and undainty.” (52)

Tropes are the brick and mortar of storytelling. A teller cannot lay the foundation of a story without them. Audiences often find comfort in a certain amount of predictability and familiarity. Even a subconscious concept of the structure of a story or type of character allows them to feel a sense of satisfaction and “rightness” when things follow the expected pattern. On the other hand established patterns and tropes also allow audiences to feel more surprise and satisfaction when a story deviates from them.

The “rule of three” is a common structure in western folklore that is also used in modern comedy. In this structure things happen in groups of three. The first two events set up a pattern but the third subverts it. In many folklore stories, for example, we follow two siblings who make the same mistake but the third sibling behaves differently and triumphs.

Most audiences enjoy this balance between the familiar and the unexpected. In order to subvert an audience’s expectations, a writer must first set up those expectation. Tropes can make this set up easier. Tropes by themselves, however, are not enough to carry a story. There must be enough texture and richness in the specific details to keep the audience engaged.

According to Tolkien “It is precisely the coloring, the atmosphere, the unclassifiable individual details of a story, and above all the general purport that informs with life the undissected bones of the plot, that really count.” ( 46) When those rich, intricate details are forgotten the trope becomes cliché.

A cliché is a literary device or phrase that is tired and overused. It is different than a trope because, while cliches should always be avoided, the use of a trope is, by itself, neutral. A trope can be used poorly or effectively just as an ingredient can be prepared well or not depending on the cook. A trope in the hands of an unskilled storyteller becomes cliché but in skilled hands it becomes part of a delectable meal.

Tolkien states that “It is easy for the student (of folklore) to feel that with all his labour he is collecting only a few leaves, many of them now torn or decaying from the countless foliage of the Tree of Tales, with which the Forest of Days is carpeted. It seems vain to add to the litter. Who can design a new leaf?” (76).

It may appear on the surface as if there are no new ingredients and that every story has already been told, but that is ultimately missing the point of storytelling. It’s in the richness and texture of the details that make a story enjoyable.

“We do not, or need not, despair of drawing because all lines must be either curved or straight, nor of painting because there are only three ‘primary’ colours.” ( 76) We may be able to recognize and name the pieces that make up a story but that does not mean every story that uses those pieces is the same. Two drawings are not the same because they both use lines or because they both use the color yellow.

The use of a specific trope cannot determine if a story is good or bad. The trope itself is simply an ingredient. What determines the quality of a story is how the ingredients are prepared.  Each cook has their own unique set of spices, their own voice and experience to breathe life into a story.

Tropes are only the bones of a story, not the story itself. No two books with the exact same set of tropes will ever be the same. Describing books by their tropes is a fun way to categorize them. It might even increase our chances of finding the kind of book we are in the mood for but it is a bit like describing a recipe by its ingredients alone. It can tell us its nutritional value and any allergens it may contain, but without knowing whether those ingredients are baked or simmered or fried or left raw we cannot know the full experience of the story we are about to enjoy. We can never know for certain if we will enjoy a book or not until we have begun to read it and experience all the rich texture and specifics the author is offering us.

The post The Cauldron of Story: Tropes, Cliches, Archetypes, And Tolkien’s Take on The Origin of Stories appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

Queen Anne Boleyn has been equally demonized and romanticized throughout history. The sordid temptress who broke England from the church. A witch with six fingers. A cold, calculated opportunist. A determined defender of the protestant faith. The victim beheaded for having a daughter instead of a son. The woman who could make even a tyrant like Henry VIII fall in love. Rumors and exaggerated truths about her life abounded during her lifetime and have only been expanded on through fiction and propaganda since her unprecedented execution.

But what is it about Anne Boleyn that truly makes her any more villainous or glamourous than Henry VIII’s other five wives?

Anne was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn in the early sixteenth century. Her and her sister Mary were both sent to the French court to serve Queen Claude. In Tudor times a courtier’s duties were to charm, entertain and ultimately influence the rulers at court. They had official tasks such as managing the royal wardrobe but their true purpose was to be decorative and represent their families at court. .

Mary Bolyen was moved from the French court to her home court in England to serve Queen Catherine of Aragon where she began an affair with King Henry VIII, her mistress’s husband. Henry VIII seemed very much to treat his wife’s ladies like his own personal harem. Both his known mistresses and three of his wives were selected from the ladies serving at court. Considering the power dynamic these women were hardly in a position to refuse him.

Anne Boleyn soon joined her sister at Henry VIII’s court. By all accounts she was a very skilled courtier, well known for her dancing and wit more than her beauty. She was briefly betrothed to Sir Henry Percy but the king would not approve of the marriage.  Poet Sir Thomas Wyatt was also infatuated with her despite being married and soon he himself.  He wrote in a poem that he could not catch her.

 There is written, her fair neck round about:

Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,

This meaning that Henry VIII had already made claim of her 

It is interesting that while Anne is called a harlot for eventually accepting Henry’s advances, she is also called a vixen for initially refusing him. She is simultaneously shamed for saying “yes” and for saying “no”. Her first reaction at being pursued by the king was to leave court. Henry had by this time been speaking to Cardinal Walsey about replacing Queen Catherine with a younger woman who could produce heirs but there is no historical evidence to suggest that Anne had any knowledge of this. If her initial response was to leave court it is more than likely that she was not, initially, interested in the king.

Anne had numerous reasons to be wary of

Henry’s advances. Loyalty to her sister. Perhaps she had observed how Mary had been treated. She might even have been concerned that being the king’s mistress would make her untouchable to other suitors. 

Henry VIII wrote Anne letters while she was away from court but there is no record of her responses. The assumption that her cryptic replies and hasty removal from court were a game of chase meant to entice him even more is rooted in the misogynistic myth that “no” is a challenge. We do not know how often she replied or how encouraging she was but her refusal does not imply that she was planning to become queen or even saw that as a possibility. Presumably she would need to be careful not to offend the king to protect her family. She could not be forceful in her replies. She would need to flatter him regardless of her feelings or intentions. Her “virtue” may very well have been the only excuse she thought he might accept. 

Perhaps Henry VIII did eventually wear her down with his attention and she developed an affection for him. Perhaps she saw an opportunity to enact the religious reform she believed in similar to Catherine Par, Henry’s last wife who never wanted to be Queen but believed God called her to be. Perhaps she realized that no one else would risk upsetting the king by marrying her. Perhaps she always meant to refuse him and was simply out of excuses when he said he would divorce Catherine. Whatever the reason, Anne eventually agreed to marry the king.

Once she had accepted the King’s proposal, Anne She moved back to his court and accepted special rooms and gifts but refused to be his mistress until the annulment was certain. Their engagement lasted six years. The pope continually denied Henry an annulment. Anne is said to have gifted Henry a book that outlined radical protestant beliefs including a King’s sovereignty over the pope. Henry, who had previously written works defending the Catholic church, founded the church of England and granted his own annulment.

Once she was queen, Anne Boleyn used her authority to further the protestant movement. She was a direct and assertive politician despite still being called “the King’s whore” by most of the court. Anne’s unapologetic assertiveness as queen may very well be what sets her apart from Henry’s wives who came after her. Henry is reported to have told his next wife, Jane Seymour, when she dared to assert her opinion on a subject “Remember Anne”. Catherine Par, his final wife,  also angered him by contradicting his decision but escaped trial by begging for his forgiveness.

 Anne began to find herself in conflict with Arch Chanceler Thomas Cromwell more and more frequently and Henry, now bored with her, ceased indulging her authority. 

 In 1536 Anne was arrested for adultery, witchcraft, and treason. She was tried on May 15 and executed four days later. Henry VIII hired an executioner from France who could behead her with a single blow of a sword rather than the several chops of an ax Henry’s third wife ,Catherine Howard, later endured. He already had a new queen lined up. Jane Seymour who had served both Anne and Catherine of Aragon as a lady in waiting.

There is no historical evidence to suggest that any of the accusations Anne was executed for were true  Almost every man she had a friendship with was arrested for having “carnal knowledge” of her but only one confessed; the only commoner who could thus legally be tortured. In contrast when Catherine Howard was later accused of the same crimes there were detailed accounts of secret communication with the men she was accused of having affairs with.

Perhaps Henry VIII believed the accusations. Perhaps they were merely an excuse to get rid of a wife who asserted herself without another lengthy ordeal to obtain an annulment. It is odd that Jane Seymour is painted by history as the saintly wife when she followed so closely in Anne Boleyn’s footsteps. Jane too said “no” when Henry first pursued her as a mistress. She too agreed to have sexual relations with him only if she were queen. She too took another woman’s place. The woman Jane usurped, however, was not merely divorced and sent away as Catherine of Aragon was. She was beheaded.

So much of what we associate with Anne was told through the eyes of a lover who had grown tired of her and her political and religious enemies. There is very little information written in her own lifetime and even less, apart from her execution speech, of her own words. 

Because she was a woman who, for a brief moment, wielded power and wealth there is no end of criticism heaped on her despite her many similarities to Henry’s other wives. Even her political ruthlessness is barely commented on in her male contemporaries such as Thomas Cromwell who are by contrast admired for their cleverness and efficiency.

Anne Boleyn was not much different than Henry VII’s other five wives. She was chosen by him and ultimately had little choice in whether or not she would marry him. She made the best of the situation and was an assertive politician but fell out of the King’s favor and was executed on false charges. The sensationalized, demonized, and romanticization of her story is based on rumor, exaggeration, and in many cases novels and films created many years after her death. 

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The post Anne Boleyn: The Hunted Hind appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

Queen Anne Boleyn has been equally demonized and romanticized throughout history. The sordid temptress who broke England from the church. A witch with six fingers. A cold, calculated opportunist. A determined defender of the protestant faith. The victim beheaded for having a daughter instead of a son. The woman who could make even a tyrant like Henry VIII fall in love. Rumors and exaggerated truths about her life abounded during her lifetime and have only been expanded on through fiction and propaganda since her unprecedented execution.

But what is it about Anne Boleyn that truly makes her any more villainous or glamourous than Henry VIII’s other five wives?

Anne was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn in the early sixteenth century. Her and her sister Mary were both sent to the French court to serve Queen Claude. In Tudor times a courtier’s duties were to charm, entertain and ultimately influence the rulers at court. They had official tasks such as managing the royal wardrobe but their true purpose was to be decorative and represent their families at court. .

Mary Bolyen was moved from the French court to her home court in England to serve Queen Catherine of Aragon where she began an affair with King Henry VIII, her mistress’s husband. Henry VIII seemed very much to treat his wife’s ladies like his own personal harem. Both his known mistresses and three of his wives were selected from the ladies serving at court. Considering the power dynamic these women were hardly in a position to refuse him.

Anne Boleyn soon joined her sister at Henry VIII’s court. By all accounts she was a very skilled courtier, well known for her dancing and wit more than her beauty. She was briefly betrothed to Sir Henry Percy but the king would not approve of the marriage.  Poet Sir Thomas Wyatt was also infatuated with her despite being married and soon he himself.  He wrote in a poem that he could not catch her.

 There is written, her fair neck round about:

Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,

This meaning that Henry VIII had already made claim of her 

It is interesting that while Anne is called a harlot for eventually accepting Henry’s advances, she is also called a vixen for initially refusing him. She is simultaneously shamed for saying “yes” and for saying “no”. Her first reaction at being pursued by the king was to leave court. Henry had by this time been speaking to Cardinal Walsey about replacing Queen Catherine with a younger woman who could produce heirs but there is no historical evidence to suggest that Anne had any knowledge of this. If her initial response was to leave court it is more than likely that she was not, initially, interested in the king.

Anne had numerous reasons to be wary of

Henry’s advances. Loyalty to her sister. Perhaps she had observed how Mary had been treated. She might even have been concerned that being the king’s mistress would make her untouchable to other suitors. 

Henry VIII wrote Anne letters while she was away from court but there is no record of her responses. The assumption that her cryptic replies and hasty removal from court were a game of chase meant to entice him even more is rooted in the misogynistic myth that “no” is a challenge. We do not know how often she replied or how encouraging she was but her refusal does not imply that she was planning to become queen or even saw that as a possibility. Presumably she would need to be careful not to offend the king to protect her family. She could not be forceful in her replies. She would need to flatter him regardless of her feelings or intentions. Her “virtue” may very well have been the only excuse she thought he might accept. 

Perhaps Henry VIII did eventually wear her down with his attention and she developed an affection for him. Perhaps she saw an opportunity to enact the religious reform she believed in similar to Catherine Par, Henry’s last wife who never wanted to be Queen but believed God called her to be. Perhaps she realized that no one else would risk upsetting the king by marrying her. Perhaps she always meant to refuse him and was simply out of excuses when he said he would divorce Catherine. Whatever the reason, Anne eventually agreed to marry the king.

Once she had accepted the King’s proposal, Anne She moved back to his court and accepted special rooms and gifts but refused to be his mistress until the annulment was certain. Their engagement lasted six years. The pope continually denied Henry an annulment. Anne is said to have gifted Henry a book that outlined radical protestant beliefs including a King’s sovereignty over the pope. Henry, who had previously written works defending the Catholic church, founded the church of England and granted his own annulment.

Once she was queen, Anne Boleyn used her authority to further the protestant movement. She was a direct and assertive politician despite still being called “the King’s whore” by most of the court. Anne’s unapologetic assertiveness as queen may very well be what sets her apart from Henry’s wives who came after her. Henry is reported to have told his next wife, Jane Seymour, when she dared to assert her opinion on a subject “Remember Anne”. Catherine Par, his final wife,  also angered him by contradicting his decision but escaped trial by begging for his forgiveness.

 Anne began to find herself in conflict with Arch Chanceler Thomas Cromwell more and more frequently and Henry, now bored with her, ceased indulging her authority. 

 In 1536 Anne was arrested for adultery, witchcraft, and treason. She was tried on May 15 and executed four days later. Henry VIII hired an executioner from France who could behead her with a single blow of a sword rather than the several chops of an ax Henry’s third wife ,Catherine Howard, later endured. He already had a new queen lined up. Jane Seymour who had served both Anne and Catherine of Aragon as a lady in waiting.

There is no historical evidence to suggest that any of the accusations Anne was executed for were true  Almost every man she had a friendship with was arrested for having “carnal knowledge” of her but only one confessed; the only commoner who could thus legally be tortured. In contrast when Catherine Howard was later accused of the same crimes there were detailed accounts of secret communication with the men she was accused of having affairs with.

Perhaps Henry VIII believed the accusations. Perhaps they were merely an excuse to get rid of a wife who asserted herself without another lengthy ordeal to obtain an annulment. It is odd that Jane Seymour is painted by history as the saintly wife when she followed so closely in Anne Boleyn’s footsteps. Jane too said “no” when Henry first pursued her as a mistress. She too agreed to have sexual relations with him only if she were queen. She too took another woman’s place. The woman Jane usurped, however, was not merely divorced and sent away as Catherine of Aragon was. She was beheaded.

So much of what we associate with Anne was told through the eyes of a lover who had grown tired of her and her political and religious enemies. There is very little information written in her own lifetime and even less, apart from her execution speech, of her own words. 

Because she was a woman who, for a brief moment, wielded power and wealth there is no end of criticism heaped on her despite her many similarities to Henry’s other wives. Even her political ruthlessness is barely commented on in her male contemporaries such as Thomas Cromwell who are by contrast admired for their cleverness and efficiency.

Anne Boleyn was not much different than Henry VII’s other five wives. She was chosen by him and ultimately had little choice in whether or not she would marry him. She made the best of the situation and was an assertive politician but fell out of the King’s favor and was executed on false charges. The sensationalized, demonized, and romanticization of her story is based on rumor, exaggeration, and in many cases novels and films created many years after her death. 

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The post Anne Boleyn, the Hunted Hind appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

She’s pretty but she doesn’t realize it. She’s smart but she doesn’t realize it. She’s into cool, practical things, not silly, frivolous ones. She would never use her charms for her own gains because she doesn’t realize she has any. She’s respectable. She comes from humble beginnings. She’s kind and capable and more than a little lonely. She’s a rare jewel in an ocean of flashy skin deep baubles. She’s . . .

Not Like Other Girls.

Bella Swan. Alina Starkov. Katniss Everdeen. YA fantasy is bursting with so many manifestations of this heroine that she is now a cliche but where did she originate and why did she become so prominent?

The rise of Dark Romance as a genre in YA fantasy began largely with Twilight in the early 2000s but if you remove the supernatural element the genre bears a striking resemblance to the works of the Bronte sisters way back in the 1850s. The brooding bad boy who is able to see the Not-Like-Other-Girl’s worth bears a striking resemblance to the Byronic hero of the Romantic Era. Manifestations of the Byronic hero are found in both Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff and Charlotte Bronte’s Rochester. 

The Bronte sisters were unique in their time because they wrote from an underrepresented woman’s perspective. Because of this, their heroines were not the picture perfect paragons of beauty, warmth and goodness that the male gaze of the time expected them to be. Instead of the flawless but unobtainable Estella of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations or Mina, the lovely damsel in distress from Bram Stoker’s Dracula we have the wild, pragmatic Catherine of Wuthering Heights and, of course, the small, plain, practical Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre is a textbook Not-Like-Other-Girls. She comes from humble beginnings. She’s satisfied with little and doesn’t expect much. She’s not stunning. She has no special skills or abilities. She doesn’t spend time chasing men or thinking too much of herself like her first rival Miss Blanche Ingim or have dangerous fits of violence like poor Bertha in the attic. She’s moral and would never dream of becoming someone’s mistress like her pupil’s mother, Celine Varens. When Rochester confesses his love for Jane he compares her to all his past lovers, declaring that he had given up finding a woman who could make him happy until he had met her.

Jane’s first obstacle between her and Rochester’s affections is Miss Blanche Ingram. Blanche is written as a walking stereotype of everything a high class woman was meant to be at the time. Beautiful. Refined. Elegant. Rich. Charming. In contrast to Jane, however, she is also superficial, vain, and calculating. Jane herself expresses compassion for her, recognizing that she was raised to be that way, but the narrative itself paints her as less desirable and silly. Even as far back as the 1800s women like Jane were made to feel lesser for not meeting the feminine ideals of the time while women like Blanche were simultaneously villainized for meeting them. 

Rochester’s apparent affection for Blanche, however, turns out to be a ruse. He casts her aside once he is convinced that Jane is jealous. Jane rebukes him for playing with Blanche’s feelings but he convinces her that she never cared about him anyways. The narrative appears to accept his statement as fact but there is no way he could actually know it to be true. A similar attitude is taken toward Miss Rosamond later in the story when her romantic hopes are dashed. The man who chooses not to marry her despite loving her shrugs it off, saying she is pretty and will have lots of options. From a practical standpoint this may be true but it is callous to both women’s feelings and suggests that Bronte believes women who fit the beauty standards of the time more closely were necessarily more shallow and less deeply hurt by rejection.

The real obstacle standing between Jane and  Rochester is, of course, Bertha Rochester, the wife he is hiding in his attic.Jane herself shows compassion for Bertha when she learns of her. She tells Rochester “It is not her fault that she is mad.” but the narrative still frames Bertha as  monstrous and unnatural. Rochester swears he never loved her, that he was pressured into the marriage, that her ailment was concealed from him. He even goes so far as to call her a “demon”. It is never once questioned that locking a woman with poor mental health in the attic is the obvious thing to do. 

Blanche and Bertha are the primary obstacles between Jane and Rochester but they are not all the other girls that Jane is not like. There is also Adele’s mother, the actress Celine Varens along with his other mistresses he has taken since his marriage to Bertha. Rochester expresses nothing but contempt for these women and even the usually compassionate Jane does not rebuke him for this. His complete lack of respect for these women is why Jane decides that she absolutely will not live as Rochester’s mistress and flees.

Ultimately Rochester does not go unpunished for his poor treatment of the women in his life. While Jane receives an unexpected inheritance Rochester’s house burns down. Even though Bertha dies and he is free to marry Jane he is blinded by the fire. Jane marries him not as the powerful employer that she had fallen for but a humbled older man who is dependent on her for basic needs. It is not unremarkable that a story that is so focused on the male gaze ends with the man in question unable to see. It could be argued that the narrative is more aware than it first appears of how much of a villain Rochester actually is. His sins are not unpunished and he must repent before he can be allowed to have happiness with Jane. 

Despite this retribution, the reformed Rochester still presents a dangerous message. In the narrative Jane is not like all these other women in his life. She is special enough to cause him to  repent. The fantasy that a woman can be kind and good and wonderful enough to tame a monster is an old one. It makes an enticing and powerful story but not only can this narrative encourage women to stay in a relationship with a chronic abuser it also perpetuates the idea that the women who came before deserved the abuse in one way or another. Because they were shallow. Because they were crazy. Because they were sluts. Don’t be like those girls. Behave and everything will work out in the end. 

Jane marries Rochester. She says she is happy but is she? Is it not only a matter of time until she becomes Bertha, trapped in her husband’s home while he pursues a younger upgrade? 

All girls are not like other girls. The paragon of feminine perfection does not exist. The reason this trope has become so prominent is that it is relatable. All girls feel they fall short of the standards of perfection they are constantly compared against. 

Jane’s ordinariness is what makes her such a badass heroine. She doesn’t have to be pretty to be amazing. She doesn’t have to have special talents or good fortune. She is worthy of love and she knows it. This is what makes her so iconic and why she is a stronger character than later Not-Like-Other-Girls. From the very beginning she defends her own worth.

Still, there is a danger in the way Jane is constantly compared against the other women in her story. It is satisfying to see the underdog win but there is still that undercurrent of competition between women rather than support. Jane sees her worth from the beginning. Does she really need Rochester to validate it? Could she not celebrate herself while also celebrating Blanche, Bertha, and Celine? The paradox of the Not-Like-Other-Girls is that rather than free women from unrealistic expectations she represents a different set of expectations. 

Ultimately whether someone is Like or Not-Like Other-Girls is irrelevant. People of all genders should be free to express themselves and enjoy themselves the way they choose. We could all learn something from Jane and choose to own our worth regardless of others’ expectations of us but perhaps we can learn to do so without pitting ourselves against each other and trading one kind of comparison for another. 

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The post Jane Eyre was the Original Not-Like-Other-Girls appeared first on Taryn Tyler.

She’s pretty but she doesn’t realize it. She’s smart but she doesn’t realize it. She’s into cool, practical things, not silly, frivolous ones. She would never use her charms for her own gains because she doesn’t realize she has any. She’s respectable. She comes from humble beginnings. She’s kind and capable and more than a little lonely. She’s a rare jewel in an ocean of flashy skin deep baubles. She’s . . .

Not Like Other Girls.

Bella Swan. Alina Starkov. Katniss Everdeen. YA fantasy is bursting with so many manifestations of this heroine that she is now a cliche but where did she originate and why did she become so prominent?

The rise of Dark Romance as a genre in YA fantasy began largely with Twilight in the early 2000s but if you remove the supernatural element the genre bears a striking resemblance to the works of the Bronte sisters way back in the 1850s. The brooding bad boy who is able to see the Not-Like-Other-Girl’s worth bears a striking resemblance to the Byronic hero of the Romantic Era. Manifestations of the Byronic hero are found in both Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff and Charlotte Bronte’s Rochester. 

The Bronte sisters were unique in their time because they wrote from an underrepresented woman’s perspective. Because of this, their heroines were not the picture perfect paragons of beauty, warmth and goodness that the male gaze of the time expected them to be. Instead of the flawless but unobtainable Estella of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations or Mina, the lovely damsel in distress from Bram Stoker’s Dracula we have the wild, pragmatic Catherine of Wuthering Heights and, of course, the small, plain, practical Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre is a textbook Not-Like-Other-Girls. She comes from humble beginnings. She’s satisfied with little and doesn’t expect much. She’s not stunning. She has no special skills or abilities. She doesn’t spend time chasing men or thinking too much of herself like her first rival Miss Blanche Ingim or have dangerous fits of violence like poor Bertha in the attic. She’s moral and would never dream of becoming someone’s mistress like her pupil’s mother, Celine Varens. When Rochester confesses his love for Jane he compares her to all his past lovers, declaring that he had given up finding a woman who could make him happy until he had met her.

Jane’s first obstacle between her and Rochester’s affections is Miss Blanche Ingram. Blanche is written as a walking stereotype of everything a high class woman was meant to be at the time. Beautiful. Refined. Elegant. Rich. Charming. In contrast to Jane, however, she is also superficial, vain, and calculating. Jane herself expresses compassion for her, recognizing that she was raised to be that way, but the narrative itself paints her as less desirable and silly. Even as far back as the 1800s women like Jane were made to feel lesser for not meeting the feminine ideals of the time while women like Blanche were simultaneously villainized for meeting them. 

Rochester’s apparent affection for Blanche, however, turns out to be a ruse. He casts her aside once he is convinced that Jane is jealous. Jane rebukes him for playing with Blanche’s feelings but he convinces her that she never cared about him anyways. The narrative appears to accept his statement as fact but there is no way he could actually know it to be true. A similar attitude is taken toward Miss Rosamond later in the story when her romantic hopes are dashed. The man who chooses not to marry her despite loving her shrugs it off, saying she is pretty and will have lots of options. From a practical standpoint this may be true but it is callous to both women’s feelings and suggests that Bronte believes women who fit the beauty standards of the time more closely were necessarily more shallow and less deeply hurt by rejection.

The real obstacle standing between Jane and  Rochester is, of course, Bertha Rochester, the wife he is hiding in his attic.Jane herself shows compassion for Bertha when she learns of her. She tells Rochester “It is not her fault that she is mad.” but the narrative still frames Bertha as  monstrous and unnatural. Rochester swears he never loved her, that he was pressured into the marriage, that her ailment was concealed from him. He even goes so far as to call her a “demon”. It is never once questioned that locking a woman with poor mental health in the attic is the obvious thing to do. 

Blanche and Bertha are the primary obstacles between Jane and Rochester but they are not all the other girls that Jane is not like. There is also Adele’s mother, the actress Celine Varens along with his other mistresses he has taken since his marriage to Bertha. Rochester expresses nothing but contempt for these women and even the usually compassionate Jane does not rebuke him for this. His complete lack of respect for these women is why Jane decides that she absolutely will not live as Rochester’s mistress and flees.

Ultimately Rochester does not go unpunished for his poor treatment of the women in his life. While Jane receives an unexpected inheritance Rochester’s house burns down. Even though Bertha dies and he is free to marry Jane he is blinded by the fire. Jane marries him not as the powerful employer that she had fallen for but a humbled older man who is dependent on her for basic needs. It is not unremarkable that a story that is so focused on the male gaze ends with the man in question unable to see. It could be argued that the narrative is more aware than it first appears of how much of a villain Rochester actually is. His sins are not unpunished and he must repent before he can be allowed to have happiness with Jane. 

Despite this retribution, the reformed Rochester still presents a dangerous message. In the narrative Jane is not like all these other women in his life. She is special enough to cause him to  repent. The fantasy that a woman can be kind and good and wonderful enough to tame a monster is an old one. It makes an enticing and powerful story but not only can this narrative encourage women to stay in a relationship with a chronic abuser it also perpetuates the idea that the women who came before deserved the abuse in one way or another. Because they were shallow. Because they were crazy. Because they were sluts. Don’t be like those girls. Behave and everything will work out in the end. 

Jane marries Rochester. She says she is happy but is she? Is it not only a matter of time until she becomes Bertha, trapped in her husband’s home while he pursues a younger upgrade? 

All girls are not like other girls. The paragon of feminine perfection does not exist. The reason this trope has become so prominent is that it is relatable. All girls feel they fall short of the standards of perfection they are constantly compared against. 

Jane’s ordinariness is what makes her such a badass heroine. She doesn’t have to be pretty to be amazing. She doesn’t have to have special talents or good fortune. She is worthy of love and she knows it. This is what makes her so iconic and why she is a stronger character than later Not-Like-Other-Girls. From the very beginning she defends her own worth.

Still, there is a danger in the way Jane is constantly compared against the other women in her story. It is satisfying to see the underdog win but there is still that undercurrent of competition between women rather than support. Jane sees her worth from the beginning. Does she really need Rochester to validate it? Could she not celebrate herself while also celebrating Blanche, Bertha, and Celine? The paradox of the Not-Like-Other-Girls is that rather than free women from unrealistic expectations she represents a different set of expectations. 

Ultimately whether someone is Like or Not-Like Other-Girls is irrelevant. People of all genders should be free to express themselves and enjoy themselves the way they choose. We could all learn something from Jane and choose to own our worth regardless of others’ expectations of us but perhaps we can learn to do so without pitting ourselves against each other and trading one kind of comparison for another. 

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The post Jane Eyre was the Original Not Like Other Girls Except That it Actually Worked appeared first on Taryn Tyler.