The problem with Jane Eyre

 

I am expected to like Jane Eyrebecause it’s a classic.

No, let me rephrase that. I amexpected to like Jane Eyre because of the way Brontë chose to present herstory, introducing elements such as first-person perspective and feministthemes in a revolutionary manner, much different from the approaches of hertime.

Much like Hippocratesrevolutionised medicine almost two and a half thousand years ago. Yet, medicalstudents no longer learn his outdated methods. He is the father of medicine,but medicine has evolved so much that he is now only seen as a historicalfigure who established medical ethics and the scientific method.

Yet I am expected to like anoutdated author and “copy” her techniques when there are so many interestingcontemporary authors who don’t sound like a teenage Victorian soap opera.

I have a problem with that. Theproblem doesn't stem from the apparent casual racism toward anythingnon-English. For example, everything that is wrong with Adele is that she isFrench, and she is not English. Mr. Rochester’s wife is not a genuineEnglishwoman; she is a mentally unstable Creole.

I won’t even touch imperialismand the need to educate the savage Indian people to the superiority of English Christianity.I am not supposed to be bothered about these things because they are “eraappropriate”, and the excuse of context demands I overlook them.

This brings me to the seriousproblem I was talking about: happenstance.

As a reader of hundreds of books,I take serious issue with the laziness of the plot in Jane Eyre. Nothingthat happens to Jane comes from her moving a finger. Yes, she is distraught andfilled with love and grief and emotional depth that paint the pages withevocative imagery, but everything is far too conveniently resolved.

She runs away blindly to someunknown place where she comes across some long-forgotten relatives, Deus exmachina style, beating astronomical odds. That is lazy.

She cannot marry Mr. Rochesterbecause his insane wife is still alive. No problem, the plot will sort itselfout. It would have been far more honest and engaging if Mr. Rochester hadkilled his wife (or, even better, Jane had killed Bertha) because that wouldactually create some fascinating moral and ethical stakes that would elevate thisyoung adult romance. Another obstacle was removed by Jane not moving a finger.

Jane is penniless and miserable,but don’t worry, some rich uncle we never even heard of dies, and she gets theinheritance because of course…

As a reader, I find thenarrative's happenstance lazy and disrespectful, as if the author assumed I wastoo unintelligent to pick up on those conveniences, which resulted in mycomplete disengagement.

As a writer, I consider thesechoices more as cheap tricks that I would like to avoid at all costs. I want tocreate honest and realistic narratives, even if the subjects I approach aresolely fantastical.

I believe there needs to be acertain level of respect for our readers when we tell a story, and it seemsthat this is not the case in Jane Eyre. Simply because it is placed in the canonof the classics doesn’t mean we must become blind to its many problems.

Thank you for reading the story. If you enjoyed it, I would be grateful to hear your thoughts or questions in the comments below.