Sweet Jane

     Jane Eyre was one of the books I read from the summer list. I choose it for two main reasons, one perhaps more justifiable than the other. First, the song "Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)" by Los Campesinos quite explicitly states, "If only you would give your life to literature just / Don't read Jane Eyre! / Work on your algebra," which piqued my interest in what could possibly warrant such a vehement command. Second, I was reading Pride and Prejudice on a whim and got to the 100th page before deciding I needed to find a new book at all costs, and from its first page Janes Eyre Bronte seemed the anti-Austen. To tell the story of the struggles through the world of an orphan child, not the quest for marriage of one of however many priveleged girls.
     Jane Eyre's storytelling also turned out to be largely good, nontrivially discussing the issues of the poor and the downtrodden, although its later tendings towards being over romanticised claptrap are less than stellar. From the beginning, the way in which Jane is rebuffed from the perfectly innocent question of what she had done wrong, "Jane, I don’t like cavillers or questioners; besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner," establishes in so few words the character of the harsh Mrs. Reed. Jane's views towards the poor are also very well established at this very beginning of the novel, this excerpt especially shows off Bronte's talents, "I shook my head: I could not see how poor people had the means of being kind; and then to learn to speak like them, to adopt their manners, to be uneducated [...]: no, I was not heroic enough to purchase liberty at the price of caste." Later, this makes Jane's descent into poverty all the more vivid as she begs for food and lodging despite being educated. However, it is also later that Jane Eyre becomes an unabashedly romantic novel, with such saccharine speeches that quite honestly boggle the mind. One especially stands out, where Jane's lover, Mr. Rochester is leaving her, "'Good-night, my--' He stopped, bit his lip, and abruptly left me." This passage uses one the most cliche phrases ever, biting one's lip. While it may not have been as outrageously overused at the time Jane Eyre was written, it is still to modern tastes outdated at best.
     Overall, however, the romantic ramblings of Jane Eyre don't outweigh its very thought-provoking analysis of poverty in the 19th century. While it is unfortunate to have to excuse the tendencies of a book based on other strengths, in this case the overall storytelling and plot are simply greater than the minor sappy Romanticism. All in all, this book was quite worth reading despite the warnings of Los Campesinos and was far superior to the always on cliched romance of the horrible Pride and Prejudice