I am about eleven chapters into Jane Eyre, now. Ordinarily, I am totally sympathetic to Jane, who is much abused by her Aunt Reed, her cousins, and the directory of Lowood Institution. I admire her will and passion in the face of people who want to remold her into a docile creature who takes whatever they choose to give her.
I still admire Jane, but this time through I was more struck by an idea that Jane summarizes as the “doctrine of endurance.” Helen Burns, Jane’s saintly, tuburcular friend at Lowood introduces this idea when Jane wonders to her why Helen puts up with so much. Essentially, Helen says that there are somethings in life you have to endure–like the dislike of others–in order to achieve your goals. In addition, life is much too short to was it hating people back.
One might argue that this is just another way of saying that people should just accept what others dish out, but I don’t think so. Just accepting it is to be beaten down by life and other people. But enduring it, I think, is to rise above it. And, in this book, I really like that Jane can learn to endure and to forgive, but that she always retains the spark of passion that she shows from the very begining. Helen Burns didn’t have that spark. But the fact that Jane has it saves this book from being a manual for saintly martyrs. Well, that and what she and Mr. Rochester get up to later in the book. But that’s another blog posting.