I Don't See the Hate

For my final post I want to start with saying that this has been a good place to hash out thoughts as we have read. There were a lot times that I did the reading and then thought that I had nothing to say, but getting on here made me digest it! 

I was given article called "Hatred and Civility: The Antisocial Life in Victorian England" by Christopher Lane for my final writing. First of all, I found myself on the defensive by the title alone. Being that I am a Bronte fan, I have never looked at her novels as anything other than pure enjoyment. I mean who goes around looking for hatred in a novel? With that being said, I will argue this article (though concede to a few small points), and then continue reading Bronte novels the way I like, biographical and romantic.

Lane starts the article by stating that "Bronte's protagonists suffer greater hardships while holding tenaciously to their principles." I have found Villette to be a very Bildungsroman style novel. I feel we watched the character grow and mature, work out her head, take chances, and come to some very resolved ideals. I never like Lucy was stuck, clinging to her principles. I always felt like she was working something out. I felt Bronte gave us a clear view into her mental processes and showed the reader how Lucy came to her conclusions. I never left out of why she was acting/thinking in a certain way.

Next, the article states that Bronte "turns the aggression of the protagonist into a politically impotent rage." Again, I disagree. I can see this to a certain extent. Bronte is definitely saying something about women, gender, and the domestic sphere, but, in comparison to Dicken's Bleak House, I believe she is quite mile in her "political" approach. Her voice is "political" voice is recognizable, but, I feel, completely overshadowed by the story line of growth and maturity. I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call it a "rage." 

Then, the article states, "Because her invocations of personal duty modify her protagonists' troubled relation to their communities, moreover, Bronte sometimes implies that these characters would be happiest if they could dissolve their ties completely." Again, I disagree. I never sensed that Lucy didn't want to be involved with the other characters/community in this novel. If anything, I saw the opposite. I saw a shy, introverted, awkward, young girl trying to figure out how to be a part of her world by comparing/contrasting herself against Ginevra and Polly. It is in these contrasts that she learns her own qualities and thoughts, which in the end, lead her to the ability to become part of her community, part of love, and part of others lives. The idea of running a school is not a sudden thought in the end of the novel, she had been preparing/saving/learning for a long time to be able to contribute back to others. I never saw her want to "dissolve ties."

Anyhow, I have at least six other places that I disagree with the thought of hatred within Villette. I will continue on in my apparently naive way and pretend that Bronte wanted us to see a world with hope, dreams, and the reality that sometimes life is hard. It doesn't always work out the way we want, but that doesn't mean we "hate."