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and was dated 1833. I sat down heavily on the bed and stared at the two
articles of clothing and the bill. Ordinarily I would not have believed that
Rochester could have torn himself from the pages ofJane Eyre and come to my
aid that night; such a thing is, of course, quite impossible. I might have
dismissed the whole thing as a ludicrously complicated prank had it not been
for one thing: Edward Rochester and I had met once before . . .
6
Jane Eyre: A Short
Excursion Into The Novel
Outside Styx s apartment was not the first timeRochester and I had met, nor
would it be the last. We first encountered each other at Haworth House
inYorkshire when my mind was young and the barrier between reality and
make-believe had not yet hardened into the shell that cocoons us in adult
life. The barrier was soft, pliable and, for a moment, thanks to the kindness
of a stranger and the power of a good storytelling voice, I made the short
journey and returned.
Thursday Next A Life In Spec-Ops
IT WAS 1958. My uncle and aunt who even then seemed old had taken me up
to Haworth House, the old Brontë residence, for a visit. I had been learning
about William Thackeray at school, and since the Brontës were contemporaries
of his it seemed a good opportunity to further my interest in these matters.
My Uncle Mycroft was giving a lecture at Bradford University on his remarkable
mathematical work regarding game theory, the most practical side of which
allowed one to win at Snakes and Ladders every time. Bradford was near
toHaworth , so a combined visit seemed a good idea.
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We were led around by the guide, a fluffy woman in her sixties with
steel-rimmed spectacles and an angora cardigan who steered the tourists around
the rooms with an abrupt manner, as though she felt that none of them could
possibly know as much as she did, but would grudgingly assist to lift them
from the depths of their own ignorance. Near the end of the tour, when
thoughts had turned to picture postcards and ice cream, the prize exhibit in
the form of the original manuscript ofJane Eyre greeted the tired
museum-goers.
Although the pages had browned with age and the black ink faded to a light
brown, the writing could still be read by the practiced eye, the fine spidery
longhand flowing across the page in a steady stream of inventive prose. A page
was turned every two days, allowing the more regular and fanatical Brontë
followers to read the novel as originally drafted.
The day that I came to the Brontë museum the manuscript was open at the point
where Jane andRochester first meet; a chance encounter by a stile.
which makes it one of the greatest romantic novels ever written, continued
the fluffy yet lofty guide in her oft-repeated monologue, ignoring several
hands that had been raised to ask pertinent questions.
The character of Jane Eyre, a tough and resilient heroine, drew her apart
from the usual heroines of the time, andRochester , a forbidding yet basically
good man, also broke the mold with his flawed character s dour humor.Jane Eyre
was written by Charlotte Brontë in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell.
Thackeray described it as the master work of a great genius. We continue on
now to the shop where you may purchase picture postcards, commemorative
plates, small plastic imitation Heathcliffs and other mementos of your visit.
Thank you for
One of the group had their hand up and was determined to have his say.
Excuse me, began the young man in an American accent. A muscle in the tour
guide s cheek momentarily twitched as she forced herself to listen to someone
else s opinion.
Yes? she inquired with icy politeness.
Well, continued the young man, I m kinda new to this whole Brontë thing,
but I had trouble with the end ofJane Eyre .
Trouble?
Yeah. Like Jane leaves Thornfield Hall and hitches up with her cousins, the
Riverses.
I know who her cousins are, young man.
Yeah, well, she agrees to go with this drippy St. John Rivers guy but not to
marry him, they depart forIndia and that s the end of the book? Hello? What
about a happy ending? What happens toRochester and his nutty wife?
The guide glowered.
And what would you prefer? The forces of good and evil fighting to the death
in the corridors of Thornfield Hall?
That s not what I meant, continued the young man, beginning to get slightly
annoyed. It s just that the book cries out for a strong resolution, to tie up
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the narrative and finish the tale. I get the feeling from what she wrote that
she just kinda pooped out.
The guide stared at him for a moment through her steel-rimmed glasses and
wondered why the visitors couldn t behave just that little bit more like
sheep. Sadly, his point was a valid one; she herself had often pondered the
diluted ending, wishing, like millions of others, that circumstances had
allowed Jane andRochester to marry after all.
Some things will never be known, she replied noncommittally.Charlotte is no
longer with us so the question is abstract. What we have to study and enjoy is
what she has left us. The sheer exuberance of the writing easily outweighs any
of its small shortcomings.
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