of Jane Eyre: Bestowing a Book
By bestowing the gift of a book, the giver may plant seeds for lasting rituals and ever-expanding knowledge to be nurtured over the span of the recipient's life.
This has happened to me with several books but especially Jane Eyre.
The glow of the candle illuminates the green leather-bound novel each Winter Solstice as I open my treasured copy of The Works of Charlotte and Emily Brontë to read the story Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. This ritual revisiting began over 40 years ago when my father first gifted me this edition, recognizing my kinship with Jane. As a teen, I was immediately enchanted by Jane’s strength, intellect, and defiant spirit. Now as a woman, I find new depths and meaning in this gothic coming-of-age tale.
Beyond the force of Jane’s character, Brontë’s rendering of the natural world stirs my spirit. In times of turmoil, Jane finds solace wandering the English moors. The Blue Ridge mountains of North Georgia are where I roam. Brontë’s descriptions of this untamed beauty offer a wildling inspiration. The way Rochester describes Jane as a fairy brings back cherished memories of my childhood when I believed in the fae.
It was a fairy, and come from Elf-land, it said; and its errand was to make me happy: I must go with it out of the common world to a lonely place – such as the moon, for instance – and it nodded its head towards her horn, rising over Hay-hill: it told me of the alabaster cave and silver vale where we might live. I said I should like to go; but reminded it, as you did me, that I had no wings to fly.
“Oh,” returned the fairy, “that does not signify! Here is a talisman that will remove all difficulties;” and she held out a pretty gold ring. “Put it,” she said, “on the fourth finger of my left hand, and I am yours, and you are mine; and we shall leave earth, and make our own heaven yonder.” She nodded again at the moon. The ring, Adèle, is in my breeches-pocket, under the disguise of a sovereign: but I mean soon to change it to a ring again.
“But what has mademoiselle to do with it? I don’t care for the fairy: you said it was mademoiselle you would take to the moon?”
“Mademoiselle is a fairy,” he said, whispering mysteriously.
The interplay between the external landscape and internal topography within Jane opens a window into the mysteries of the human psyche. Brontë’s exploration of the dichotomy within Jane - her yearning for freedom and love alongside her moral fortitude - reveals truths about the complexities of the human condition. The personification of Nature reflects the depths of Jane’s inner world.
By laying bare these realities through the lens of the natural environment, Brontë touches the divine. Her transcendent prose kindles in me the urge to put pen to paper. Each Winter Solstice when I become enveloped once more in Jane’s journey, I am compelled to capture my own observations of nature’s glory and humanity’s intricacies through writing.
Following in Brontë’s footsteps, I long to transport readers through lyrical prose that marries earthly beauty and philosophical insight. Her wise counsel continues inspiring me: “It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility...they must have action.” My calling, like Jane’s, is to embrace life’s adventures and share wisdom through my writing.
“I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitments, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into it's expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst it's perils.” Charlotte Brontë
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