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Villette Has Ended and Everyone Is Confused (Probably)

........wait.



So...ok.


Villette has ended and...huh.





I was totally set to talk about Lucy's drug haze romp through a carnival, but then the ending of the book happened and now my brain is just perplexed and trying to figure out what exactly Charlotte Bronte's game is here, because wait what.

What are we thinking about this. So Lucy is given everything she wants, and sets herself up a la Jane Eyre, down to the "oh, you suddenly got money from someone in your past who wronged you and are now a lady of independent means," and then the ending happens and it's this weird fizzle of a nothing. 

MAYBE IT'S EXTREMELY DARING. It's probably that. The problem in my brain is it reminds me, like some other things in Villette, of Wuthering Heights. Just this crashing storm and wild prose and weird imprecations to heaven and then this danced-around ending that reminded me also of the stories I used to write in 5th grade where everyone dies, only finally I wrote some postscript to one that was like "But they never found the body of this one guy! So maybe he's alive! Maybe! If it makes you feel better!"

Charlotte Bronte's attempts at comfort


What do you think was going on here? And come to think of the whole book, what's up with Charlotte Bronte and weather/stars & planets? Because there is a lot of that. Did you like that surreal outdoor party scene, because it was one of my favorite parts of the book. Why is Lucy constantly an observer? Does she make herself that way, or are people really not wanting to hang out with her? (there I obviously believe the former) How much do you love Ginevra? Is it a lot? It should probably be a lot. Are Ginevra/Lucy the best couple in this book? (yes)

[M]y dry gibes pleased her well enough and the more impassible and prosaic my mien, the more merrily she laughed.


I don't even know with this book. I SUSPECT it is genius and I'm very proud of CB for writing it. Imma need to look at it more closely, because honestly this six week period was just about getting through it and trying to figure out wth was going on. Everything is weird and I know nothing. That's what I got from this book. Good job, everyone who made it, on making it. We have all officially read more than just Jane Eyre in the Works by Charlotte Bronte Department.


Comments

  1. I found this page because I was searching for a bonnet-grec image to understand what Lucy was describing. So glad! I laughed a lot reading all your posts. I just finished the book and OMG that ending...CB didn't spare anybody's feelings. She was in a dark place, done with fairytales like Jane Eyre, and just went with an ending that conformed with her vision of the world for "poor, obscure, little girls". Damn.

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