I don’t understand why the friend that Jane spends the most time remembering through her “autobiography” has to be Helen Burns. It was mentioned briefly that Jane developed friendships with other girls, but very few details are given about them. I suppose that without Jane and Helen’s dear friendship, Helen’s little sermons and eventual death would not have made such a profound impact on such a young child who could barely listen to theological matters, much less comprehend them. The manner in which Helen died was very peaceful and quiet, but did Jane really have to be in the bed with her when she died? I understand that seeing Helen before her death was necessary to Jane’s character, but lying beside a dead girl, though unbeknownst to her, for a night seemed unnecessary and creepy to me. I think Bronte would have been better in leaving that part out.
The quiet passing of Helen I feel was a representation of Jane's own mortality. If someone as holy as Helen could be on earth and gone the next Jane stood no chance of a peaceful passing. I believe the important was also for Jane was to take Helen's place within the school and carry on in her name. I also believe that Helen was the most genuine of all the people that had passed through Jane's life at that moment.
ReplyDeleteHelen was also a representation of Charlotte's sister, I think Maria, who died while she was at the girl's school. Helen may be a memorial for her sister as well as a representation of Jane's own mortality. Don't we think of the people who have gone before us, especially when they are young, as having extraordinary gifts and talents?
ReplyDeleteI think that while creepy, it was almost necessary for Jane to be in bed with Helen when she died. If Helen is the Christ-like figure, then the action of Jane lying in bed with her while she died parallels Jane to the most devout follower of Christ. The fact that Jane did not listen to nor understand theological matters gives her devout following have even more meaning and weight, because it's almost like she's following blindly.
ReplyDeleteThere is a complicated tradition of saintly dead children in 19th-century literature. So that's some of what Bronte is up to. But, as Ann pointed out, she's also writing about a child she knew, loved, and lost--her sister--and we do have a tendency to remember children taken too soon as extraordinary.
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