Shirley, you don't mean that: A Review

A new year means a new trek through England, and I began my journey on the wild Yorkshire Moors. In British Literature, the Brontë sisters and the Moors are so frequently paired together that it is difficult to imagine one without the other. The two Brontë staples -- Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights -- paint a vivid, Gothic, and even romantic picture of this wasteland. But Jane and Cathy aren't the only Brontë heroines, and I decided that it was time to explore two lesser-known characters in an underrated and relatively unknown novel: Shirley.

The synopsis is fairly simple: wealthy heiress Shirley Keeldar takes up residence in her family home and quickly becomes friends with the rector's niece, Caroline Helstone. These two girls are passionately in love, unbeknownst to them and the rest of the world, with brothers. Shirley is in love with the elder brother, Louis Moore, who was her tutor. Caroline is in love with the younger brother, Robert Moore, the owner of a textile mill. When Shirley arrives, everyone assumes that she will marry Robert -- or one of the other countless suitors -- but she remains single. Both women struggle with loving men who cannot love them in return: Robert cannot love Caroline because he is financially unable to marry (except for money) because of trade restrictions hampering his business, and Louis cannot love Shirley because they are not equals in terms of their fortunes. It became obvious to me early on that both heroines would receive their happy endings, but the journey they took to get there and the depth of this novel is where its true beauty lies.

In a nutshell, Shirley is the story of two women trying to find a way to be with the men they love in the midst of war, class struggles, and family drama. Sounds almost like a Jane Austen novel, doesn't it? In a way, this novel and Austen's novels have a good deal in common. Shirley is Charlotte Brontë's only historical novel; it takes place in 1811, the same year that Sense and Sensibility was published. But once you get past the time period, sensible heroines, and witty characters, the differences become evident. One of the most interesting things about classics which are historical novels is that you get a feel for how that era was viewed during the author's life. In this case, we see how a Yorkshire woman writing in 1849 viewed the Napoleonic Wars and the industrial movement of the early 19th Century.

The good life: reading, drinking bourbon, and watching my husband work on the bike.

To me, the most breathtaking part of this novel is the history. Shirley takes place in a period of growing industrialization stunted by the war with Napoleon, and the subsequent riots within the working class: the Luddite movement. As the novel begins, Robert Moore struggles to keep his textile mill afloat. He seeks to combat this industrial depression by bringing in new machinery that will cut costs, allowing his mill to work more efficiently. The workers, many of whom are dismissed, strike back at Moore, and this struggle between employer and employees set the stage for the rest of the novel. While the Luddite movement was an integral part of domestic politics during the 1810's, it is easy to see where Charlotte is getting her inspiration. One of the quintessential characteristics of the early Victorian Era (and really, the 19th century throughout the Western world) is the struggles and consequential rise of the working class. The year before this novel was published, The Communist Manifesto sparked a revolution with its epicenter in Germany, rippling throughout the entire world. At the same time, Charles Dickens had been discussing the trials of the lower classes beginning in the 1830s until his death in 1870, and Elizabeth Gaskell, who is perhaps the most famous female British author devoted to exposing the working classes struggles, published her first novel just a year before Charlotte published Shirley. So Charlotte Brontë certainly had plenty of inspiration for a historical novel illuminating working class struggles.

Other characteristics of the novel also illuminate important influences on her life. The clergy play a huge role in the direction of the novel, particularly in the form of Caroline's controlling uncle/guardian. Charlotte delves into complex theological matters (a little too deep at times -- it's almost as overwhelming as Tolstoy with his 19th century Russian farming techniques) concerning both the Anglican church and the dissenters, which suggests that her clergyman father discussed theology with his daughters. She generally portrays the clergy favorably but, similar to Austen and her various fictional clergymen, still discusses their foibles at length. But probably the greatest inspiration developed during arguably two of the hardest years in Charlotte's life: 1848 and 1849. Charlotte was the middle of six children. Two sisters died as children, and the other three, Emily, Anne, and the only boy, Branwell, died between September of 1848 and May of 1849. With this knowledge, the characters of Shirley and Caroline are even more appealing to the reader as they are a direct reflection of the grief Charlotte felt. The character of Shirley is based on Emily, and when Caroline becomes so ill that she nearly dies, Charlotte writes the blissful, romantic ending that her sisters would never have.

Charlotte's passion and dedication for the working class and the clergy are immediately evident to the reader, but the real gems are the characters. The heroines are two vastly different women with different needs and desires, and yet they are in virtually the same situation. Shirley's fierceness and philanthropy are reminiscent of Emma Woodhouse and Bathsheba Everdene. She is wealthy, and uses that wealth for good, but she needs a guiding force in her life -- just like these two women received in George Knightley and Gabriel Oak. Caroline, on the other hand, is timid and shy, yet loyal and persistent when it comes to the man that she loves, much like Fanny Price and Amy Dorritt. Nothing would deter these women from loving Edmund Bertram and Arthur Clennam, no matter their vices or foolish mistakes, and Caroline was no different. No matter how cruelly Robert Moore treated her, she knew her own heart and would not be persuaded otherwise. And yet, despite Caroline's sweetness and Shirley's wealth, they cannot achieve happiness on their own.

But despite Shirley's fierceness and Caroline's loyalty, these two heroines offer a striking contrast with Jane Eyre. Over the years, the Brontë sisters have become an icon for feminists. Jane Eyre certainly fits the feminist agenda as she declares: "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you." (Jane Eyre, Chapter 23) But the characters of Shirley and Caroline are the complete opposite. In fact, the last two chapters of this book discuss how these women are eternally tethered and domesticated to the men that they love -- whether their love is returned or not. Louis Moore is the "keeper" of Shirley, the one who tames her wildness. She says to him:

"Mr. Moore," said she, looking up with a sweet, open, earnest countenance, "teach me and help me to be good. I do not ask you to take off my shoulders all the cares and duties of property, but I ask you to share the burden, and to show me how to sustain my part well. Your judgment is well balanced, your heart is kind, your principles are sound. I know you are wise; I feel you are benevolent; I believe you are conscientious. Be my companion through life; be my guide where I am ignorant; be my master where I am faulty; be my friend always!" (Shirley, Chapter 36)

In the following chapter, Shirley is seen submitting to her husband completely:

He was virtually master of Fieldhead weeks before he became so nominally—the least presumptuous, the kindest master that ever was, but with his lady absolute. She abdicated without a word or a struggle. "Go to Mr. Moore, ask Mr. Moore," was her answer when applied to for orders... In all this Miss Keeldar partly yielded to her disposition; but a remark she made a year afterwards proved that she partly also acted on system. "Louis," she said, "would never have learned to rule if she had not ceased to govern. The incapacity of the sovereign had developed the powers of the premier." (Shirley, Chapter 37)

What a blow to modern feminism! Surely, she can't mean that she "abdicated without a word or a struggle." In a world that condemns a woman sharing her wealth and power to her husband is scoffed, feminist icon Charlotte Brontë's heroine submits everything to her husband. Caroline is different in that she is poor with nothing to give, but she still submits everything to Robert. But I don't think this was Charlotte's point. These two women would not submit to just any man. Shirley will not submit to her tyrannical uncle's demand that she marries one of the wealthy suitors, but she does submit to the man who loves her ardently, tenderly, and wholly. She submits to the man who is worthy of her. Caroline submits to her uncle because he is her guardian, but she would become a governess before marrying and submitting to a man who was not her equal.

My adorable, late-night reading buddies.

Shirley does have a few flaws which are more a flaw of the time and modern literary expectations than a flaw of the novel. For one, Charlotte Brontë loved switching for entire pages into French. Since Robert, Louis, and Hortense Moore were all half-Flemish, they frequently switch between French and English in their dialogue. In 19th Century England, this would not have been a problem as French was commonly taught to the gentry. It was difficult to follow when it would switch back and forth between the two languages without giving a translation.

The other flaw is that the climax is so drawn out that it feels like something was missing at the end. It was a very difficult book to get into for the first half, but the second half flew by because it was filled with excitement. The climax spans almost 100 pages of the novel (out of 300) where you feel it must get resolved soon but the characters simply will not communicate their emotions. I think this is less of a flaw of the novel and more of modern expectations for a spectacular ending with explosions and passionate declarations of love. Technically this novel had plenty of both of those things, but I suppose it was a simpler ending than I expected from such a complex novel.

But that's how this different, and why it is such a splendid work of art. The story flows better than many of its contemporary novels. Charlotte paints a realistic picture instead of trying to make it overly romantic. It isn't Gothic like Wuthering Heights, or dreary like Dickens, or pastoral like Hardy -- but it does incorporate many of these elements into the story to give you a realistic picture. And it is truly a beautiful picture filled with love and loss and longing. Charlotte was able to weave a story that kept the magic of the Moors while adding a painfully realistic romance and a historically accurate fictionalization of the early labor movement. There are so many more details in this novel which I did not discuss, but all of them add volume and character to this already brilliant novel. Why this novel was not more popular, I will never know. But what I do know is that it rekindled my love of the Brontë sisters' works.

And feminists, next time you claim an authoress as your poster child, make sure she doesn't have any skeletons in her closet -- like Shirley.

The Mystery of Charles Dickens... um, I mean, Edwin Drood: A Review

Every summer I start reading my yearly Dickens novel and I wonder "will this novel be better than the others?" Sometimes, as was the case with Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, the answer was that there are Dickens novels worthier of the reader's time. More often than not, my conclusion is that Dickens is a genius and deserves all the praise that he gets. In my mind, none of Dickens' novels could ever compare with Bleak House and Little Dorrit, and frankly they will always be the Dickens standard for me.

Upon beginning The Mystery of Edwin Drood about a month ago, I struggled with Dickens the same way that I always do. It normally takes me the first hundred pages or so to get into the style and language, and gradually enjoy the novel more as the pages pass. The problem with Edwin Drood is that there isn't much beyond the first hundred pages; Charles Dickens never had the luxury of finishing this novel. He died in June of 1870, halfway through writing Edwin Drood.

The main plot can be boiled down to a single sentence. Edwin Drood disappears, presumably murdered, but the clues surrounding his disappearance are scarce. It is unusual that a Dickens novel can be so concisely summarized, but all the clues that Dickens gives us, before and after Edwin's disappearance, all points toward the culprit. Of course, there is much more to the story than just the murder -- it wouldn't be a Dickens novel without characters' fate being interwoven.

But here's the most amazing thing about this novel: even though Dickens never finished it, I can speak with absolute certainty on who murdered Edwin. That's the fantastic thing about Dickens. Not a single paragraph is unnecessary in a Dickens novel; every character and every minute, over-detailed description has a unique, crucial purpose. (All of this is even more amazing when you realize that Dickens submitted his novels for publication in installments before he even finished them. He couldn't go back and add a little detail here and there to make everything connect.) Almost before Edwin even disappeared, I could have told you who was going to kill him and where his dead body could be found. The murder scene was never described, but all the clues are clearly visible for the reader to piece the puzzle together. But what is even more amazing is that you don't realize that you're being handed pieces to the puzzle until you really sit and think about it and everything falls into place. Suddenly, the chapters about the opium house, the odd old woman, and the cathedral crypt are not as seemingly random as they seem. And when the last pieces of the puzzle are put into place, the picture on top is nothing less than astonishing.

Upon finishing Edwin Drood, I sent my best friend a text something to the effect of "Charlie died at a really inopportune time." This novel had the potential of being his best novel, in my opinion, but nobody knows word-for-word how it would have ended. But upon considering the "seemingly random" details, I realized that he finished enough of the novel that it isn't as "inopportune" as one might think. There are minor details which are up for speculation, like whom marries whom, but for the most part he answers all the important questions. Had he died a chapter sooner, a major detail would have been left unaddressed. Of course, it would have been nice to read more but death can only be controlled on the pages of fiction.

This is why Dickens is a literary genius. How many authors can weave such a masterful tale, let alone leave it unfinished but gift the audience with all the clues that they need? He says nothing definitely, and yet he doesn't need to. His manner of laying out a novel and stating the facts allows the reader put two and two together on his own. That, I believe, is a remarkable achievement. Dickens uses the reader's intelligence to his advantage, and solves the mystery without even finishing the book.

The moral to this story is don't judge a book by it's cover. Or in this case, don't ignore The Mystery of Edwin Drood because Dickens died before finishing it. This is, without a doubt, one of Dickens' greatest accomplishments as an author. Despite the fact that we only have half the story, it deserves to be on the list of great Dickens novels because it was left unfinished and it is still perfection. He didn't need 800 pages to create a masterpiece like he did in Bleak House. He only needed 250 pages to simultaneously produce a masterpiece and the greatest cliffhanger of all time. Only Dickens could have made a mystery out of a mystery novel.

One more stop in Reading Europe 2016. Back to the Continent!

Writing, Research, and Completed Goals

I awoke this morning to a thick layer of frost on the ground, and without my contacts in, I almost thought it was snow. That was a very fitting sight for the first day of December. The last week of November was painful for Oklahoma as an ice storm ravaged the state for four days, leaving thousands without power and broken trees scattering the state. But as a new month begins, the sun is shining and the temperature is barely above freezing.

But before we move on to what December holds, we can't forget about November. It's always a busy and creative month for me. The laundry pile is knee high, the kitchen is a disaster, and the floors are horrendous. And while all of this is irritating my housewife tendency to keep everything (relatively) clean, I don't really care. Because I reached my goal. 52,700 words in twenty-six days. The novel total was 86,132 words, 234 pages. The most productive day was November 9th with 4587 words. Now I begin the task of proofreading TWO novels. That will probably take me longer than writing the story, because I get bored of proofreading within about thirty seconds. So if anyone wanted to read anything I've written within the next ten years, think again. Oh, and I came up with a working title. I'm not convinced it's the right or best one, but tentatively it's called The Countess and the Castle.

This is how I spent most of November. Quite cozy.

NaNoWriMo isn't just about writing; it's about discovery and growth. I learned a lot of things both about myself and about Regency England. In every novel I write, I try to expand my horizons and incorporate different aspects of 19th century society into the scenes. Of course, this requires a great deal of research. I've always loved doing research, but it can be very time consuming and frustrating when you have a deadline. Here's a few things that I learned: 

I wrote two Christmas scenes, something I'd never done before, so I had to research Christmas traditions such as what they ate and how they celebrated. Regency Era traditions were very different from how we celebrate today, in fact, they even differed from Victorian and Edwardian traditions! Christmas trees were uncommon, unless the person had connections with Germany or the Americas, but they did decorate with other greenery. The greenery would be put up on Christmas Eve and taken down once Epiphany ended. Leaving it up longer was considered bad luck. Furthermore, I ventured outside my comfort zone by specifying dates and events throughout the story. The novel takes place between 1814 and 1817. Napoleon returned from Elba early in 1815, and since one of my characters was a naval Captain, he potentially would have been in the line of fire had Napoleon not been defeated at Waterloo. Also, 1816 is known as the "year without a summer". Modern scholars attribute this phenomenon to the eruption of a volcano in Indonesia that affected the climate worldwide (New England experienced snowfall in June!) Because of this climate change, crops failed and winters were a great deal harsher than other years. I wrote a line that said "the crop yield was good this year" only to have to change it after I realized that nobody's crops would have excelled that year.

This is a fraction of what I learned, but it all feeds into the vat of knowledge I've accrued about life in Regency England. One day, I'll get through a chapter without having to look something up. I also found a bunch of links that will aid future research. Thank goodness for bookmarks! But what's more important than facts and figures is that I discovered that I can write 50,000 words in a month. I can finish something if I really put my mind to it. No matter what I think, or what anyone else thinks, I can finish what I started. I still don't know exactly how I did it, and frankly sometimes I think that I did my math wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. I suppose it all goes back to the old adage: how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

So December. There will be lots of proofreading, cleaning, and video gaming. I'm about a quarter of the way through Cranford, the last book in my list for Reading England 2015. I am looking forward to a great deal of baking, sewing, and decorating, after Advent is over, of course. Also, I should probably mention something about no longer placing my fictional characters above my husband's needs. He probably appreciates having my full attention again. So with the sun shining and essential oils in my diffuser, I delve back into the swing of things after a month's sabbatical. And I'm not even complaining.

New Year, New City, New Projects

A new year means new adventures and new challenges for most people, and being married to a Naval officer (or any military personnel) only means change is inevitable. The month of December was one of the most chaotic months of my life, but January is threatening to be even more hectic, if that's possible. Once everything settles down, 2015 looks promising. So here's a rundown of changes and what is to come.


Changes Aplenty

In the second week of December, my husband finished Primary flight training and selected his platform. When I say "selected", I mean that he told the Navy what his top three choices for what he would like to fly and they tell him what he's actually going to fly. Fortunately, the needs of the Navy aligned with the desires of the aviator-in-training. So my husband will be flying the E-6 Mercury, which is based at Tinker Air Force Base, located right outside of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

E-6 Mercury -- a.k.a. the other woman.

But before we get to Oklahoma, he still has a lot of training to do. Advanced flight training for future E-6 pilots takes place at NAS Corpus Christi (Texas). So, after spending two weeks visiting family, we returned to Florida in time to welcome the movers and watch all of our belongings disappear in the matter of a few hours. On January 6, we loaded the trucks with the valuables (the bike, the Xbox, the weapons, the sewing machines, and the cat) and made the trek to Texas. The cat behaved and nothing flew off the trailer, so I call that a successful day's journey.

Trying to figure out what is going on while stopping to gas up.

The last several days have involved living in the Navy Lodge, surprising the cleaning ladies by telling them that we only needed them to take the trash, playing lots of Xbox, and eating more microwavable meals than I have at any other time in my life. Tomorrow we will get the keys to our new house on base, freshly painted and carpeted, and hopefully our furniture will arrive sometime before we move to Oklahoma. Alas, I will almost miss the coffee and pre-packaged blueberry muffins in the hotel lobby, just because I didn't have to make either of them.

Returning to "normal" life almost won't seem normal because something, whether it was visiting family for two weeks or living without furniture/in a hotel, has been abnormal for such a long time that I almost don't remember what normal feels like. But hopefully we will discover normalcy and return to it within a few days.


Projects Aplenty  

A new year means new projects and challenging one's self in new and different ways. As a housewife, I have a slew of new recipes that I hope to try and a new house to decorate with new curtains and quilted treasures. But these minor projects aside, I have two goals for the new year which should keep me preoccupied for many months.

Wardrobe renovation: Every year fashion changes, and I get increasingly tired of my clothing choices. So, this year I hope to make new outfits using mostly fabric which has been lying around my parent's house for upwards of ten years. I plan to fight with a few Vogue patterns (and will probably lose) but ultimately I hope create some new, stylish dresses. Pictures to come in future months!

Books, books, books: Each year, I try to read books on diverse topics. I always read one fantasy series, Dickens novel, classic female author, political theory, historical, and theological, and the rest of the year is filled in by historical fiction. But this year I'm challenging myself to read more classics by Reading England 2015. This challenges readers to read different books which take place in different counties in England. My mom and I are doing this challenge together, and starting with three books and adding more depending on how quickly we read the first ones. The first book we are planning to read is Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. In May, a film adaptation (trailer found here) of this book is coming to the silver screen, starring one of my favorite actresses, Carey Mulligan. So in preparation for this masterpiece from the BBC, Hardy's classic Dorset novel is the first on our list. As for my yearly Dickens novel, I have chosen Nicholas Nickleby. Like most Dickens novels, this book takes place in several different cities but it primarily occurs in Yorkshire. Again, I am looking forward to watching the 2002 film adaptation of this movie, starring Charlie Hunnam, Anne Hathaway, Romola Garai, and a handful of other wonderful actors. My yearly female author selection is the Lancashire-based North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I adore the film adaptation of this book starring Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe. I have been hoping to read this novel for several years and I am very excited to finally read it.

If you are interested in traveling to England through literature, I highly suggest looking into this challenge. It is a fantastic way to read a wide variety of literature from different eras and counties. If you want or need suggestions, I'll readily give my opinion. (Austen and Dickens are my favorites, and are always excellent places to begin.)

And if you aren't into reading, I encourage you to do something in the new year to increase your knowledge or skill set in this new year.