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walkitoutOK, so, the chapter after P&P (which I at one point had nearly memorized, so familiar territory there), is about Jane Eyre, which I have never been able to finish. And now I am starting to think about that fact. A lot.
First off, there’s an OCR’o: “The Hast is associated with slavery”. What’s the Hast? An OCR-o for East. This chunk is where Rochester is buying Jane clothes or whatever, and then there is that bit at the piano, and throughout there are references to Sultan, Suttee, bazaars of Stamboul, the Grand Turk, houri forms, etc. All the horrifying orientalist bits you care to think of probably can be found within a paragraph or four of each other in this passage. _What_ _The_ _Actual_ _Fuck_. Anyway. I have learned things! There is a trope that shows up in romance novels (and in SF/F novels that have significant romance subplots) of the hero taking the heroine shopping and buying her All Of the Things, and of the heroine being weirdly mortified and freaked out by this. I mean, it is a Thing. It is a Weird Thing. I’m like, okay, if you don’t want it, say no effectively. Not that hard. If you have decided that you are going to say yes, _Have Some Fucking Dignity_. Own your damn choice. Come on. The shower of gifts and the need to reassure the recipient of It Is Ok honey is always a Wanna Hurl the Book a the Wall moment for me, but of course I pretty much only read on kindle anymore, except when it is otherwise inaccessible in which case wrong to destroy one of the few remaining copies. The Trope comes from Jane Eyre? Did y’all know this already? Are there earlier instances? Because this reads like the ur-sequence, and let me tell you, seeing the ur-sequence shot through with orientalism makes this thing so much more squicky than it already was.
Also, the _writing_ style of Bronte. Ugh.
Taking a break from Natural History, to go see what other people have to say about this. Apparently, there is a LOT of Worse in Jane Eyre. Rochester in Blackface?! Calling Jane a “little niggard” and yes, I get it, not exactly the same word and yes I get it, occurring in a context that also includes the word pecuniary so it is clear which meaning is meant AND YET STILL!!!
Here:
https://lithub.com/reading-jane-eyre-while-black/
This person is so much better at explaining the problems than I ever can for many reasons, including who she is, and what she’s read and also being way more thoughtful about this than I am.
ETA:
I’ve been looking for descriptions in the book of Bertha Mason. Unlike a lot of other characters, she doesn’t get the kind of skin / face color details. But there is some about her long, streaming black hair, and then there is this.
“It was a discoloured face—it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!”
“Ghosts are usually pale, Jane.”
“This, sir, was purple: the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes.”
First off, there’s an OCR’o: “The Hast is associated with slavery”. What’s the Hast? An OCR-o for East. This chunk is where Rochester is buying Jane clothes or whatever, and then there is that bit at the piano, and throughout there are references to Sultan, Suttee, bazaars of Stamboul, the Grand Turk, houri forms, etc. All the horrifying orientalist bits you care to think of probably can be found within a paragraph or four of each other in this passage. _What_ _The_ _Actual_ _Fuck_. Anyway. I have learned things! There is a trope that shows up in romance novels (and in SF/F novels that have significant romance subplots) of the hero taking the heroine shopping and buying her All Of the Things, and of the heroine being weirdly mortified and freaked out by this. I mean, it is a Thing. It is a Weird Thing. I’m like, okay, if you don’t want it, say no effectively. Not that hard. If you have decided that you are going to say yes, _Have Some Fucking Dignity_. Own your damn choice. Come on. The shower of gifts and the need to reassure the recipient of It Is Ok honey is always a Wanna Hurl the Book a the Wall moment for me, but of course I pretty much only read on kindle anymore, except when it is otherwise inaccessible in which case wrong to destroy one of the few remaining copies. The Trope comes from Jane Eyre? Did y’all know this already? Are there earlier instances? Because this reads like the ur-sequence, and let me tell you, seeing the ur-sequence shot through with orientalism makes this thing so much more squicky than it already was.
Also, the _writing_ style of Bronte. Ugh.
Taking a break from Natural History, to go see what other people have to say about this. Apparently, there is a LOT of Worse in Jane Eyre. Rochester in Blackface?! Calling Jane a “little niggard” and yes, I get it, not exactly the same word and yes I get it, occurring in a context that also includes the word pecuniary so it is clear which meaning is meant AND YET STILL!!!
Here:
https://lithub.com/reading-jane-eyre-while-black/
This person is so much better at explaining the problems than I ever can for many reasons, including who she is, and what she’s read and also being way more thoughtful about this than I am.
ETA:
I’ve been looking for descriptions in the book of Bertha Mason. Unlike a lot of other characters, she doesn’t get the kind of skin / face color details. But there is some about her long, streaming black hair, and then there is this.
“It was a discoloured face—it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!”
“Ghosts are usually pale, Jane.”
“This, sir, was purple: the lips were swelled and dark; the brow furrowed: the black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes.”
no subject
Date: 2021-11-16 03:39 am (UTC)I am also reminded of the advice that on first dates, it is a good idea to set some sort of arbitrary boundary to see whether the person respects that boundary [especially from a woman to a man], and if the other person does not respect that boundary, to say Oh Hell No to any further continuation.
shopping and power
Date: 2021-11-16 11:43 pm (UTC)I’ve never found it necessary to set an arbitrary boundary. I’ve always wound up having to enforce Actual Boundaries. Not sure what that says about me, or the dates or what. But sure, if the boundary is not engaged on its own, making sure to test the response at some point is important.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 07:55 pm (UTC)