Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

What can one say about a Bronte sister's work? You can say that it is dark, you can say that it is usually based on their past and typically a reader can say it is good. Something that you can't usually say is it is funny or has a happy ending. However, Anne Bronte has managed to give her heroine a happy ending (without the hero being tragically maimed) and made me slightly chuckle. Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey certainly goes against the Bronte norm and ends with a happily ever after.

The heroine of this novel, Agnes Grey, goes to seek out a life for herself as a governess for the upper class. During her time as a governess, Agnes tries to manage her students studies as well as their moral character, but encounters obstacles in the form of her employers. These parents want her to manage their children and yet, never discipline them, which Agnes find incredibly difficult.

Anne Bronte took her own experiences as a governess to help her create this novel. It made me wonder how much of the story was autobiographical and how much was exaggeration. My guess is quite a lot was autobiographical as back then, governesses were not treated as well as they would be today (though there really are no such things as governesses anymore). In fact, I have a always found the character of the governess and the companion (see Jane Austen's work for a good look on companions) such an interesting species. They are in a very strange position as they are of a higher rank than the servants, but not part of the family. In fact governesses wouldn't eat in the kitchen with the servants they would eat with the family, but when company they would have to eat in their rooms as they were still hired help. The book does address this conflict. Agnes cannot get the servants to listen to her, because they don't feel like she is really above them, but the family does not include her in any of the social gatherings. Her reflections show it is hard position for a person to be in.

I find this book relevant in today's society for those who work as a nanny. They are in charge of the children, but not one of the family. They have to make the children behave, but the parents do not want them disciplining them. It is a fine line and Agnes Grey walks the tightrope throughout the novel and tends to fall most of the time.

If you have never read a Bronte before, this might be the best one to start with. It is a faster read than the others and not as complex, but it is still a really good novel. Anne Bronte never saw as much acclaim as her sisters, which I think is a shame. Her writing is good, it just happens to be a bit more realistic than the other Bronte's works.

So definitely stop by your local book store and pick up a copy!

Till next time,
R.F.F.      

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back here folks! Charles Dickens is a very wordy writer. Of course I would be too if my paycheck depended on it. Be that as it may, I did find one of his earliest works, Martin Chuzzlewit to be entertaining.

The story can be somewhat confusing as there are many characters and many story-lines that are followed for over 800 pages, but still if you have the time it is something you may want to invest in. Boiled down, it is a novel about a grandson and a grandfather (the Martin Chuzzlewits(s)) who go their own ways due to their similar prideful natures. There are many characters who intersect their story-lines, who bring a playful nature to the book. In fact, it is not the leading men who run the show, but the men and women in their lives who move the story along.

Of course, by the end of the novel, everyone is reformed (sort of) in true Dicksonian fashion, but it is funny to see how they get there.

Now it must be said that there is something distasteful about this book that I have not encountered with Dickens before. In the book Dickens makes a mockery of Americans, and when I say mockery, I mean it. Americans are depicted as an ignorant, vain, low-class people. The Americans that the younger Chuzzlewit meet seem to be a foolish sort of people, who like to seem to think they know everything, but in actuality, know nothing. For instance, they keep explaining to Martin how his own government works, and are of course, getting it all wrong. While Dickens does apologize at the end of the novel, it really doesn't help, to me at least. I am not sure who Dickens met on his travels throughout America, but clearly, they were not our best representatives.

So all in all, if you have the time to read the book, go ahead and give it a try. I do have to say that it might be best to try a more well known Dickens novel before attempting this one however. Give Oliver Twist or David Copperfield a try first before you head into this one.

So my next post will be on a novel by another British author--one of the Bronte sisters. Who can guess which novel and which sister?

Until next time,
R.F.F.