Villette in March: Week 1

This year is the year of reading, because I'm currently doing 2 readalongs that involve classics!

So, Villette - I'm going into this readalong knowing nothing about the book. According to Wikipedia (I took great care to avoid spoilers), "Villette is noted not so much for its plot as for its acute tracing of Lucy's psychology."  I found that factoid important - Not that I'll be psychoanalyzing every line of the book, but I like knowing that I will be reading Villette with a lens to Lucy's development through her narrative.

Chapter 1

• Polly is an adorable doll of a little girl who arrives at Bretton.  I'm having trouble understanding her age; she seems mature enough to deal with her situation quietly instead of wailing about the place and is precocious enough to carry a conversation.  However - she sleeps in a crib? Did the word "crib" mean something else back then?  If not, she's a little too old to be sleeping in a crib?  Uhhh... what? (never mind, see Chapter 4)

Chapter 2

• Lucy Snowe is a very passive narrator - I don't know much about her and what role she plays in the household (or the story).  Mr. Home (Polly's father) comes to Bretton.  He is a "stern-featured" man who "owned manly self-control", yet he is content with Polly's company and her adorable yet clumsy attempts to dote and wait on him.

Chapter 3

• Again, since Polly's so difficult to place on the age-appropriateness spectrum, I'm not sure if I find 16 year-old Graham's interactions with Polly "cute and brotherly" or "oddly flirty".  Either way, Graham is playful and friendly, while Polly is in for some unrequited feels and childhood heartbreak.  Just as Polly comes to terms with how she feels about Graham, Papa Home calls her home.

Chapter 4 - aka the chapter when the story actually started to pick up after the time skip!

• Lucy leaves Bretton after Polly leaves, and the Brettons end up on hard times.  Lucy ends up looking after Miss Marchmont. Though Lucy is initially hesitant about the job, she ends up as Miss Marchmont's closest companion and develops a deep sense of empathy: "...a crippled old woman, my mistress, my friend, my all.  Her service was my duty - her pain, my suffering - her relief, my hope - her anger, my punishment - her regard, my reward." What a beautiful description of how humanity should be to the plight of others!
• Miss Marchmont recounts her loss with Frank's passing.  His last words to her are heartbreaking and beautiful: "I am dying in Paradise"
• I love Marchmont's perspective on hardships: "We should acknowledge God merciful, but not always for us comprehensible. We should accept our own lot, whatever it be, and try to render happy that of others. Should we not?"  
• On a lighter note, Lucy refers to her bed as a crib as well. How odd!

Chapter 5

• Okay, I spoke too soon about having a positive attitude about everything and trying to be happy with those around you. Easier said than done- Lucy has a pretty bad hand in life and the worst luck/timing, etc. Marchmont implied that she would ease Lucy's financial burden but dies before she could do anything about it.  
• Lucy goes to London in search of another job and my heart went out to her at that part when she's lying in bed, crying bitter tears about being lonely, having no friends on earth, having no prospects in life, feeling desolate and "blank of hope".  Moving to a new place on your own is TOUGH, and I wanted to hug my new book-friend and tell her that things were going to get better.
• When things really suck, sometimes you just need a good cry to finally reach a moment of clarity, and that's when it hits her: "a strong, vague persuasion that it was better to go forward than backward, and that I could go forward- that a way, however narrow and difficult, would in time open..." 

In summary, this book started off slowly, but it picked up just in time.  Charlotte Bronte's writing is amazingly relatable and I dig it!