Making a Case for Jane Eyre and Friends

"No, trust me, this is a really great story, just give it a chance. I guess you could even say it's about foster kids in a way. It's set in England a long time ago. People are keeping dangerous secrets, there's a hook-up, and in the middle of all this, a bunch of haters disrespect people just because they don't have much money."

"Yeah, but check, Miss... it's boring. I can't even get past the first page. What are cavillers?"

"Well, I think the aunt is telling Jane Eyre that she is acting like she doesn't respect her - that she's being rude or stuck-up for daring to ask why she is being punished."

"What the...!!

"Language! Language!"

"Sorry, Miss. I would have just told her to mind her own business and walked away."

"I can just imagine...it seems a lot has changed in 160 years about how adults and children get along, yes?"

Ah, Reader, the life of an English teacher is not easy these days.

While watching the latest splendid BBC production of Jane Eyre on Masterpiece Theatre, I was reminded of how Jane Eyre had once transported my seventeen-year-old self to a place and time of adventure and romance, especially on the days when real life was too much to face. I remember hanging on every word of Bronte's tale of class divisions, courage, passion, deception, and identity. I also followed David Copperfield through his adventures comical and grim, Catherine Earnshaw as she let the love of her life slip away due to her pride, the meek young woman who dared try to replace Rebecca in Maxim's heart, the horrible twist of fate that shattered Ethan Frome's one chance at a passionate love.

I so want my students to have the experience of being captured by these wonderful stories, but I find it harder and harder to compete with the part of the world that has changed so much since 1847. What sustained me over twenty years ago as I struggled through my first years of teaching was the hope that I could share my love of story, poetry, theatre, and films with my students. I was brokenhearted very early on. I remember telling one of my classes about my trip to Keats' house in Hampstead - how I sat by the tree in his yard and wept that he had died so young. The looks on their faces said it all: "Miss, you poor thing...get a life." I have to admit they wore me down, and it became harder and harder to open the doors to Thornfield Hall and Manderley and invite them in.

I'm sure some would argue that because these novels seem too foreign to the kinds of experiences our teenagers have today - that "forcing" kids to read them is cruel and unusual punishment. And while I think highly of some of the current young adult literature that recreates the unsentimental, candid, and confusing life of many teens, we are dangerously close to letting gritty realism and frankness be the only view of the world our children see. They are losing a sensibility to nuance and subtlety and humor, losing openness to a quiet, unfolding look at the world through distant eyes that could help them navigate their tumultuous present.

Seeing how the BBC creative team behind the latest version of Jane Eyre approached telling Jane's story reminded me that it's very possible for all of us to help kids find a way into the literature of the past. The screenwriter, director and actors focused on Bronte's concern for the inner life of children and her passion for living a free and independent life. Those are timeless ideas. The producer's willingness to reframe the story for our time will go a long way to helping grab some new young readers to the novel. I guess what I am really talking about is letting our children in on the craft and talent and an appreciation of what it takes to create something of lasting value, no matter what the era.

This means that all of us, teachers, parents, all caring adults, must be willing to look deeply with fresh eyes into these great stories - whether on the page or on film - and find the connections to the life that our children are still living now. How did people 150 years ago cope with these feelings, these destructive people and events? Can we learn anything? Have we found a better way? What did Jane Eyre do in the face of the terrible treatment she received as a child? She walked the path of education out of her misery is what she did. She risked reaching beyond what society had planned for her - she "advertised" and became her own woman. What better example for our many children, for instance, who have been marginalized by our society because of race or poverty?

This takes time and energy you say. Yes it does. But it seems to me that our children are surrounded by so many images, so many talking heads, raw music lyrics, reality television and tabloid takes on the world and its people, that we are leaving them empty handed of the breath and depth of ideas that may help them build a character that will sustain them and our world. Looking at the views of society we have now, is that all we want our children to have for reference?

"Ok people...before we take a look at the new story we will be reading, let's talk a bit about how you feel when adults don't take your thoughts and feelings seriously."

"This book has 477 pages!!!"

I never said this was going to be easy, just worth it.