Charlotte Bronte’s birthday isn’t until April 21, but we’re celebrating early this year BECAUSE WE CAN. Happy birthday, Charlotte!
To celebrate, here’s my favorite moment from Jane Eyre:
“I tell you I must go!” I retorted, roused to something like passion. “Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?–a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!–I have as much soul as you,–and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;–it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal,–as we are!…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.”
Well, that was bracing. Go do something awesome today, in memory of Charlotte!