| "While I looked my inner self moved; my spirit shook it's always fettered wings half loose; I had the sudden feeling as if I, who had never truly lived, were at last about to taste life..."
A repressed Victorian woman, Lucy Snowe, tries to leave an unhappy past behind her and sets out on a journey of self-discovery. With only her faith in the notion that "a way will be made", she leaves England and travels to Belgium, to the cosmopolitan city of Villette, where she gets a job teaching English in a school for girls. She distances herself to avoid any chance of being hurt, but, she is forced out of her role as an "observer" and must face passionate feelings for two very different men-- Fire and Ice--who seem to have conflicting opinions as to her true nature. She figures out which is her soul-mate and finds a love "far better than common" which "honored, protected, and elevated, no less than it gladdened her to whom it was given." Though not without trials (understatement) Lucy, armed with this love, learns to live. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - depressed Time/era of story - 1600-1899 Romance/Romance Problems Yes Kind of romance: Ethnic/Regional/Religion Internal struggle/realization? Yes Struggle over Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes Woman's story? Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 40's-50's How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 10 () Europe Yes European country: - England/UK - France Desert? Yes Writing Style Weird Victorian/Shakespearean English? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog |
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