"A pit full of fire"

Although none of them mentions that today is Charlotte's death anniversary, there are two - not very relevant - news items concerning Charlotte.

Claire Hopley reviews a book called Mrs Freud for The Harvard Post:

When writers scrutinize well-known stories and retell them from the point of view of a secondary character they often succeed in both creating a new tale and casting a raking light on the familiar one so we can consider it afresh. [...] In fiction, Jean Rhys's "Wide Sargasso Sea" suggests a radical re-reading of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" while at the same time offering a very 20th-century account of female psychology.

The American Thinker rants about children and morality and they remember Mr Brocklehurst's ways of instilling it to his 'pupils':

Charlotte Bronte, in Jane Eyre, provided a pitch-perfect illustration of this type of educator when she created the frightening Mr. Brocklehurst (who was modeled on a real evangelical educator in whose school two of Charlotte’s sisters died). Children raised on these stuff may have hewed to the straight and narrow, but they did so not because they believed there was a positive benefit to such good behavior, but because they hoped to avoid agonizing deaths and eternal Hell fire.

Now as a treat - because it's Charlotte's day - let's remember that wonderful, wonderful fragment from Jane Eyre. We defy anyone to keep a straight face while reading it - even if it is for the thousandth time:

"No sight so sad as that of a naughty child," he began, "especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?"
"They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer.
"And what is hell? Can you tell me that?"
"A pit full of fire."
"And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?"
"No, sir."
"What must you do to avoid it?"
I deliberated a moment; my answer, when it did come, was objectionable: "I must keep in good health, and not die."

Categories: Jane_Eyre, In_the_News