A sign of our times

We have found today in The Mercury News an article in the section Teen Views where a senior student writes about Jane Eyre and other summer lectures. The article is the perfect example of the tyranny of the politically-correct aka the 21st century censorship.

What do “Great Expectations,” “Jane Eyre” and “Invisible Man” have in common? All three are classic works of English literature with at least some historical significance, and all three were assigned to me as summer reading by my AP English teacher.

However, I noticed several more subtle similarities among these three that, at least at first, made me stop and wonder why I was reading them.

One motif I noticed was that two contained overt anti-Semitic references. “Do you think I am a Jew-usurer, seeking good investment in land?” Jane asks, insulted. In “Great Expectations,” a “red-eyed little Jew” walks by Pip doing an absurd frenzied jig and speaks nonsense before groveling at Mr. Jaggers’ feet.

Taken in the context of the times in which they were written, these references were obviously no impediment to critical acclaim and canonization in the hall of great English literature. Nonetheless, were any of these lines written today, the book containing it would never be invited into a classroom, much less listed as required reading.

It's just me that has a déjà-vu? A feeling like reading one of those 18th-century reviewers that thought Jane Eyre was a coarse book that young ladies had to avoid? Well, the excuses change with time, but the idea behind it ( ignorance is always better than deviance from the right thinking) is the same.

There is more:

Also, Jane Eyre, the purported feminist hero, cannot possibly imagine finding happiness outside the service of her love and master. (...) Also thrown out would be discussions like the one my class had on Friday, about whether Jane Eyre was a feminist book. (My opinion? No.)

What kind of Jane Eyre are we talking about here? Has the writer of the article read the novel or a retelling by Barbara Cartland? Maybe the problem is not in the novel but in the reader.

Though only a couple of weeks into the class, I’ve decided that requiring the reading of old books chock-full of outdated social prejudices is, though aggravating at times, acceptable — to the extent that those prejudices are considered and discussed without glossing over them as “signs of the times.” There is such a thing as too much historical context.

Yes, we agree with that. The author of the article is a perfect of example of a sign of our times.

Categories: In_the_News, Jane_Eyre, Charlotte_Brontë