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Showing posts from January, 2020

Why Helen Graham is the Best Brontë Heroine

This month was Anne Bront ë ’s 200 th birthday, so I couldn’t let it go without writing a post in honour of it.  Anne Bronte, Project Gutenberg I don't think I'm alone in thinking that Anne was the boldest of her sisters. Her novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall certainly is the bravest in rebelling against social expectations of women, and Helen Graham is by far my favourite heroine. Here’s why: 1.  She’s an adult, independent woman who has lived a full(er) life in society. Rather than living in the margins of society, in a state of arrested development, like Jane, Lucy, Agnes or even Cathy who never wanted to leave the moors, Helen’s previous life means she seems more like a well-rounded person. This might have made her story all the more shocking to Victorian audiences, as Helen’s social standing combined with her radical ideas would have been more likely to influence other people than those of a governess. She can’t be dismissed as just a naïve or unrelia

6 Reasons In Defence of Amy and Laurie

I’ll admit, I haven’t yet had the chance to go and see the new adaptation of Little Women, but I’ve seen the trailers, read the reviews, and spoken to friends who have seen it. Many viewers thought it was a brilliant interpretation of the book, which highlighted aspects of the Marches in different ways to previous adaptations. And others were highly critical of it, lamenting some of the departures from the original text. One example of those critical voices was this blog post by @rosepetalsandfaeriedust and she does not pull any punches, especially regarding poor Amy! I didn’t agree with everything in the post but one thing above the others that I felt I had to answer was this: “I get frustrated with Little Women adaptations because…I HATE a part of the book’s plot. I hate Laurie and Amy together on a soul level so I will never love an adaptation.” Every adaptation is an interpretation, but I think it’s fair to say they should be faithful to the main plot points, and the over