you mean "who DIDN'T cry?" and "incredible" indeed! (THE LIBRARY message #1270)

you mean "who DIDN'T cry?" and "incredible" indeed!

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Posted by greg on September 21, 1997 at 22:12:07:

In response to JE: Helen Burns, written by Cheryl on September 21, 1997 at 20:06:50

OK, confession time. How many people cried the first time they read Jane Eyre and Helen died?
] My edition has a footnote which reads:
]

Helen Burns is based on Charlotte Bronte's sister Maria. CB insisted that she was true-to-life, despite the pathos of her story, and even fell short of reality: "I abstained from recording much that I remember respecting her, lest the narrative sound incredible"

thanks for documenting that footnote, cheryl. i'd read that before, but it reinforces the "incredible" reality that bronte both experienced and wrote about. i note that many readers at the time were also skeptical about the conditions described at lowood, but she set them straight on that, also.
just occurred to me that jane's method of avoiding hell shows at least 3 things: her spiritual naivete, her low self-esteem(thanks to her "benefactors"), and yet her innate toughness and resilience. helen burns starts to correct the former.

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