“I did remember… never since read Jane Eyre” (Winterson, pp. 74-75)
This small paragraph holds a lot of important details in Jeanette’s life. It’s in this paragraph that she discovers her mother had been lying to her about the ending of her favorite childhood book, Jane Eyre. Not only that, but she also discovers that she was adopted. Jeanette’s whole life is constantly controlled by her mother and religion, often times leaving little space for Jeanette to live her own life. Growing up, her mother always read Jane Eyre to her over and over again, but Jeanette was never allowed to read it. I think that is symbolic towards her own life in that over and over again her mom “reads” to Jeanette how her life is supposed to be lived, but never is Jeanette allowed to read her own story (in this case, her life). Finding out that her own mother lied to her every time she read the book is more detrimental to Jeanette than most children, in my opinion, because she always viewed her mother as this “ultimate” figure that could do no wrong. Jeanette, although she tries to deny it, now has to write her OWN ending to her OWN story and not allow her mother to manipulate her life. She also compares this experience to the day she found her adoption papers. Another traumatic experience for Jeanette who now feels like her own story is a lie and now feels lost. Jeanette falls into a pit of denial when she says “I have never since played cards, and I have never since read Jane Eyre”. Rather than taking on the situation head on and using this opportunity to write her own story, these two experiences were so traumatic she almost doesn’t know how to approach it and therefore pretends like nothing has happened. This passage is important because it’s the first time Jeanette is realizing that maybe her life can’t be controlled by her mom and maybe it’s time for her to rewrite her story, her own way.
I really enjoyed your analysis of these lines. I thought you articulated it perfectly when you said that Jeannette’s mom was in complete control of Jeannette’s story and she wouldn’t even let Jeannette read her own story. I think that’s exactly how Jane Eyre relates to Jeannette’s story. When Jeannette first realizes that her mother lied about the ending of the book, she is so shocked because she believed everything her mother said wholeheartedly because she had no choice really. This is the first time Jeannette really questions her mother whatsoever. She is starting to come to the realization that her mother’s way of life isn’t the only way.