Soooooo last week basically was the worst week EVER. I'm pretty sure I had a mini-mental breakdown at one point, but it's kind of hard to tell... Yeah between writing the government research paper of Hell and calculus, I just about died. It also means I didn't get that far in Villette. But the good news is that I've gotten more sleep this weekend than I've had last week combined! Whoo hoo laziness! Enough about me though, let us begin to peruse the life of Lucy Snowe...
Okay, first of all, I love the name Lucy Snowe. It just sounds really cool. It's unclear as to whether she is an orphan or not because she never mentions her parents and is currently living with her godmother, Mrs. Bretton. Another visitor comes to stay at Mrs. Bretton's as well. Her name is Polly Home and the reason of her coming is because her mother has recently died and her father travels too much, he can't take care of her. Polly seems quite mature for her age (6) and misses her father greatly. So much so, that she won't form any sort of relationship with Mrs. Bretton's 16 year old son Graham, no matter how hard he tries to win her favor. Polly's father comes to see her, but then leaves again in a few days. Polly, distraught, turns to Graham for comfort and the two become almost inseparable. Now that Polly has finally formed a strong relationship with Graham, her father takes her away, leaving her, yet again, distraught. All this is told through Lucy's eyes.
Soon after Polly leaves, Lucy leaves as well. She assumes work under Miss Marchmont, a rheumatic cripple. Lucy served as her caretaker until she eventually died (she was old). Lucy is left with no where to go, so she visits her old nurse, who is now a housekeeper. Here, she gets the idea to go to London to explore and seek her future. Poor Lucy realizes how big of an undertaking this journey is and cries out her feelings. She travels around some more and eventually finds herself on a boat. She meets a young girl who gives her the idea to find work in Villette as Madame Beck's English governess. Too bad nobody in Villette speaks ENGLISH. Lucy arrives in Villette lost and without her trunk because the baggage handlers lost it (yes, that happened even back then). She's trying to ask a non-English speaking attendant where her trunk is, but he of course cannot understand her. So she asks an English gentlemen who just happens to be in the vicinity and speaks French. Let me interject for a second here, when does that ever happen???? I know for sure that whenever I travel there is no nice, good-looking gentleman who helps me with my bag or anything like that. Jeez only in novels... Anywhoozles, so he helps her out, yadayadayada, he escorts her through the dark parts of town, yadayadayada whatever. So she ends up getting lost and miraculously ends up and Madame Beck's. Madame Beck is really weird. So she hires Lucy and then proceeds to look through her things when she's "asleep". Yes, sneaky Lucy, and Madame Beck's a creeper!
Soooooooo yeah that's where I left off because I fell asleep reading in class... yeah sorry Mrs. Finco, the floor was a little too comfy apparently... But Villette is definitely super interesting and I really want to know if Polly is coming back! I'll do my best this week though! Til then, happy reading!
Your project seems like it's working out great! It's so awesome to read the classics. They are usually what the stories are now based on. I recommend more Jane Austen books. Have you read Emma? It was the first works I've read by her and it was fantastic. I can't wait to see everything you've read and what your recommendations are in your final presentation!
ReplyDeleteYou are so rad. I don't know if i mean that in a good way or a bad way because the rest of us are doing cool stuff like glassblowing but what does nikki do? she decides to read....which is acceptable considering you're in AP lit haha. but you are really putting work in and it is inspirational to peasants like me. I wish I could understand works of literature like you. Just in connection with this, what is your reading score on the SAT? Because people who read like this usually get like a 800 which is pretty impressive and if anybody can get a 800 on reading, its you.
ReplyDelete