(SPOILERS for these chapters)
Well, I wasn’t expecting that! The most surprising thing wasn’t that Dr. John was Graham, but that Lucy knew for several chapter and didn’t tell us, her dear trusting readers. It makes me smile over the several comments about her powers of observation (including mine), only to see her reveals herself as an unreliable narrator. I’ll need to pay more attention to what she says (and how she says it) it the future.
(Someone from the Brussels Bronte Group once told me that the Church which inspired the place where Lucy almost turned Catholic was the Notre Dame du Sablon (photo) – can anyone confirm?)
Looking back at her motives, I thinking I’d also not tell Dr. John who I was if he failed to recognize me. This is actually one of the only two moments in these chapters where I could understand Lucy, the other being her sarcastic ode to de Hamal (he he he!).
Ever since the chapter in London I’ve been moving further and further away from Lucy. I just don’t get her and it frustrates me a little, because many bloggers I follow loved the book exactly because they recognized themselves in Lucy. Oh well!
For instance, here’s something I couldn’t understand: during school months Lucy’s always craving for solitude and as soon as she has it, she’s more depressed than ever! She even goes mentally and physically ill (but not enough to fall into the hands of those cunning Catholics, hey?). And what sin did she confess that so much impressed her confessor?
Another: she’s a strong, resilient, self-reliable woman, so why did she let herself be locked in an attic full of rats to better memorize a play?
AND YET! And yet she can laugh!
How I laughed when I reached the schoolroom. I knew now she had certainly seen Dr. John in the garden.
But alas not for long… two sentence afterwards:
Yet as the laugh died, a kind of wrath smote me, and then bitterness followed: it was the rock struck, and Meriban’s waters gushing out.
The thing is, as I feel less empathic towards Lucy, I become more curious to see what the Bronte has in stall for her. I’m fascinated by Lucy’s depthness, repression and slightly psychotic mind, and I don’t mind at all that she also became an unreliable narrator – it add more layers to the story!
The Sleepless Reader 
8 comments
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February 24, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Serena
I am also curious about what Lucy confessed to the priest! What was that about? So random! But I’m not sure that her visit to the Catholic church and her confession was a weakness toward conversion so much as a weakness of her character and her inability to be alone, particularly in illness.
So now that Graham is back, where is Polly???
February 25, 2011 at 12:23 am
Mindy
Your post made me laugh– particularly the comment about the Catholics 🙂 My relationship with Lucy changed a bit too with this section. I had always thought she was, if not unreliable, at least quite selective as a narrator. In these chapter she seemed more like a real person to me– almost as if the rigidity I had seen before was a facade. It’s like she doesn’t expect people to attend to her so she becomes a person people don’t attend, and then acts as if that’s how she wants it. Not sure if its subconscious, though. Of course, every time I think I “get her” (to borrow your phrase) she does something I didn’t expect. I wonder what’s in store for next week
February 25, 2011 at 12:56 am
Mady
I’ve also felt deceived by Lucy!! Why didn’t she tell us, we are trusting friends, aren’t we???
I remember the exact moment when she recognised him – but I did not understand what it meant at the time! She does give us some clues, so we have to keep alert 😀
February 25, 2011 at 6:30 am
Josh's mom
Like you, I was surprised to find out that Lucy knew Dr. John was the grown up Graham. Good thing I wasn’t in a public place reading as I was audible in my surprise – not sure what I said out loud, but it was something like “WHAT IN THE SAM HILL IS GOING ON?”
I want to know what happens to Lucy so will keep on reading but am frustrated that she is leaving many important details out of her story – doesn’t she trust us readers? So many questions about her past are buzzing in my head – I hope more will be revealed soon.
February 25, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Wallace
I know, Lucy is incredibly hard to figure out! I do love that about this book… it keeps you wanting to read more. As always, I love the extra tidbits you offer us by living in “Villette” 😉
Do you think we’ll ever find out what the “sin” was? I wonder if it will just be left up to our imaginations.
February 26, 2011 at 10:19 am
Bellezza
She really is an unreliable narrator, or at least a tricky one, only revealing what she wants. Her multi-faceted personality enthralls me.
February 26, 2011 at 11:32 am
Charlie Dryden
I’m generally reading everyone’s weekly reactions to Villette in the order that Wallace lists them each week, and I was a little saddened by the apparent flagging suffered by many readers, including I thought Wallace, since Villette is one of my favourite books.
It was therefore refreshing to read your comments this week dear Sleepless Reader, someone who is still engaged with the book.
I have two comments which your post has inspired me to write:
1. It has been said that, in any story, the most complex, interesting, devious, mischievous “character” is the narrator. Lucy Snowe is certainly many, if not all, of those things.
2. In a similar way to Jayne Eyre, Lucy wants class divides to be abolished in favour of a hierarchy based on ‘intellectual nourishment’ (for want of a better phrase). This will become apparent as the book progresses, but think of the crackling, witty exchanges that take place between Jane Eyre and Rochester which are key to their blossoming, class-boundary-breaking romance. This is what Lucy craves. I don’t think it’s solitude she’s after, she just doesn’t know what she wants yet. Up until now the bustle of the school, which has been solidly building up to the finale of the fete, has distracted her and kept her intellectually engaged, but the endless summer puts all of that into sharp relief – with the lack of intellectual sparing being emphasised by Lucy’s cretinous charge.
February 26, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Alex
@Serena: Poly cannot be far behind, right? For a moment I thought that that Genivra girl was, somehow, POlly, but that would not make sense… right? Was the sin somehow related to Dr. John?
@Mindy: She does show more… flexibility. It was great to see her participate in the play and laugh, for a change. Good point about “she doesn’t expect people to attend to her so she becomes a person people don’t attend”, it’s like how she doesn’t expect Dr John to notice that she’s observing him. I just feel that for someone so observant and intelligent, she should be more understanding of people.
@Mady: So true! She won’t fool me again 😛 I wonder why Charlotte Bronte chose to make her unreliable and only tell us of it some time into the book. Maybe she wanted to deepen Lucy’s mystery aura just when we thought she was breaking it, or maybe she wanted us to be more engaged into the book, always wondering what exactly is happening vs. what Lucy tells us. Either way, it’s a great showcase of good writing!
@Wallace: I think we’ll never know and that PhD thesis will continue to be written about it 🙂
@Belleza: This is fast becoming a psychologic drama, don’t you think?
@Charlie Dryden: I’m part of the Bronte Brussels Group and they read this book together just before I joined. I’d love to know what real Bronte-aficionados think about it.
After I finish Villette, the only books from the three sisters which still need to read are Shirley and The Professor. So far, this is the one that has given me more food for thought. I’ve been reading the other participant’s thoughts and wonder if this is the Bronte’s work which is more difficult for audiences in the XXI century to understand and relate to… or maybe, it has nothing to do with time, but with the personality of the reader. What do you think?
On your comments: 1) So true! Charlotte really was brilliant with her, wasn’t she? There’s a lot of love or hate feelings towards Lucy, but no one is indifferent so far and this is the mark of a real work of art 2) “she just doesn’t know what she wants yet” Charlie, thanks for this comment, that does throw a new light into things! If I can’t understand to a lot of things that Lucy does and thinks, but can easily relate to craving intellectual challenge (hence the decision to have a blog, to join the conversation!). However, I can’t believe that no one at Madame’s house can help her it that area. I fear there’s some haughtiness on Lucy’s part. Maybe because she use to be gentry and no one recognizes her as such, maybe because she’s English and Protestant and feels she has the advantage because of it, but it’s clear that she thinks herself superior to those around her. I’ve been having problems dealing with that.