Well, here we are two-thirds of the way through the Villette read-along, and the story is certainly heating up.  Last week, I posted before I was quite done with Volume I – I had a chapter and a half to go, but didn’t want to be late to the link-up – and those last fifteen pages were eventful.  Lucy discovers the object of Dr. John’s admiration, and let’s just say it does him no credit.  Nor does his attribution to Lucy of “motherly” feelings toward the insipid girl (what 22-year-old wants to hear that about a younger potential rival? ouch).  Personally, I’d have slapped him, but Lucy is quicker-thinking, and she lays some well-deserved, blistering sarcasm on the doctor.  After this high note, the school breaks up for summer vacation.  With nowhere to go, Lucy stays at the school, virtually alone, and suffers a nervous breakdown.  And that brings us to Volume II.

The Story

Volume II begins with a major revelation: Lucy has been rescued while insensible from her nervous breakdown, and is recovering in the home of Dr. John, who turns out to be a figure from her past.  (Lucy claims to have known Dr. John’s true identity for months, but I’m not entirely sure that’s not just face-saving.)  Eventually, Lucy recovers and returns to Madame Beck’s, and she enjoys a few letters from her old friend, the doctor.  When the letters abruptly stop coming, Lucy struggles with her feelings of abandonment, loneliness and jealousy.  Eventually, Dr. John’s mother reaches out and draws Lucy back into the fold, and she re-kindles her friendship with the doctor.  While on an outing together, they encounter another old friend and, once again, Lucy discovers the old friend’s identity before the rather opaque Dr. John.  As their groups converge, Lucy speculates on the difference between her friends’ personalities, and seems to be forming some definite opinions about the doctor’s prospects for happiness.  Meanwhile, Lucy has several bizarre encounters with another teacher, M. Paul Emmanuel, whose strange manners make it impossible for her to decide whether she has feelings of friendliness or antipathy for him.

Thoughts Thus Far

Toward the end of Volume II, Ginevra Fanshawe asks, “Who are you, Lucy Snowe?” and I must confess, I’m wondering the same thing.  We still know next to nothing of Lucy’s backstory.  She is obviously an educated person, and someone who knows how to behave in the highest circles.  Yet she’s forced to work for a living at a time when gentlewomen didn’t do so, and she never mentions her family.  Lucy is just as much an enigma in Volume II as she was in Volume I; perhaps she’s even more so.  She has reservoirs of deep feeling and I want to smack Dr. John for considering her nothing more than “quiet Lucy Snowe . . . an inoffensive shadow.”  To my mind, Lucy is obviously worth ten of the prissy dolls Dr. John is attracted to, yet he doesn’t seem to see this.  Meanwhile, I’m also wondering about M. Paul, and what his story is, and what his true feelings toward Lucy might turn out to be.  I suppose this will all become clear in Volume III…

Overall Impressions

Volume II moved along at a much faster clip than Volume I.  We’re done with backstory and into the meat of the novel.  Some things are clear, and some things are still mysterious.  I’m growing very attached to Lucy and frustrated with those who don’t seem to see her merits as clearly.  (Of course, Bronte treats the reader to a view inside Lucy’s head, so it’s easier for us to comprehend how wonderful she is than for the other characters, since Lucy is very reserved with them and only displays her wild, passionate nature in her internal monologues.  Her struggle between Reason and Hope was particularly wrenching.)

I started the book off hoping that Dr. John would fall for Lucy, but I’m beginning to care less if he does or not, since he doesn’t strike me as worthy of her.  He’s a nice enough character, pleasant and good-natured, but he doesn’t recognize Lucy for the ardent spirit that she is, so I think she could do better and probably will.  I expect Bronte is setting the reader up to care less about Dr. John’s prospects so as to introduce a stronger depth of feeling between Lucy and another character – M. Paul being the other contender – and I’m interested to see how she’ll go about doing that, since for the first half of the novel, M. Paul has been nothing short of obnoxious.  Still, I’m already rooting for him a little bit, given how frustrated I am with Dr. John.  Although as a matter of fact – and romantic that I am, I almost never feel this way – I’m rooting even more for Lucy to end up single and independent.  We’ll see.  Onward to Volume III.