I mean you're right of course. I'm glad I can be Charlotte's reader, and don't have to be her friend. It's just - it comes so easy to me, making justifications for others, and I have such an awfully hard time mustering and maintaining anger on my own behalf, I end up using fiction as a prosthetic, or something to lean on. I - and I think many other women too, by virtue of feminine socialization practices - often don't let myself experience, acknowledge, and integrate upset; it's so exhilarating watching Charlotte acknowledging everything all over the place that I get carried away.
I suspect that emotional health, as usual, lies between the two extremes: it's not fair to hate Mme. Heger, but at the same time it's all right to feel angry and upset about your situation. It might not be Austen's fault if her legacy is used as a stick to beat one, but the smacking still legitimately smarts, and one has every right to object. Charlotte is way too far over to the one side, but I tend to get stuck on the other, so we balance each other out!
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Date: 2015-01-15 06:35 pm (UTC)I suspect that emotional health, as usual, lies between the two extremes: it's not fair to hate Mme. Heger, but at the same time it's all right to feel angry and upset about your situation. It might not be Austen's fault if her legacy is used as a stick to beat one, but the smacking still legitimately smarts, and one has every right to object. Charlotte is way too far over to the one side, but I tend to get stuck on the other, so we balance each other out!