I've been thinking a lotabout books that have influenced me in various parts of my life lately, and with those thoughts came a need to hopefully encourage others to try to learn from them as well.
Classic novels have always been an interesting subject in my social circle because you either love them or you hate them. Well, maybe not hate per say, but you might not understand the charm and delight of novels written in the past 200 years or so. I have always found them to be enlightening, and while I can't force you to enjoy them I'd like to try to help you understand why I do. I learned more from the classic novels I've read than I have in the modern novels. Their absolute timelessness makes it so I can easily connect with them and connect the lessons to my life currently.
1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott -- "Take some books and read; that's an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort."
Little Women was my first classic. I read it in 3rd grade, and quickly became obsessed with the characters. Josephine "Jo" March is the one character that I connected with the most. With her inability to control her tongue, her fierce determination, and her absolute love of books and writing; to say I was enthralled would be an understatement. The quote above is one of the many that stood out to me at such a young age because, just like now, I was an avid reader. By avid reader, I mean I often find myself looking to be lost in a book rather than living in the physical world. The journey each book takes you on is the greatest adventure of all; in my personal opinion. Louisa May Alcott's words in "Little Women" were the first to show me that my desire to walk along the characters of each story I read wasn't odd. In fact, she made me feel like someone understood exactly what I felt towards the stories I found myself wandering.
2. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen -- "She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both: by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgement, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.”
Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy were the two characters that taught me, at an 'early' age, that the one you love may not be your duplicate. You may be vastly different than each other, but it's your differences that often make the relationship work the best. The same can be said about my fiance and me. I am stubborn and impatient, and he is gentle and patient as they come. Elizabeth is another character that I find myself quite alike because she too, just like Jo March, is a stubborn, opinionated, well-read woman with a mind of her own. It is said that the authors, Louisa May Alcott and Jane Austen, wrote the characters in likeness to themselves. That makes me feel closer to them than I am other authors.
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte -- " I have for the first time found what I can truly love–I have found you. You are my sympathy–my better self–my good angel–I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wrap my existence about you–and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.”
I cannot say that I connect as well with Jane Eyre herself as I do with the lessons she learns along the way. Jane is timid and soft-spoken, very rarely raising her voice or displaying any ounce of hardheadedness. It's her relationship with Mr. Rochester, though, that really stands out to me. He brings out a fire in her that is completely foreign to her being until she meets him. The passion in her is so unknown that I think it takes her by surprise. The vulnerability shown above is a direct outcome of that passion.
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy -- “What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.”
Anna Karenina was a difficult read. I can't lie about that. It was a read that was more difficult than I expected, had read before, or in all honesty wanted to read. However, once I started I didn't want to stop. Anna's story was intriguing and tragic to say the least. Caught in a world she didn't think she belonged she was constantly trying to find ways to escape it. I think the quote above strikes me so profoundly is because when I read Anna Karenina I was in high school, and the thought of beauty struck me as odd yet necessary. Beauty meant something entirely different then. It meant makeup, a thin body, and clear skin. The outer beauty is what I focused on then, and it really was the strange illusion that the book speaks of. The real beauty, the beauty that IS goodness, is the inner beauty, and I can't say that I was the most beautiful person then.
These are just tidbits of my love of classics. I've read everything from Bram Stoker's "Dracula" to "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen. I think you should give them all a try. You may be surprised at what you may find. ;)
