Uncommon Content: From Brontë to Patchett

Sunday, October 27, 2024

From Brontë to Patchett

I just finished reading The Verts, Ann Patchett's latest children's book beautifully illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The contrasting preferences for a birthday celebration between two siblings reminded me of the contrast between a set of cousins in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights

In Chapter 24 of Wuthering Heights, Catherine Linton recounts the contrast between Heathcliff's son summed up in their different ideal summer days:

'One time, however, we were near quarrelling. He said the pleasantest manner of spending a hot July day was lying from morning till evening on a bank of heath in the middle of the moors, with the bees humming dreamily about among the bloom, and the larks singing high up overhead, and the blue sky and bright sun shining steadily and cloudlessly. That was his most perfect idea of heaven's happiness: mine was rocking in a rustling green tree, with a west wind blowing, and bright white clouds flitting rapidly above; and not only larks, but throstles, and blackbirds, and linnets, and cuckoos pouring out music on every side, and the moors seen at a distance, broken into cool dusky dells; but close by great swells of long grass undulating in waves to the breeze; and woods and sounding water, and the whole world awake and wild with joy. He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine, and began to grow very snappish. At last, we agreed to try both, as soon as the right weather came; and then we kissed each other and were friends.

These two statements, in particular, encapsulate the differences between introverts who need to
recharge in quiet surroundings and extroverts who feel inviograted by activity:

"He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine."

In Pratchett's book, we have that difference depicted in Ivan's desire for solitude and quiet versus Estie's desire to throw a party with a lot of guests and noise. Thought Emily would not have used the terms attached to "vert," as a staunch introvert herself, she, certainly, would have recognized that aspect of human nature.