So for my Victorian Literature class one of the novels I read is by Wilkie Collins and is entitled The Woman in White. It is a true, Gothic novel, and I was rather engrossed while reading it last night when I came across a quote that just seemed to me the post perfect ever. And so I wanted to share it all with you.
Mr. Fairlie, a self-diagnosed sick man who keeps to his room and despises being depended upon has just been asked to be depended on. His response?
"Nothing, in my opinion, sets the odious selfishness of mankind in such a repulsively vivid light, as the treatment, in all classes of society, which the Single people receive at the hands of the Married people... Husbands and wives talk of the cares of matrimony; and bachelors and spinsters bear them.... I am bound, in the harmless character of a single man, to relieve my married connexions of all their own troubles. Poor single people! Poor human nature!"
That first sentence was really what did me in. My poor sister had to put up with me laughing throughout the night. Although even she agreed that there was truth behind these statements.
What I find interesting is how little things change. This novel is from the Victorian era and now 150 years later some of those same thoughts still exist. Single people, especially in church settings, can still be treated like the outcasts of Christian society. Why? What is so wrong with us that married people will often abandon us at the drop of a hat?
All that being said, I thank God for the close friendships with my married friends that He has given me. I have friends who still value my friendship despite my "position" in life (now I sound like I have been reading too much Austen). He has truly blessed me in that capacity.
Well, this is a shorter post, I moreso just wanted to share those few lines with you all as they worked well to brighten my evening! Anthropology is calling me now, and I must immerse myself in the foundations of Archaeology!
Such is the life of a Christian single.
Mr. Fairlie, a self-diagnosed sick man who keeps to his room and despises being depended upon has just been asked to be depended on. His response?
"Nothing, in my opinion, sets the odious selfishness of mankind in such a repulsively vivid light, as the treatment, in all classes of society, which the Single people receive at the hands of the Married people... Husbands and wives talk of the cares of matrimony; and bachelors and spinsters bear them.... I am bound, in the harmless character of a single man, to relieve my married connexions of all their own troubles. Poor single people! Poor human nature!"
That first sentence was really what did me in. My poor sister had to put up with me laughing throughout the night. Although even she agreed that there was truth behind these statements.
What I find interesting is how little things change. This novel is from the Victorian era and now 150 years later some of those same thoughts still exist. Single people, especially in church settings, can still be treated like the outcasts of Christian society. Why? What is so wrong with us that married people will often abandon us at the drop of a hat?
All that being said, I thank God for the close friendships with my married friends that He has given me. I have friends who still value my friendship despite my "position" in life (now I sound like I have been reading too much Austen). He has truly blessed me in that capacity.
Well, this is a shorter post, I moreso just wanted to share those few lines with you all as they worked well to brighten my evening! Anthropology is calling me now, and I must immerse myself in the foundations of Archaeology!
Such is the life of a Christian single.
I might just have to read "The Woman in White". Sounds like you'll have a lot of fun with that course. I'm reading North and South at the moment. God bless and good luck with your studies.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely suggest "The Woman in White." It has the perfect mix of the Gothic as well as mystery and intrigue. I keep aiming to only read a certain number of pages and end up reading more! Which is good for this course, but not so good for my other courses!!! You will have to let me know how you like North and South! I have never actually read it, I have only seen the movie more times than I can count:D
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