Tag: romantic comedy

Growing up in the 1990s to 2000s, I was that little girl who sat criss-crossed on my green velvet family couch watching Disney princesses manifest their Prince Charmings through song, and later watching young boys woo their crushes with boombox serenades. It’s no wonder I consider myself a ‘hopeless romantic’.

During that time, I lived for the “meet-cutes” where boy meets girl under adorable, often serendipitous, but nevertheless fated circumstances. That was my idea of a true love story.

But my favourite story – the one that I’m going to share here – is not that love story.

Once Upon a Time, There was Jane

I first read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in Grade 9. If you’re unfamiliar with the book, let me break it down using a technique created by Kenn Adams called the Story Spine.

Once upon a time, there was a young orphan named Jane Eyre, who after surviving a childhood of loneliness and abuse, becomes a private tutor for a young girl, the ward of an elusive businessman.

Every day, she tutors her student but continues to wonder about the businessman who hired her, Mr. Rochester, and the mysteries of her new home, Thornfield Manor.

But one day, Mr. Rochester returns to the manor and meets with Jane.

Because of that, Jane forms a relationship with Mr. Rochester, and they fall in love.

Because of that, Jane and Mr. Rochester plan to marry but during the ceremony Jane learns of Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s mentally ill wife, who he has hidden in the attic of Thornfield Manor.

Because of that, Jane is humiliated and runs away from Thornfield Manor.

Until finally, Jane returns to Thornfield Manor, learns that Bertha died after setting fire to the manor, and reunites with Mr. Rochester.

And ever since then, Jane lived a life of love, marrying Rochester and raising their family together.

If my ideal love story was one where a hypothetical couple meets coincidentally while travelling through a quaint village in Europe, spending their days riding Vespas and nights drinking wine at sunset, what made me fall in love with the tragic story of Jane Eyre?

Emotional Thread Connection

The book begins with young orphan Jane living with her abusive aunt and cousins. Her story goes from her being sent to a religious boarding school and living under similarly harsh conditions to facing humiliation and heartbreak while at Thornfield Manor. Alison McAdam writes in Beyond the 5 W’s: What should you ask before starting a story? that to engage an audience you must ask if there is “an emotional or intellectual thread that can run throughout the story”. Jane overcoming adversities hooked me in as if the emotional thread was a physical thread wrapped around my finger forcing me to turn another page.

Admiration Despite Challenges

A good story is often one where the audience isn’t focused on a happy ending but instead on the journey they’ve taken with the protagonist. As Pixar storyboard artist, Emma Coats, shares in her 22 Rules of Storytelling, “#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.” While finishing the book was bittersweet, it was was Jane’s resilience throughout that solidifies the book as one of the greatest stories of love I’ve ever read.