Who Is The Narrator Of Villette By Lucy Snowe

Reading Journal: (Entry 4) 13/12/17, ‘Villette’

In the novel, ‘Villette’, Lucy Snowe, is a unique character who narrates her life as a young destitute woman. Her narration follows the conventions of a female narrative of domestic love although the story breaks away from those conventions. Lucy sometimes talks of herself as a third person, and makes it clear in the novel that she is not participant in some points of the plot. She only claims to be the "Lucy Snowe" that she wants us to see. The narration is reserved as the protagonist does not confide in her readers, she never describes her traumatic past that left her in a wretched state. Thus, she appears to be a quite dull little person as she attempts to hide the agony of loneliness she feels, but her strong personality reveals her true nature through Bronte’s narrative. This was a stylistic choice of narrative by Brontë as her novel may be a commentary on the alienation of woman who were put emotionally in check and expected to tame their passions.
Bronte uses Lucy as a device to show the feminist crisis present in her time. Bronte does this by presenting Lucy as an ambiguous character, unlike the other characters she seems detached from everything around her. At the Bretton home, Lucy exists on the margin, she hears Polly say, ‘Please, ma’am, send your boy something good’ thus Lucy differentiates herself from Polly who represents the typical genteel woman of the Victorian period. She waits on the man and always wants to please Graham unlike Lucy who distances herself from him thus revealing her detachment of feminine roles. Bronte projects her feminist views through Lucy’s opposition to domestic activities which were