In our bookish home, we read for inspiration, not just information. Charles Dickens (so far as I have read) always succeeds. There is a richness in Dickens that cannot be found elsewhere: unforgettable characters are very good, very evil, very silly, very simple and often a combination. We have found another author from that era equally ennobling: Elizabeth Gaskell. Gaskell weaves a more subtle tapestry than Dickens, creating characters a bit more human, a bit more believable. I just finished reading her final, not-quite-complete novel: Wives and Daughters. This was after viewing the BBC mini-series. Yes, I know this violates my 'read before movie' precept. My family forced me into it, truly. Tied me to the couch and pointed my face at the screen and sat a bowl of popcorn on my lap. At that point, I gave in.
GASKELL and DICKENS
Wives and Daughters shares a common theme with a splendid Dickens work: Little Dorrit. Both tell the story of a young woman coming of age without a mother whose strength of character is sorely tested by the foibles and weaknesses of those around her. Both illustrate the clear boundaries of class in England at that time. Of great importance to me, both show the unique place a father has in the heart of his daughters. Both show the value of good character in attracting the right partner.
In Little Dorrit, the father is a flawed, weak man with a misplaced sense of his own importance given his residence in debtor's prison. Though he no doubt loves 'Little Dorrit', the tension between who he wants to be and who he really is causes him to frequently hurt her while favoring two older siblings who are ungrateful and selfish, and following their father's pretentious footsteps. The father in Wives and Daughters is a wise, loving, albeit stern country doctor who makes one crucial mistake: thinking his nearly grown daughter is in need of a mother figure to replace the wife he lost when Molly was young, when she really just wants more of her father's precious time. In spite of this vast difference between the two men -- one with significant flaws, the other with significant strengths, both authors show how deeply each daughter loves their father, simply because of who he is. You can see why a Dad would like that, right?
BOOK VERSUS MOVIE
Both books were turned into BBC mini-series by producer Andrew Davies. These are compelling dramas. Here are excellent reviews of Wives and Daughters, and Little Dorrit. Though a century and a half removed from the time they were written, Davies mostly 'gets it right', particularly with Little Dorrit, where he had seven and one half hours to work with. Wives and Daughters is about half that, making it at times feels rushed. In both, Davies leaves out a crucial element. The books have clues to the source of Molly's and Little Dorrit's goodness. It would be easy to say they are simply illustrating the romantic innocence of young womanhood. But no, the stories have other young women not so noble and other noble characters that are not young women. There is something singularly, divinely beautiful in the life of one who consciously chooses to subsume their desires in a surrender to other-centeredness. This is what Dickens and Gaskell recognize. References to Providence or The Good Book are not by accident. They lived in an era where science was making broad leaps forward, but the rejection of a Divine Creator had not yet happened. They recognized that science cannot produce goodness, nor can it thwart evil. The power to love, particularly one's enemies, is super-human.
In the movies, you see how good Molly and Little Dorrit are. In the books, you better understand why they are good. And that is why I want my daughters to read. In the end, I was reminded of how I need to treasure the time I have with my daughters and how I must prepare them to give their hand to the next man in their life. These are stories I can point to and say, isn't that the kind of young lady you would like to be? And so far, the answer has been 'Yes'.
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