Does Genre Matter in Literature

Jane Eyre and Oates

As Oates says, Jane Eyre is a reflection of real life because it has a voice that is true to life, and that is what distinguishes it from other tales, including fairy tales: it is “the material of legends and fairy tales, perhaps; yet also, sometimes, this time at least, of life. For we are led to believe Jane Eyre’s good fortune because we are led to believe her voice” (Oates). Thus, Jane Eyre is as the title proclaims—an autobiography; a fictional autobiography, yes—but no fairy tale. Jane Eyre is a first-person account of a woman’s own journey to becoming a wife and mother, as Oates points out. The elements of the story are fantastical at times, which is why it resembles the fairy tale genre (that and the fact that it has a fantastical ending that seems very much like the and-they-lived-happily-ever-after endings that we have come to associate with fairy tales—but why shouldn’t Jane have such an ending? She suffered so much in her life, and for the good—let her have her happiness). Jane Eyre can be considered a Gothic Romance—that is fine; but it is cherished not because it is an exemplar of genre but because it rings with the sound of truth. Truth is what makes fairy tales ring, as well. It is what makes every story ring and stay ringing long after the generation in which it originated has passed. The sound of truth never fades though people themselves may become hard of hearing. Genre is merely a way to categorize and atomize and store this thing upon its place on the shelf, separate from that thing, and it makes one feel nice and tidy and whole. But real life is hardly so compartmentalized, and trying to box a story like Jane Eyre into a compartment is probably not worth the effort, although some may find the task amusing.

Still, I would count Jane Eyre first as a coming of age story because we first meet Jane as a child and we leave her as a wife and mother. Elements of horror, of the Gothic, of romance, of fairy-tales, of realism, and of historical fiction are all there. That does not make it one of those things anymore than another, however—no more than the addition of pepperoni or pineapple to a pizza makes the pizza into a pepperoni or a pineapple altogether. Jane Eyre is a novel—a fictional autobiography—with many ingredients that are all mixed together with care and astounding success. That is why it is a pleasure to read. The artisan did well in her work; Bronte is to be applauded. Not everything every author puts out achieves as much success, as Oates notes, in describing the labored dialogue of a different Bronte character in a different Bronte novel.

In the end, classification matters only in the way classification matters to any fan—whether one is a scientist, enthralled by the classification of species, or a sports writer enthralled by classifications of sports stats, or a literature major enthralled by the classifications of genres. These are things people like to do—but labels are like shortcuts: they make it easy for a person to get around having to think about the subject—the thing inside the bottle to which the label has been affixed. Put a label on it, put it on the shelf, and presto—nothing more needs to be thought or said about it: all done! That surely should not be the way one approaches life or literature, and yet that is the way we approach both. I am not saying to do away with all labels or classifications; they can be useful, as the mind appreciates ordering and understanding differences and similarities. But one should not be puritanical about it. There is more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in anyone’s philosophy—as Hamlet put it to Horatio. There is more to Jane Eyre than any simplistic classification can ever articulate. Let it be so, and accept the mystery (as the Coen Brothers suggest in A Serious Man). Or, as Jane herself puts it: “Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.” Surely there is no harm in lightly classifying Jane Eyre, but let’s not forget to keep the soil loosened and fertilized.