Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë is a simple little story about a young woman who sets out to be a governess to help support her family and to experience the world outside of her comfortable, familiar home.  She works in two different households throughout the course of the novel, and experiences several disappointments with her employment.  All of her pupils are spoiled, selfish, and inconsiderate and  her employers expect her to exert control over her charges without resorting to any disciplinary measures.  In general, Agnes is ignored and treated as if she were invisible, unless someone finds a fault in what she is doing.  Despite her difficulties, she maintains high personal standards for herself and does her work to the best of her abilities.  This is a novel about honor, character, and social class.  In tackling these weighty subjects, Anne Brontë gives us an unflinching look at how the upper levels of society treated their hired help, and how women can hold onto their moral values when they are surrounded by superficiality and carelessness.

I read this novel as my "classic by a female author" for the Back to to the Classics challenge.  As my reading theme for March is strong women, this book fits into that on two accounts.  Firstly, it was written by a woman who lived in a time period that discouraged girls from pursuing careers as authors.  Anne Brontë followed her dreams anyway.  Secondly, it features a strong female protagonist who is hard working, kind, and has a strong sense of right and wrong that she refuses to compromise.  I found this book to be enjoyable, and an interesting look at what it was like for teachers working in the 19th century.  It won't be remembered as a particular favorite of mine, but it was definitely worth reading. 

In researching the background of Agnes Grey, I discovered that Anne Brontë based the book off of her own experiences as a governess.  I had already assumed this point as I was reading the novel, because several of the complaints and difficulties Agnes experiences in her work are still true today.  Whether you have 2-3 pupils at a time, as Agnes did, or 135 pupils, like I do, kids can be rotten, parents can be awful, and your bosses heap completely unrealistic expectations on you.  The accuracy of her feelings actually become a bit of a downside to reading this novel for me, because I identified with it too much, and started feeling overly negative about my job.  This quote from Agnes about the teaching profession is very true:

"I can conceive few situations more harassing that that wherein, however you may long for success, however you may labour to fulfill your duty, your efforts are baffled and set at naught by those beneath you, and unjustly censured and misjudged by those above."         

What was missing from Agnes Grey were those little moments all teachers experience that make the job bearable.  The student and parent characters were so very flat that they were unrealistic.  I've worked with hundreds, if not thousands, of kids during the course of my career so far, and not one of them has been completely bad.  Even during the rough years, there are laughter, smiles and purely ridiculous moments that buoy a teacher's spirits.  That was completely absent here.  All the students were bad and it was always their own fault or the fault of their parents.  This is an ineffective way for a teacher to think.  It's no wonder that Agnes was so unhappy.  In an effort to show how virtuous, hardworking and put-upon Agnes was, the other characters became stereotypes.

Due to this disconnect, my feelings about this novel are ultimately mixed.  I enjoyed the parts of Agnes that were honorable and hardworking, and I was hoping for her to achieve happiness by the end of the novel.  I also enjoyed reading a little bit about what life was like for a governess trying to work during the 1800s.  However, the novel ran a little too negative for me, and since I have a similar profession to the protagonist, I disliked the one dimensional situations she found herself in.  I was hoping for a little more complexity.  The name Brontë brings memories of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights to my mind.  This novel fell short of the work of her sisters. Ultimately, this was a pleasant, but shallow, story.