The Blue Castle...thought from Beckee

(I hope my points come across ok. I am typing this with a pounding headache and a very congested head...please cut me some slack if my writing is poor or my points do not make perfect sense).

"The moment when a woman realises that she has nothing to live for-neither love, duty, purpose nor hope-holds for her the bitterness of death."

"Fear is the original sin. Almost all the evil in the world has it's orgin in the fact that some one is afraid of something."

These are 2 of my favorite quotes from the early part of The Blue Castle.

What a book! Natalie was right about Valancy-she is delightful as is her story, but overshadowed by Montgomery's Masterpiece of Anne. I do wish I had read this book before I was a parent though, because I think being a parent kept me from fully enjoying it. Don't get me wrong here-I love Valancy, and I was on her side the whole time. I rooted for her and cheered for her, and cried for her. I loved Valancy. I truly hated her family, particularly her mother and thought many times "wow-she has like the worst mom ever-poor Valancy." But (and here is where my own parenthood colored my perceptions of this book a bit) I also couldn't help but think on the mother. I tried to think from her perspective why she would act as she does, and it broke my heart for her (a little) as well. I know the book paints Valancy as very stuck in a strict, old-fashioned environment, being forced to abide by these rules of society that she disagrees with. But at the same time, the mom believed in those strict, old-fashioned rules of conduct. It WAS shocking to have Valancy act as she did-for her to be seen on the side of the road with a man late at night. These are not the things a proper single maiden did. I would be shocked if Solace began to behave contrary to how I have tried to raise her and started to rebel from the things I believe to be true, right and proper. SO, I found that although I fully found myself on Valancy's team, rooting for her and despising her mom, I did find sympathy for the mom.

Now that I got my somewhat negative point out of the way, I just want to say-YEAH for Valancy. Regardless of the expectation (especially in that time) that she was basically a washed up old maid with little or no options left but to stay in her childhood room and slowly wither to death, she chose to do something to stop that sad life she felt trapped in! And what a great thing for her to do in her "rebellion". I think we can all agree that she was certainly doing the right or the Christian thing at least to go help Cissy. She was showing love and compassion. She did not let her fear of how society or her mom would view her stop her from choosing the right. She found a purpose for her life and she just did it. What a hard stance to take. To choose what you believe to be right in spite of other people's opinions. Bravo Valancy!

Can I just say how happy I was with the outcome of Valancy's life? I LOVED all the secrets that came out. What a great book-romantic, sad at times, but mostly I thought it was wonderful. IF you didn't read it, you should! If you did read it, what did you think?