“The Woman in White” - Wilkie Collins

📝 I went through a phase in middle school where “The Moonstone” by Wilkie Collins was my favorite novel. I don’t know what to tell you. It was a random find in a classroom library. I couldn’t get enough of Collins’ style, and from there, it wasn’t a far leap to other Victorian Era favorites like the Brontë sisters and Thomas Hardy. Looking back, I see that while all of these authors adopted differing styles (sensationalism, Gothic, naturalism), each commented on morality and social constraints in their own way. 

📝 TWIW narrative style is similar to “The Moonstone”: a rotating cast of narrators take it in turns to advance the story based on their direct observations. Collins’ narrators are given to long bouts of philosophical introspection. While young me couldn’t get enough of Collins’ prose, 2024 me felt mired by it. I suspect I will have the same reaction if I revisit other Victorian Era favorites. 

📝 Thematically there’s so much to study in TWIW.

Identity and Deception – mistaken identities, impersonation, and the fragility of personal identity in a world where records and appearances can be manipulated (ahem, sound terrifyingly familiar?).

Madness and Confinement – mental health and wrongful incarceration, who has the power to define “sanity.”

Social Justice and Gender Roles – women’s legal vulnerability in Victorian society, specifically lack of property rights and autonomy.

Truth and Investigation – the structure of the novel (multiple narrators and testimonies) reflects its theme of uncovering truths by assembling evidence.

Class and Power – abuse of wealth, title, and privilege, contrasting moral worth with social status.

📝 If you’re in the mood to dig deeper, Collins’ prose is a treasure trove of symbolism and motifs to examine as well.

Letters and Documents — the constant exchange of diaries, letters, and testimonies from multiple perspectives. Justice itself depends on written records which themselves are fragile.

Madness and Sanity — frequent mentions of asylums, mental illness, and who gets to declare someone “mad”. 

Inheritance and Property — probably the most obvious, repeated references to wills, marriage settlements, and fortunes. This motif underscores the precarious position of women’s legal and financial dependence even if they have means, they can be exploited.

📝This quote is a concise summation of women’s treatment in Victorian society: “patience, propriety, and petticoats” followed by the devastating joinder of “feeble and feminine”. Collins gets to the heart of the matter: a total absence of autonomy. The real terror in TWIW is being a woman with few rights and no real autonomy, particularly when married to/under the control of an evil man.

📝 Final thoughts: TWIW is a dream to exercise to those critical thinking skills because it is a gripping novel. I think it’s considered the first of the thriller or sensation novel genre. However, if you’re reading purely for pleasure rather than analysis, it is a slog to get through.