Teaching Jane of Lantern Hill
Teaching Jane of Lantern Hill is one of my favorite things about my job now—and I only taught it for the first time last year! I’ve been wanting to write a post about why it is such a gem, but there are so many beautiful things about it that I have been struggling to find the right thing to make the subject of a blog post. So, today I’ve decided that I will share some of my favorite classroom stories from teaching this book in the hopes that these anecdotes will convey at least some of the many and varied ways in which Jane of Lantern Hill has become one of my favorite works to teach.
Why Does This Book Make Us Happy?
The beginning of Jane of Lantern Hill is admittedly somewhat dismal. Not in the sense that it is a poorly written book—quite the contrary—but the story begins in a very sad way. We are introduced to the wonderful Jane Stuart, who is lovable in every conceivable way, but who lives under the thumb of her domineering grandmother in an old, sad-looking mansion. And yet, immediately drawn in by Jane and by the setting, each of my students completely fell in love with the book.
I pointed this out to them, and asked, “How in the world is that possible? Why does this book make us so happy?”
My students’ hands shot into the air, ready with their own personal reasons for loving the book from the start, even given the sadness of this wonderful girl’s predicament.
“I just love Jane,” one of them said.
“Grandmother is so awful, but Jane is still Jane,” another contributed.
And then, one of them hit the nail on the head: “Jane wants to love everything. She has so much love in her heart. But she doesn’t have anywhere to put it.”
In one of the earliest chapters, Jane claims that she only loves two people—her mother and her best friend, Jody. But, she laments, out of the many millions who live on this earth, loving only two of them seems a tragedy.
And, yes, that is desperately sad. But, it is also one of the most intriguing, hopeful ways to begin a story. L.M. Montgomery conveys a staggeringly beautiful sense of life through Jane, even in her dire home circumstances. Jane, surrounded by gloom and cruelty, maintains a desperate longing to love.
Jane’s Love Language
In my class, we discussed the ways Jane tries to express this abundance of love in her heart. If Jane had a “love language,” it would be “acts of service.” She longs to bring breakfast to her mother in her room on a tray. She longs to have a “relationship” with her home, and “do things for it,” such as cooking meals in the kitchen and tending a garden.
But, at every turn, stodgy Grandmother blocks this loving impulse of Jane’s. One of my students expressed this hellish circumstance perfectly when she wrote, “Jane shows her love by helping. This makes living at 60 Gay even worse because Grandmother thinks her family is too good to work. When Jane asks Gradmother if she could clean, Grandmother says, ‘My dear, we have people for that.’”
Jane’s utmost desire is to express love, and that is the very thing she is prevented from doing at every turn. It’s as if Jane has been damned to a hell that was made expressly for her. Her situation calls to mind the story of Tantalus, who, when damned to eternal punishment in the Underworld, suffers from perpetual hunger and thirst, despite being surrounded by fresh, cool water and beautiful fruit trees… all just outside his reach.
Magic
A recurring theme in the story is one of “magic.” Throughout the story, Jane encounters people (like her best friend Jody), places (like an old fixer-upper house on a beautiful island), and things (a picture of an author) which evoke in her an immediate sense of connection and belonging.
When Jane encounters the old, somewhat dilapidated house on a beautiful island, she immediately feels that the house belongs to her, and that it is chocked full of “magic.” When I asked my students why she felt that way, I was blown away.
“Jane shows her love by helping,” one student replied, “and she has always been blocked from showing her love. But this house… well, it really needs Jane. And Jane really needs it. Because it needs her.”
I couldn’t believe that. This book illustrates beauty so well, and so naturally, that insightful comments like that come out of a third grader’s mouth like it’s nothing.
Beauty Upon Beauty
The final thing I will share is that this book is filled with breath-taking beauty. When Jane travels to the beautiful island I mentioned in the previous anecdote, the reader is flooded with breath-taking descriptions of nature on every page. Wonderful characters emerge from every island home and enhance the homey beauty of that special place. And, this island is the home of Jane’s father… The biggest appreciator of beauty, and one of the most hilarious people, you’ve ever encountered.
Jane’s father brings things to life for Jane. Jane, who has never been interested in school, suddenly discovers through the passion of her father all the value that can be gleaned from stories—fictional and historical—and geography. Jane’s father spends nearly an entire chapter quoting from the bible, from historical figures, and from poetry, stoking the fires of Jane’s recumbent passions.
One line he references is from a poem that I was unfamiliar with: The Poplars by Bernard Freeman Trotter. I looked it up, read it, and burst into tears. It is about exactly that magical feeling of ownership over something which overcomes you with its beauty. I excitedly shared it with my class, and they are now memorizing it in its entirety with more enthusiasm than I have ever seen them approach any work… And they are a particularly passionate group.
One of my students, who is delightfully earnest and intelligent, but usually prefers to spend time doing things other than reading books and poetry, eagerly requested that I “make” them memorize the entire poem after I shared it with them. His plea was punctuated by many of his classmates’ expressions of agreement.
I was only too happy to oblige.
Through supreme love of beauty, magic, and … well… love, L.M. Montgomery shows us all the importance of living like Jane: earnestly, and with a heart full of love.
And so I sing the poplars; and when I come to die
I will not look for jasper walls, but cast about my eye
For a row of wind-blown poplars against an English sky.