h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It was my honour to meet the statue of Charlotte at the weekend, and also to read a bit of the Georgina Battiscombe biography while I was in the Eastleigh Museum.

I have great sympathy for her indeed, as some quotes resonate with me.

"In the daylight, I knew it was nonsense, I would have spoken of it to no one, but the fears at night always came back... I am an arrant coward by nature, both physical and morally, and confess myself to have been always one of those who 'die a thousand deaths' in imagination and suffer all manner of anticipations of evil for self and friends"

Georgina Battiscombe also described Charlotte as stuck in adolescence, which makes sense to me as I regularly feel I am a 16 year old with 20 years' experience...

Apt phrases in this Entry too "proper propriety behaviour must be observed at all times, coupled with self-sacrifice and discipline" "not allowed" "not allowed" "not allowed"

However, I am not Charlotte. I'm not entirely sure where my inner monologue came from, but it was school, PT and so-called "friends" rather than my parents who inadvertently or otherwise pressured me to aim to conform to "normality", so that didn't help. I also recognise that the inner monologue whispering about inferiority is not helped by agreeing to oppression, but by working against it. And I strive to widen my social circle and in doing so many of my rules become weakened or disappear because they don't apply to my excellent friends so they have less power over me.

I think a lot of what make Charlotte so fascinating is her very vulnerability, her extreme sheltered bordering on oppressed upbringing, with her later stories all about large families perhaps showing what her childhood wishes were?

For me what resonates most is her fear of large social gatherings and her dislike of intrusive recognition that accompanied her fame. I can relate to that.

<BB<