Re-write (Final)

REWRITING OF JANE EYRE IN ANOTHER DIFFERENT WAY
(Poe Elama)

Hello everyone!
I have done my final re-write by rewriting Jane Eyre. I have started straight away from how the story ends, and put all my ideas together to form up another different way of re-writing it.
Love you all.

My mother was a daughter of Malietoa, the Samoa Head of State. She was beautiful, well respected and polite. She was an intelligent woman and a Christian as well; the reason why her father called her Lagi, a short form of the name Taliilagiseaooloumalo, which meant that a Samoan leader had to be selected from heaven. This was predicted by the late Samoan god, Nafanua, who believed that this foreseeable God would be more powerful and stronger than the old Samoan gods. My mother had also been employed as a nurse in one of the private hospitals in the island for five and a half years. Because of her honesty as well as knowledgeable, she got a scholarship offered by the government to study in England.

I was then about thirty years old; still single and was called the Prince of Samoa. I was also unemployed, however, I was curious in the art of garden cultivation, and later on, I became a well known horticulturist in Samoa. My dad had passed away just before I was born and my grandparents took care of me while my mother was away for her studies. I knew that they loved me very much because I was their only grandchild, who grew up very happily in our family. When I was young, I was very interested in listening to my grandfather telling me the history of my small island, legends, myths, and genealogy as well, which I had kept everything in my mind till then.

One year later since my mother had left; I got a letter from her to check how I was, and informed me of how she was coping in England. There were five of them from different islands of the Pacific who were in the same university for the same role. She said that they would be split up in different places for further work experiences, and she would go to a place called Thornfield to work there for another seven months.

Readers – I will let my mother narrate this part of my story while she is in England.

“Rosa, everything needed for your job is all in that place where you are going to. They were taken there last week by our delivery man” the head of the medicine department told me.
“What’s the name of the place again, Sir?” I asked.
“Ferndean Manor, a large old house situated in the middle of a wood, and they have established a small hospital in one of a very big empty room on the first floor.
“So may be it’s a private hospital, isn’t it?” I asked him again.
“Yes, it is a private one, and it belongs to one of the wealthy man by the name of Rhochester.”

Time had come for me to leave the university site for the mission. The carriage arrived at four o’clock in the afternoon. There was only the coachman and a young boy sitting at the back; I jumped up the coach and sat beside him. I was still awoken for another two hours while the young boy was asleep. He woke up, I knew he was so tired, and then he started to lean against me. I held him tight to save him from falling down and then slowly put his head on my leg as a pillow. During our trip, we came around some of the names I had just seen like Whitcross and others. Fifteen minutes after Whitcross, was a sign Thornfield 666 kms. I was a bit worried because travelling by this four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage would take another three or four days on these desert hills. Moreover, this was the first time I had seen this number 666 since I read about it in the Bible when I was a girl, as this number was said to be a symbol of the devil.

Oh no, what is happening to me? Why have they sent me to this distant Thornfield? Will my mission be completed or not? If not, what will my family in Samoa feel about this? How about Poe, my only son who is still waiting for me in the island? I mentally said.

I stared at this young boy sleeping on my leg and thought about my son when he was in the same age. Tears started falling from my eyes while I patted his hair. I suddenly remembered the word faith at this time.
“Faith, faith, faith.” I murmured. “Have I forgotten about God? Have I forgotten about another part of my island’s history which was told to me by my grandfather? Have I forgotten about the missionary from this country, this country where I am now, who brought the Good News about the Heavenly God to us?”
And straight away, I prayed God without a voice to help me with these uncertain feelings and guide us through our long journey. The young boy who was with me had slept through out the whole first night of our journey and that gave me a good opportunity to have a nice rest as well.

The next morning, I woke up before the sun rose and just remembered that we were still on our way to Ferndean Manor. I felt sorry for the coachman as it was a long trip without an assistant. Nevertheless, after another quarter of an hour, the coach suddenly stopped in front of a sign board which said “rest place.” About 100 metres to the right side was a coffee shop. Because it was time to break our fast, we went to it and we were kindly welcomed by a teenager who was the same age with the young boy sitting besides me. These two conversed well during our breakfast and it seemed that they knew each other for a long time. They chatted and laughed; sometimes louder and sometimes softly, I could hardly hear. However, one of the questions she asked was where he was going to, and I heard him answering that he was heading to a place called Ferndean Manor. Additionally, the coachman told us to relax ourselves for another half an hour because he had to water the horses first before we continued the journey.
“That is not a problem sir; by the way, what is your name?” I asked very politely.
“Sam, Sam Petersen,” he answered without looking at me.
“You?” Sam asked.
“Me? My name is Rosa.””What a name.”
“Thank you Sam.” I replied.

It was 11 o’clock in the morning and we were on the street again. The day was so hot which made us stay awake the whole time. Nevertheless, the question that I had heard in the coffee shop was still in my mind; I turned to the young boy and stared at him until he faced me and gave me a happy smile. I gave him a smile as well and started asking him some questions.
“Please, can you tell me what your name is?” I enquired.
“My name is Junior, the only son of a man named Edward Rhochester.” replied the young boy.
“I see. So your whole name is Junior Edward Rhochester?”
You’ve got it, Miss,” answered the boy.
“I’ve heard that you are going to Ferndean Manor, what for?”
“Just to visit my family.”

I was eager to find out from him about his family, as we were heading to the same place.
“Can you tell me more about your family, because I love to hear it as I am new to this place?”
“It’s a long story madam, but I will just inform you of what I remember.”

At that moment, I moved very close to him, held both his hands when we faced each other, and tried to persuade him not to be ashamed or worried about anything. He then started telling his story.

“I was born in England where I am now living. I am staying with my older sister who is eight years older than me, in one of my dad’s property in England. When I was ten years old, I started to understand what my sister always told me about my family, especially my parents. My sister said that she was not a real daughter of my father but he took care of her when she was very young. She believed that she was a little French orphan who was under the good care of a very young, beautiful governess by the name of Jane Eyre, who was hired by my dad to come and work at our house. However, I still treat her as a real sister to me because I was brought up together with her when I was a baby.”

“Why are you two staying by yourselves? What has happened to your parents?”

“My dad owns the place called Ferndean Manor which is where I am going to now. He stays there for good because of his estate; he owns everything there, as he’s the only one left of the family; his parents and his older brother are all dead. He is as well the owner of a private hospital developed in his property in Ferndean. The hospital is not very big with only a doctor and one nurse being employed. He has about ten servants working there not only inside the house, but outside as horticulturists and cleaners.”

“I am very keen to hear your story Junior. What about our mum? Where is she?”

“That’s another long story Rose; a sad one as well. My sister told me that when I was nine years of age, my parents bought that house in which we’re staying now. They hired a woman to look after us so that we can go to school in England. Then my parents left us and came to Thornfield for the estate as I said before. A year later, I and my sister got a letter from our father saying that my mum had disappeared. He didn’t really know why, but his suspicion was that, she was in love with someone else.”

He paused for half a minute and I had seen him weeping. I held him towards me and shared the same feeling he had, then I whispered to his ear to comfort him.

“I am so sorry about your mother’s situation Junior, but do you want to hear a story about me?”

He gave me a big smile after wiping tears from his eyes with his hand, and said that he wanted to know who I was. I shortened my story by just telling him that I was a Samoan who had got a scholarship as a nurse at the university where I was picked up from, and I was heading for Ferndean as well for further experience before returning to Samoa.

“Well!” the boy muttered “Are you coming with me to my father’s house? Thank God for letting I meet a first Samoan person in my whole life. You are very generous madam and maybe all Samoans are like that, eh?”

“Yes Junior, Samoans are very kind people because they believe in God, and the Good News about our Heavenly Father which was brought over to Samoa by a missionary from your country.”

“What’s the missionary’s name?”

“His name was John Williams, and that was in 1830.”

“Rosa, I also believe in that same God because my sister said our mum was a Christian. However, one other thing I didn’t mention was that I and my sister are both in the same university where you are. In fact, my dad also owns that university; the reason why it is called Rhochester University. Adele is studying law and I’m researching for medicine. I am here just for my holiday.”

“I am very pleased we are in the same university owned by your father, and now I know your father is a multi-millionaire. I am as well delighted we are going to the same place.”

It was night time then and we fell asleep since it was a very long journey. We just chatted and talked through out our trip. We had our conversation with the young boy about Rhochester University. We talked about my homeland, as he always asked me a lot of questions. Sometimes when we stopped to water the horses, or a short rest under the shady trees, we laughed at the coachman’s funny jokes in that he acted like a comedian. In fact, readers, it was a very happy journey till the last two hours before we reached our destination.

I was not expected by anyone in Ferndean except Pat Murphy, a black doctor who was in charge of the private hospital, but he didn’t know exactly what my arrival time was. Yet, it was Wednesday afternoon when we arrived at the hotel called George Hotel, situated in a place named Millcote. The coachman informed us that this would be our last stop and then we went inside to have lunch.
Once we entered the door, Junior suddenly ran towards a man sitting by himself at one of the tables and gave him a hug. The young boy sometimes pointed his hand to me while they kept talking with the man. And most of the times then, the man stared at me in a very strange way. I started to feel frightened as the man had got a long beard, a big scar on his right eye with another small one on his forehead and never gave me a smile. About half an hour since we were in the hotel, the man and the young boy got ready to leave, so they walked slowly towards the table where I had my lunch. In my disbelief, the man stopped behind me, put his hands on my shoulders, whispered to my ear and said “see you soon,” and left the place. I sat wordless there for about five minutes and said mentally to myself whether that was the young boy’s father or not.

“If he is Junior’s father,” I murmured, “he is Mr Rhochester as well, the owner of the university, and the private hospital where I would be working at.”

While I was trying to clear out these clouds of thoughts from my mind, a woman who served me for lunch asked me some questions and slowly sat down on the other side of the table facing me.
“Hello madam, my name is Julie. I have been a servant for this inn since the last eighteen years,” the woman said, “and your name?”
“Rosa,” I replied, “I’m from Rhochester University and I have been selected to come and work at Ferndean to further my experience.
“I spotted from the kitchen that you looked so sad during your lunch; any problem, Rosa?”
“Yes Julie, I was a bit scared of the man who kept staring at me whilst having lunch.”
“Which man?” asked Julie.
“The one who has just left with a young boy, do you know him?”
“Oh yes,” answered Julie. “I’ve been here for a very long time and I know almost everyone in this little town.”
“Please, who is he?” I asked keenly.
“He is Edward, Edward Rhochester, one of a multi-millionaire of Thornfield. That is his only son from one of his wives, but at the moment, he is a widower.”
“Why, what happened to his wives?” again I asked.
“It’s a long story,” responded Julie, but I will just briefly tell you some of what had happened.

I edged my chair a little closer to the table as she started speaking low.

“About eighteen years ago, Thornfield Hall, one of the properties owned by that man, Edward, was burnt down. The fire broke out at dead of night and the whole building was in one mass of flame, before engines from this suburb, Millcote, arrived. This horrible fire was believed to be started by a terrible woman. For sure, no one knew who she was before, but after the accident, they discovered that, she was Edward Rhochester’s lunatic wife, who was kept locked in a room on the third floor of the house. There was also a woman by the name of Grace Poole who looked after that maniac, but her only problem was that she drank too much; the reason of the lunatic woman to escape from her room, went straight into the governess’ room, burned the bed and the whole house was soon on fire.”

“Excuse me Julie,” I whispered, “who was that governess?”

“She was hired to work at the house. She was a very pretty young girl who later married this man even though he was too old for her, and her name was Jane Eyre. The man was crippled and blind when they married, however, they left for England for further treatment and when everything was impeccable and Mr Rhochester was back to normal, they returned here to Thornfield. But a very strange thing happened again. His second wife; the governess; has disappeared since the last five years, and no one knows for sure where she is now.”

I stared at the woman. I felt tears from my eyes because I though about the young boy’s story in the coach. I had seen that man in the inn, I had heard his whispering to me before he left and I had thought about my mission as well. I felt nervous, and still felt scared.
“Rosa, are you okay?” Julie asked.
“Oh, yes.” I replied while wiping tears from my eyes. “Sorry about this.”

“Madam, are you ready for the last two hour drive?” the coachman called from outside the window where we were talking with the woman.

I didn’t give him a reply but I stood up, shook hands with the waiter, and hugged each other while she muttered to me to take care.

We reached Ferndean just before night time. I saw some people from inside the house looking at me whilst the coachman carried my bags from the carriage and took them into my room. I walked slowly towards the house and unexpectedly saw Mr Rhochester on a horse under one of the trees staring at me, a scene which made me more terrified as his face looked like Dracula to me. Anyway, when I entered the house, dinner was ready. There were four people sitting at the table welcoming me; the black doctor, Mr Murphy, Ruth, the nurse aid, Junior, Rochester’s son, and the man by the name of John, the husband of Mary, a woman who had served our dinner.
I was so exhausted on my first night due to our very long journey. I went to bed early and suddenly disappeared to the horror place of hallucinations.
The door was knocked twice. I waited; knocked again, then I slowly raised and walked to the door, opened it and I was abruptly grasped by those strong hands, with long dirty finger nails. I screamed and screamed, trying to fight back and that made me fell off from my bed.
The next morning, I started working with Dr Murphy. Everything was perfect throughout my whole mission except these horrible illusions I had almost every night.
A woman with a red dress, the same woman who grabbed me at my door came knocking at my window, threw a piece of paper in and left. I stretched my hand to grip it and found these words written in it “help you, or help me.” I suddenly woke up and there was nobody.

The last dream I had was that, we had a long conversation with an old woman while the same woman with long fingernails crawled inside like a fierce animal and chased us around the room, causing me to jump out of the window, and later on found myself fell off again from my bed.

However, one night before bedtime, a knock on my door scared me as it wasn’t a dream, I opened it and in my astonishment, that man, Mr Rhochester, the owner of the house held my hand and guided me to my bed.

You know readers – that was the scariest time of my life since I left my home land.

Nevertheless, I knew already what would happen, I tried to calm down and pretended that I was not frightened.

“Mr. Rhochester” I talked so politely, “You are a good looking man. I believe as well that you are responsible of my staying here because this is your house; you own everything and I’m sure you can handle several temptations of life. Sir, look at my eyes, what can you see? Honesty? Yes. Honest eyes, because I was taught by my parents to be honest. Mr. Rhochester, I will be with you for a very long time till I finished my service here, and we can sort out something or a very nice plan for the future”

I knew he was wordless. He just stared at me like a statue with a long beard. That was the first time I had body-contact with him, and to me, he looked old as a sixty plus man. After a minute pause, he asked one only question.

“Can I talk to you again at the back garden tomorrow after work?”
“Yes Mr Rhochester .That is not a problem.” I answered while patting his hand.

He kissed my forehead, walked to the door, said good bye and closed it. I locked the door then, jumped on my bed, closed my eyes and prayed God for saving me from this man’s cruel hands.

The air was fresh outside the garden in the evening. I went to the garden before him so that he wouldn’t be suspicious about my words the night before. He gave me a big smile before he sat down besides me. He asked for my name, my parents and my home country. He as well talked about his biography, and subsequently asked me something.

“Rosa, do you think you can live with me and see me everyday? Do you want to marry me and we will be together forever?”

While asking me these questions, Mr Rhochester often raised his eyes to the third floor of the house. But suddenly, I remembered Julie in the hotel and her story; I had the courage then to answer his questions and then I inquired.

“Mr Rhochester, what happened to your first wife? What happened to your second marriage?”
He was shocked and furiously asked. “How do you know that?”

“There is a Samoan phrase E leai se mea e lilo which meant that there is nothing in the world that could be hidden” I replied.

“My first wife killed herself after burning my house as she was known as a maniac. I totally believed that it was a disease flown in blood from her old generation. My second wife has disappeared since the last five years, as maybe she has an affair with another man.”

I looked straight to his eyes and smile, asked him if I could have a decision and let him know within that week. He agreed with me and we left the garden. He went to where his horse was while I walked towards my room. Just about fifty meters before the house, I suddenly heard a noise from the third floor. The noise seemed to me that it was a laugh but sometimes a cry. I stopped for about five minutes, listened, waited and had a good look. Readers - I was very amazed when I saw just the long finger nails that I had seen in my dream scratching the only small glass window of that room. Then I heard footsteps running up the third floor. I went to my room and tried to ignore it but the terrifying scene was carved in my mind.

There was a knock at the door before bedtime again and I was really scared. I didn’t open it as I felt that I was freezing.

“Rosa, open the door, it’s me, Junior. Open the door, Rosa.”

I hurried to the door, opened it and pulled the boy inside.

“What’s the matter Junior, what’s happening?”
“I think there’s someone in one of the rooms in the third floor. I heard a voice of a woman shouting and swearing. The room has three doors. The first two doors are opened with an old woman lying there like a drunkard. On the top of the second door is the number 666, but I couldn’t open the third one.”

We quietly walked up the third floor and in my amazement, that was the woman we had conversed in my dream lying there, and I knew straight away that she was Grace Poole, as I still remembered this name from the waiter in the hotel.

“The room of evil,” I murmured and stared at the number on the door. “What kinds of people are living in this house? Is this a house of horror? What about that number, 666? Is it a symbol of Satan, the devil?”

We carefully went down again without a noise. I sat in my room, tried to figure out what we had seen, and finally the truth came into my mind that, this was Rhochester’s behaviour of dominating women and made them as slaves, but it was not a blood-flown disease. Readers, I was very lucky not to be Rhochester’s third lunatic wives. Nevertheless, we planned with Junior not to tell anyone that we had arranged something.

The next morning, about thirty cops were in the house checking every room. And at the end of the day, the report on the television said that Ferndean Manor would be closed down for good as it was a place for selling drugs; the reason of Mr Rhochester becoming a millionaire. He would be in jail for life with Grace Poole of being Rhochester’s lunatic wives security for many years. Other servants were imprisoned for a number of years for hiding these secret evil things. But the most shocking story was that the woman, who was locked in the room for five whole years, was Jane Eyre, Junior and Adele’s mother. Then I, Dr. Murphy, Ruth, the other nurse, Junior, as well as, his mum, Jane Eyre were all taken back again to England. As Murphy was a very smart doctor, I, as a responsible nurse aid and Junior, who understood very well in medicines, we took care of this mentally ill Jane Eyre, who finally became healthy, strong, active and very beautiful. Rumours that we had heard about Mr Rhochester’s bank accounts were all ceased, as the Government believed that it was all laundry money, although he had some money left from his welfare estate.

Readers I will narrate again the last part of my story as I am still waiting in Samoa for my mum in Great Britain.

One day I saw my grand father reading the last part of a letter and at the bottom of that letter, I spotted the signature which appeared to be Rosa Malietoa.

“That’s a letter from my mum I think, “I said mentally.
“Poe” my grandfather called, “your mum said they would be here next week.”
“They would be here - what do you mean by they? Is she getting married in England?” I keenly asked.
“No,” replied Malietoa,” She is not, but you’ll know it later.

There were two vans sorted out for the airport. My two cousins, a boy and a girl who were drivers went with my grandparents to the airport. I prepared our dinner and waited for them at home.

‘Hi mum,” I shouted and held her tight for a minute, “I miss you mum”.

She released me and started introducing those people whom they came with.

“Poe, this is Jane Eyre. This is Junior, her son, and that is Adele, her daughter.”

I shook hands and hugged them cheerfully before dinner.

“Sorry Jane and kids, this is one Samoan way of life. We always sit down on mats and eat. I think it is far very different from your culture,” I explained.

They all laughed and try to fold their legs but they couldn’t. Instead, they folded their arms around their legs. Dinner was delicious to them as they tried different Samoan food provided while most of my village gathered outside our house as this was the first time they saw some pakehas. Nevertheless, I was still confused about these Europeans as well, and just before bedtime, I was called in by my mum and said that my grandparents were waiting for me; there was something they wanted to talk about.

“Grandson,” said my grandfather, “we have discussed with your mother that you should have a wife as an advisor for you, when you would take over the throne from me. I am getting old now, and you will be the next Head of State. You have been single for thirty years and this is a good time for you to marry. Poe, we, your grandparents and your mum have arranged this marriage, and we totally believed that Jane Eyre, (pointing his finger on her) would be your future wife. She’s a Christian; she’s polite as well, and even though she had a previous marriage to a millionaire, she promised that she would love you forever. She also agrees to stay here in Samoa with her kids for good, as Mr Rhochester’s welfare estate has all gone.”

‘Who is Mr Rhochester?” I asked.
“That was Jane Eyre’s previous husband,” replied my mum, “but he put her and the kids into deep trouble because he didn’t really love them.”

I shook my head slowly whilst thinking hard of an answer. I didn’t have a word to say in another couple of minutes, and then I sat up straight and said.

“Mum, grandparents, firstly, whatever you want me to do, I will comply. Secondly, I knew that she was imprisoned by her latest husband, but I remembered what you had taught me about the golden rule in the Bible which says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbour as well you love yourself. Therefore, I will never turn down what you want of me. I will marry her and love her because she is my neighbour as the bible has mentioned.”

Now, readers, I have finished my story. In spite of my first marriage, I have known what happiness is to have a wife. We were much closed and we loved each other. After a year, our first son, Lulu was born, and our youngest daughter, Rita, was born two years later. We lived happily in the rest of our life with four children, and finally became the Head of State of Samoa after five years of our marriage when my grandfather had passed away. Even though I was then the Head of State of Samoa, I still worked as a horticulturist doing my gardens especially gardens of roses. This mostly attracted the interest of my newly-wedded wife, Jane Eyre, because she believed that, this was the only way to remember her home country, as roses in England symbolised not only a part of everyday life, but it was a symbol of royalty. Furthermore, my grandfather’s welfare estate was all under my name and we had everything we needed.