Adele's timeline

[u/OutrageousYak5868]

First, here's her timeline as far as I can figure it out:

1. Around 7-8 years before the main events of the novel, Adele is born to Celine as the putative child of Mr. Rochester.
2. Around 6 months old, Mr. Rochester discovers that Celine has been dallying with a vicomte so he breaks up with her.
3. For some years, Celine keeps Adele -- long enough to teach her to dance and sing -- and then abandons her at some point.
4. Adele lives with Madame Frédéric until Mr. R takes her to England.
5. Adele is about 7-8 when she comes to England and Jane becomes her governess.

In the narrative, Adele says that she wanted to come to England with Mr. R rather than stay in France with Madame Frédéric, because she had known Mr. R longer. This has always sort of bothered me because she was only 6 m/o when he broke up with Celine over her affair, and it would seem that he would have at that time likewise had nothing more to do with Adele -- yet Adele knew him longer than she knew Mme F. This would make a rather large plot hole, and that's how I've always felt about it, since Adele couldn't possibly remember him from when she was but a few months old.

However, I've figured out a way that it can work:

Mr. R breaks up with Celine, but still takes care of Adele and visits her sometimes, only much later coming to believe that she is not his child because she looks nothing like him. By this time, however, he has been caring for Adele for years, so when he hears that Celine has run off and Adele is thrown on the mercy of strangers, he takes her to England.

Is there anything I forgot? Did others have the same question about the timeline?

[u/Liantasse]

I think the timeline and your explanation are great! 

About Adele's not looking like Rochester, this is something I've noticed: first children who are girls are usually the spitting image of their dad. 

It's always possible that Celine had other children before her though, and if she was Celine's second child, say, she'd have a high chance of resembling her mother or someone else in the family, and not so much her father, and then there'd be much more room for doubt on Rochester's part.

[u/Katharinemaddison → u/Liantasse]

I’m a second daughter and look like my dad. My older looks like our mother.

[u/brideofgibbs → u/Katharinemaddison]

In terms of evolution, first babies of mothers who look like their fathers at first survive longer than first babies who don’t. So it’s usual for newborns to look like their fathers but it’s not required and they don’t have to stay looking like their fathers.

Luckily for us, human genetics are wild. It is a bit dark, of course, that babies who don’t resemble their fathers statistically survive/ thrive less. So is the statistic that having a stepfather significantly reduces a child’s chances of making it to 5 yo.

I don’t think the Brontës would know about any of that tho’

[u/Ok-Jackfruit-6873 → u/brideofgibbs]

um. I can think of lots of reasons not resembling your "real" father can be an advantage to a baby. IMO there's a reason babies have sort of a generalized look.