In ‘A Doll’s House’ there are many ways the women are expected to act a certain way during this era. The women of the family are expected to please almost everyone around them by making sacrifices. For example Mrs. Linde decided it was right to abandon a man named Krogstand the man she truly loved. She was almost forced to leave him because he has very little money to his name and instead decided to marry for money to please and support her mother and brothers. This is a very good example of women before the New Women stage. For Mrs. Linde to become a form of a new women she most likely would have stood up for herself and married the man that she loved most. Another example of a woman who had to make a sacrifice would be, Nora, the main character women. Nora and her family have money compared to the other women characters in the play; therefore she didn’t have to give up someone she loved to be with someone with money. But one aspect of her life that isn’t fair to her is the fact that the society that she lives in tells her that her husband, Torvald is the power in the relationship, he should take care of all the finances and rules of their family. Nora is considered to be a New Woman. She takes the risk to save her family; Nora takes a loan in which she must hide from her husband, who should never find out. She goes out on her own, solving a problem by herself, which is the right step in the direction of becoming a New Woman. Nora has to secretly work off her loan behind her husbands back. At the time it was illegal for a woman to obtain a loan with out her husbands consent. As a new woman Nora tends to question whether or not she is happy living with her husband. What really sets Nora off into the New Woman direction is the fact that she wants to be free, free of her household and wife obligations, she wants to be able to follow her very OWN ambitions, beliefs and most importantly her own identity, to finally become more than just the wife of Torvald. Within all the conflict of the black mailing that is coming from Krogstad about the loan, and the selfishness of her husband, Nora begins to find her true self, a self that can live and survive without her husband. And for this time this is a major step, women can start to become more powerful on there own, much more independent. The age of The New Women, empowered women to be whom they want, write what they want and think what they want. Just as in today society people are fighting for women’s rights, equal pay, and more. Women should and will have the same rights as men, one day.

• Which characters in the play, if any, are “New Women?” Why? At what point do they become “New Women,” and for what reasons?

I believe that Nora was an example of new woman because in the beginning, she thought she was completely happy, and she was very affectionate towards Torvald. However, she showed the audience that she was a new woman when she took the initiative to forge her father’s signature to obtain money to save her husband’s life, and when she took the loan out from Krogstad. Women during her time women were thought of to only be a good wife and a good mother. Furthermore, at the end of A Doll’s House, Nora became a ‘New Woman’ when she finally realized that Torvald and even her father always treated her as a child or a doll, and she felt she needed to rebel against the social structures her husband, her father, and society have put upon her. She finally rebels by leaving her children, her husband, and her home to become an independent woman free of any male dominance.

Mrs. Linde, Nora’s childhood friend, is another example of a ‘New Woman’. I believe that Mrs. Linde was almost and inspiration for Nora to leave, but she was also a source of envy for Nora because she wasn’t dependent on a man. Mrs. Linde is example of a ‘New Woman’ because she is a widow who has to support herself, and she also does not have any children like most women did during her time. She also worked to support herself when most women during her time were wives and mothers.

• Does Torvald live up to societal expectations for men? Why or why not?

Torvald does live up to societal expectations of men because he is the head of the family, and he is the provider for the family. In addition, Torvald’s role in their marriage in his mind was to protect and guide his wife which was a common idea during this time. However, at times, Torvald seems to be almost childlike in the way he shelters himself from the realities of the world. For example, Torvald decides to fire Krogstad just because he doesn’t think that Krogstad gave him proper respect. Furthermore, his priorities are on his reputation and his standing in society which were major societal norms for men during that time.

• What major decision does Nora have to make? Does she do the right thing?

Nora seems to make three major decision that define this whole play. The first one is forging her father’s signature in order to obtain some money to help her husband. The second is when she decides to take a loan out from Krogstad. The third is to leave her husband, her children, and her home to be free from male oppression and to find herself. I believe that when she forged her father’s signature she was making the right decision because she was just trying to save her husband. Her decision to take a loan from Krogstad was the right thing to do because again she was just trying to help her family survive. However, leaving her family was the wrong thing to do. One does not leave there family because if you truly love them you wouldn’t leave them. She could have stayed and worked on her marriage. She could have told Torvald everything she was feeling, and she could have demanded him to start treating her as his equal.

4. Do Nora and Torvald have choices? How does this novel represent doors? Compare with another text – Bluebeard, The Lady, the Tiger, Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea…

I believe that Nora and Torvald do have choices; I believe that they had  the ability to make choices. Nora made the choice to open her front door and leave when she could have stayed with her family, and worked on her marriage. Similarly, Bluebeard’s wife made the choice to open the door, and she found the dead bodies of all of his previous wives when she could have listened to her husband and not opened it.

I noticed many instances when I was reading the play A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer portrays many characteristics the “New Woman”. The first instance was when she obtained the 250 pounds from a lawyer named Korgstad. The reason she needed this money was to send her family and herself down to Italy where her husband would be healed of his sickness. This act shows the image of the new woman because she is fending for her family to stay together and alive. She does many risky acts like borrow the money from Korgstad when she knew she did not have the money to do it herself. She also knew that signing the bond for her dad would be illegal to do but she had to for the sake of her family which is a trait that a man or a “New Woman” would have instilled in themselves. Since her husband was also ill, she was basically forced to become the man of the house and take care of everyone which is the role of the man. I believe she does not know it, but she is slowly realizing she needs to separate herself from the fact that she is different from all the other women.

At the end of the play, Nora shows many traits of a new woman. When Torvald finds out about her unlawful deed, he blows up on her to show her what she has done. After the long time she had to think about what she had done ( time before he blew up on her) she finally took the responsibility to let him know and take full blame for her acts. She showed characteristics of a “new Woman” in this instance because she owned up to her flaw and told Torvald the truth instead of hiding behind her lies and acting like Korgstad had it out for her. Also following the blow up, Torvald obtained another letter from Korgstad explaining that they didn’t have to pay back the bond and sent the bond to them. Even though Nora and Torvald knew everything would be ok, Nora took it upon herself to realize she would be in guilt her whole life knowing what she had done. She refused to stay with Torvald and left the house to find herself. She had a quote that stated: “I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are–or, at all events, that I must try and become one.” This quote stands out to me that she is declaring independence on the fact that she is not just a woman, but that she is also a human being and should not be treated like an insubordinate person that is looked down upon. She knows that she has more potential than to just be a mother and a wife and that she wants to seek that out without being with Mr. Helmer. This statement, I believe is the most distinct statement a woman could say to classify herself as the definition of a “New Woman”. Nora realizes that she needs to find herself and she should not be classified by the views on women in books.

In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the “New Woman Phenomenon” is definitely present. Although this “new woman” idea is shown in Mrs. Linde as well as the main character Nora, I will be focusing in this blog post on how Nora is a proper depiction of a “new woman.”

The most obvious action Nora takes showing that she is behaving as a “new woman” is when she demands to her husband Torvald that she will “stay [there] no longer.” Nora describes to him that she feels like he has just treated her as his doll and that she is disgusted that she has allowed it for the past eight years. Although he hasn’t harmed her or necessarily treated her wrong, she realizes that she doesn’t even know him nor does he know her. She concludes that he is a stranger to her and that she doesn’t love him. This step she has taken would have been a completely ABSURD thought for a woman before her time to have even thought. Even Nora, in response to Torvald saying that “no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves,” replies that “it is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done.” Nora understands that what she is about to do is something women of the past haven’t done, but she wants more from life, she doesn’t want to have to give up her honor just because she is a woman. This bold action of leaving her husband and children is something that only a “new woman” would have done.

Another action Nora takes that makes her a “new woman” is the fact that she performed the initial act that is the reason for this whole story: faking a signature so she could get a lot of money behind her husband’s back and tell him it came from her father. Of course, no one is perfect, so women before her lied, but what Nora did was a full-out scheme that took much planning and deceiving. I think her taking this action gives more evidence that she was acting as a “new woman” with a mind of her own.

A final argument I have to show that Nora is a “new woman” is that she dares to flirt with Doctor Rank in her own home. Again, I know that women before weren’t perfect and that there was cheating and things of that sort that happened, but I think that Nora stepped away from the idea of complete devotion to her husband and decided to be a little flirty with Doctor Rank because she felt like she wanted some freedom for her ‘dollhouse’ life that Torvald was providing her with. She didn’t seem to worry about the fact that she was having a good time with another man, as I bet many sheltered woman before her would have done.

I feel very strongly that Nora was very much acting as a “new woman” during this play in almost every thought she had and action she made.

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Project Gutenberg. Web.

1. Why does Jean Rhys tell the story in fragments, switching between different narrators? Why this particular sequence of narrators? (Antoinette, the Young Englishman, etc.)

In my opinion Jean Rhys tells the story in fragments to give the reader a closer aspect and view of Antoinette and the Young Englishmen. Also she does this to show us their relationship and how it led to what it was but not just that this was done to show us how the characters personalities really are and it is sought out for the reader to interpret it themselves.

2.What is the significance of the last paragraph, line, or image of each part?

There was something not right about how she felt sort of like she was missing out on something that she felt should be there.

3.What is the function of the character of Christophine?

Christophine functions as if she is her mother and she cares for her and knows better for her. Christophine shows Antoinette that she can rely on her when no one else can and  that she will take care of her for as long as she needed to be taken care of.

4. How does this novel function as a postcolonial critique of Jane Eyre? As a reboot? Or is it neither of these?

This novel, I believe gets everyone’s side of the story so that it is not interpreted that Bertha is just crazy or the relationship with Antoinette, it also shows the story behind the Young Englishman Mr. Rochester and who he really is as a person.

5. Compare the minor female characters of Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre. For example: Leah (or the other Leah), Amelie, “Mrs. Eff,” Mrs. Mason, Christophine, Myra, Tia, and/or the Ingrams.

Mrs. Temple, Christophine and Bessie were all alike in many ways but especially because they all cared for a girl who was given away by their own family.   Pierre is similiar to John because they were favored by everyone and they both had problems of their own that were not covered up and things that were not able to be hidden.Tia and John Reed were alike because they both had a hatred Bertha and Jane and both of them hurt the ones who that had hatred for without any consequences behind it.  Last but not least Grace Poole and Amelie are similiar because they both had secrets that they didnt want anyone to know about.

6. Explicate the title WIDE SARGASSO SEA.

The Sargasso Sea is an area in the North Atlantic Ocean with no shores surrounding it just water and it is seen as being a very strange sea by many people. A lot of people tend to compare this sea with the Bermuda Triangle but this sea is not that however it is not far from the Bermuda Triangle. They names this sea for all the seaweed it contained and how it would trap ships because of the large amount of seaweed it contained.  So I believe this title was chosen because The Wide Sargasso Sea is a mystery and so is the story behind the book, the sea, and mainly the characters in the story.

7. Is this an example of FEMININE ECRITURE? Why or why not? In particular, is Part 2?

I do believe it is because Jean Rhys is writing from her perspective which is a woman’s view on the story which explains why the main character is a man and he is shown as someone who did all these evil things to women. I believe it was her way of targeting men in general and showing that these are the type of guys that exist.

8. Why don’t we ever see Jane Eyre?

The time frame of Jane and Mr. Rochester wouldnt work with this specific story because Antoinette and The young englishmens relationship existed way before Janes time. Also at this time she would of still been living with her aunt not even old enough to understand what was going on with the two and their marriage. The huge time span with Antoinette and Jane led me to come to this conclusion about Jane not being seen in the novel.

I feel that Wide Sargasso Sea is similar in the layout and mindset as such stories as Wicked for example. While both stories were created following the release of The Wizard of Oz and Jane Eyre, they were created as an almost prelude to provide background information or rather provide insight from another characters perspective. In alluding to Antoinette’s character in Wide Sargasso Sea as that of Bertha’s character in Jane Eyre, as well as the connection of Antoinette’s husband, referred to as the “Englishman,” this comparison comes full circle. I feel as though this lack of identification is done deliberately as a way to always leave doubt in the readers mind because there is always doubt and uncertainty flowing through the characters minds. This uncertainty is displayed when Antoinette is paranoid about her husbands loss or lack of love for her, thus resulting in extreme measures of giving into the black magic provided by Christophine. There is a bit of controversy following Christophine’s character, because although she is considered to be a parallel to Bessie’s character in Jane Eyre for her loving and nurturing demeanor towards Antoinette, she is also the provider of the love potion which ultimately is the moment Antoinette’s husband (suggested to be Rochester) realizes the letter from Daniel Cosway, warning him of Antoinette’s mental instability, should not be taken lightly. Because of this, one could consider Christophine to be part of the reason Antoinette’s fate is determined the way it is.
It is interesting to me that Antoinette’s and Jane’s characters are portrayed as parallels and how well that is understood despite their differences. Jane is always depicted as a mentally strong and independent woman, making decisions based on her own preservation and well being; where as Antoinette is depicted as a bit more subservient with only the interest of others happiness in mind. They almost appear to be the different types of women men are often attracted to, either the women that will cater to their every need and treat them as masters; or the women that pose a challenge and make them work for their affection. By Locking Antoinette up after he has renamed her Bertha, Rhys is showing that the Englishmen or Rochester has gotten what he wanted out of her and simply does away with her when he feels she has nothing to offer.
Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea are both written with controversial plots for the time period they were written and I think because of that the female characters had to be extremes regardless of which way they fell (no pun intended, sorry Bertha). It is important to acknowledge the fact that both novels, while depicting extreme female characters, also create extreme male characters in the sense that for example, both John Reed and Pierre have some sort of disability and thus are dependent on women. This dependency downplays their authority and dominance, a message both Bronte and Rhys get across with little confusion.

It is said that Antoinette is based on the character of Bertha in “Jane Eyre”, but I almost see a resemblance to Jane herself. For one she does not receive the warmth and compassion from her mother figure, much like Jane and Mrs. Reed. Speaking of Mrs. Reed, Annette is much like Mrs. Reed, which yes we have talked about in class, but it just makes complete sense. Mrs. Reed was horrid to Jane, and Annette is not the nicest mother towards Antoinette. Annette is selfish and lives  in her own perfect little world. An example to show how Annette doesn’t deserve the lable “Mother” is when Antoinette has a nightmare…

‘Did you have a nightmare?’
‘Yes, a bad dream.’
She sighed and covered me up. ‘You were making such a noise. I must go to Pierre, you’ve frightened him.’

Kind of reminds one of the time when Jane was locked up in the Red Room, and how she saw a “ghost” and got sick, all the while Mrs. Reed just shrugged it off like Jane was crazy and a liar.

When Antoinette gets sick she is taken care of by her Aunt Cora who seems to be about the only person who shows her some sort of affection. Bessie was the only person who was nice towards Jane in the beginning of the book and then Miss Temple (I hope that was the teacher’s name in Jane Eyre) who showed her kindness while she was at school.

“The Wide Sargasso Sea” and “Jane Eyre” show many resemblances amongst characters. The main character Antoinette resembles both Jane Eyre and Bertha from Rochester’s attic. Antoinette’s mother Annette treats her somewhat poorly and favors Pierre over Antoinette because he is a boy. This is similar to when Jane Eyre lives with Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed is constantly unjust to Jane and treats John Reed like the king of the house even though he seems to have many behavioral issues. Both John Reed and Pierre are favored because they are the only boys, and men are supposed to inherit the estates when their fathers die. What is an interesting comparison is that John Reed and Pierre both seem to not be fit to run the estates of their fathers. John Reed is later incapable of taking care of his sisters and his mother due to problems with holding a job and due to addiction. Pierre is incapable of running his home and providing for his family because he is both physically and mentally disabled.
Jane Eyre is also like Antoinette because both women face many hardships in their life. Antoinette had to witness her house burning up, and she once had a life of luxury that she lost. Jane Eyre had dealt with the loss of her father, the hardships at her school, and she also dealt with a fire at Rochester’s mansion. What is also interesting is that both women had a good friend that they lost. Jane Eyre was good friends with Helen but she died of an illness. Antoinette was friends with Tia when she was a child, but when they were older, they grew apart. Both Antoinette and Jane Eyre also seemed to have only one childhood friend whom they both lost. Both women also felt betrayal by the Rochester characters, and yet they both loved him despite his dishonesty/maltreatment. Antoinette also reminds me of Bertha in the attic, because “The Wide Sargasso Sea” clearly leads up to Antoinette being the mad woman locked up in the attic just like Bertha from “Jane Eyre.” While this story leads us to believing that, there are still many differences from the stories for us not to be totally sure.

After reading Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, we were asking to compare and contrast the characters and see what kinds of connections we come up with. First my partner and I discussed the obvious duplicates, Amelie vs. Celine, John vs. Pierre, Christophine vs. Bessie and Tia vs. Helen.

Amelie vs. Celine

These two were brought up because they both engaged in sexual acts with the Englishman husband and Rochester (could very well be the same people/characters). Some of the differences are that Amelie is one of the servants at the honeymoon house in Wide Sargasso Sea and Celine was Rochester’s mistress and baby mama. Celine was a dancer/performer of some sort and taught her and Rochester’s daughter, Adele, some of what she knows. After being with Rochester and raising Adele for a couple years she runs off and leaves them. Whereas with Amelie, the Englishman ends up sleeping with her right next to the room where Antoinette is. This shows another difference because Amelie was a “one night stand” and Celine was not.

John vs. Pierre

These two are also greatly associated because they are bother favored by their mothers over their siblings. The disturbing part is that it’s not little things here and there, it’s very big and obvious things. John Reed, since the death of Mr. Reed, is the man of the household which is one reason he acts as cocky as he does. Pierre, who was Antoinette’s younger brother, was greatly favored by their mother. When the doctor tells their mother that Pierre was sick, we never find out with what, she completely changes. Once Pierre dies after the fire, I do believe that is what pushes their mother to her breaking point. Antoinette later leaves because her mother cannot get over Pierre and basically proves she doesn’t love Antoinette as much as she loved him. John and Pierre overlap because the obsession their mothers had over them but they differ because of the context in which their love is there.

Christophine vs. Bessie

Christophine is the servant who helps Antoinette with many things going on in her life. She is believed to participate in forms of witchcraft, which later Antoinette asks her to brew a potion to make the Englishman (thought to be Rochester in Jane Eyre) to fall in love with her. Which the potion makes the Englishman sick and lead to him having an affair with another servant, Amelie. Bessie is the servant in Jane Eyre that helps Jane through her time at the house, and is seemed to be one of the only people who cares for her for most of the book. When Jane goes on in life, she has to leave Bessie behind at Gateshead.

Tia vs. Helen

Tia is Antoinette’s friend, they grew up together and were there for each other through everything. Helen is Jane Eyre’s friend from Lowood, they became really close because they didn’t have anyone else. These two are similar because they were friends for these two characters when they needed to get away from the disasters going on in their lives. The difference is, Helen dies at Lowood because she becomes very sick, but Tia stabs Antoinette in the back (figuratively not literally) by cheating Antoinette out of her pennies, stealing her clothes and later throwing a rock at her which scars her for the rest of her life. So in the end, Helen would be the better friend figure than Tia.

I thought the Wide Sargasso Sea was a very interesting side to the story because I was very curious why and how Antoinette/Bertha went crazy while being in the attic. Now, after reading that side, I don’t know if I would stick up for Rochester’s side of the situation anymore because it seems as if he is the one that made her go crazy. He did so many things that would make anyone upset, he never apologized or talked about any of it to her, and then locks her in an attic and never comes up to see her. Personally, I think he egged the whole situation on, and he should get locked in an attic and see how he turns out in the end.

1. Why does Jean Rhys tell the story in fragments, switching between different narrators? Why this particular sequence of narrators? (Antoinette, the Young Englishman, etc.)

I feel that Jean Rhys tells the story in fragments to try and give the reader a more realistic point of view on what’s really going on between Antoinette and the Young Englishman. We also get to see who these characters really are and how things progressed between the characters.

1. What is the significance of the last paragraph, line, or image of each part?

She was always searching for something, something like a sense of peace. She felt nothing and wanted to feel something.

1. What is the function of the character of Christophine?

Christophine is like her mother for all sense and purposes. She takes care of Antoinette when everyone else just ignores her. She is the only person Antoinette can truly rely on. Christophine also instills sensitivity to nature and beliefs in obeah into Antoinette.

1. How does this novel function as a postcolonial critique of Jane Eyre? As a reboot? Or is it neither of these?

Because it opens an audiences’ eyes to the real story behind Bertha or Antoinette. It allows the audience to not just accept that Bertha was always crazy, and it really makes an audience judge Rochester for a sinister and manipulative character.

1. Compare the minor female characters of Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre. For example: Leah (or the other Leah), Amelie, “Mrs. Eff,” Mrs. Mason, Christophine, Myra, Tia, and/or the Ingrams.

Amelie is like Grace Poole because both of these women seem to know more than they were letting on; they both had secrets. John and Pierre were alike because they were both the favorites in the family. They also both had a disability; John was an alcoholic and had a gambling problem, and Pierre had a mental and physical disability. Christophine, Bessie, and Mrs. Temple were similar in that they all cared for a girl who was ostracized by their family. Tia and John Reed were also alike because they both had a hatred for Jane and Bertha, and they both physically hurt them.

1. Explicate the title WIDE SARGASSO SEA.

The Sargasso Sea is a vast area of the northern Atlantic Ocean which is home to Sargasso, a kind of seaweed. This sea is known for ships being ensnared by the huge forest of seaweed. Therefore, this title leads a reader to consider how the characters can be thought of as trapped in their own Sargasso Sea. These characters are trapped between geography, racial identities, heritage, and gender issues.

1. Is this an example of FEMININE ECRITURE? Why or why not? In particular, is Part 2?

I think it is because  Jean Rhys writes in the point of view of a woman who is trying to defend herself against prejudices of a male-centered world and the pressures of the standardizations of women during her time. In addition, her writing seems to be coming from her emotions and unconscious.

8. Why don’t we ever see Jane Eyre?

Because Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel to Jane Eyre, and Jane Eyre takes place 10 years after Antoinette and Mr. Rochester’s marriage. So, the time frame would not work if she were included.

As we discussed in class there are many ways in which Wide Sargasso Sea is mirror to Jane Eyre. Characters that are portrayed in both books is one way in which the audience can see resemblances. As a mirror can often distort the image of the person in the mirror, these books don’t have exact replicated characters, but yet they resemble and take the place of what could have been their mirrored character.

Looking at Christophine, from Wide Sargasso Sea, and Ms. Bessie, from Jane Eyre, the characters that we are imposing are images of each other. If you were to look into a brand new mirror, shiny and clear, without a scratch to be found you would see that these characters share some very valuable traits. In both books they are portrayed to be a caretaker and nurse. They both do their duties to look after the children and the house. Looking through a weathered mirror now, one with scratches and smudges that can’t be wiped away, you can see the differences that separate these two characters. Differences that imply that they are still two separate people. In Jane Eyre, Jane herself favors Ms. Bessie ever so slightly. They have a slow bond, but not as strong as their counter parts. Going through Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette shares a bond with Christophine that holds strong. As we dive into the second part of the text, Antoinette goes back to the house and continues on the bond. Although they may seem like small differences, I believe they play a huge role.

The way that authors have characters interact and describe each other says more about a character than any outside narrative description could. These interactions are huge and they set the path for the rest of the story. In some ways we can see that this directly influences the main characters in these stories. By changing a subtle relationship, the author is changing a majority of the story.

It is a difficult task to mirror characters. An author must take into account not to be “copying”, for lack of better word, another text but must not change too much so that resemblances become lost and forgotten about. Wide Sargasso Sea is written wonderfully in that Jean Rhys found the happy medium. She was able to add in differences to the characters to separate the books, but not too many so that readers wouldn’t be able to connect these historic stories and read deeper to find the hidden meaning in the mirroring of the characters.

Safety; Redemption; Hell. These ideas are repeated many times throughout Antoinette’s story as well as Jane Eyre’s. The concept of nature and redemption is an important theme in both of these stories. In the beginning of Wide Sargasso Sea, we see a young Antoinette Cosway Mason, who has given up looking for safety in ever-changing people who tend to abandon her. She instead finds safety in a stick with nails. On another, deeper level, it almost seems like she is seeking refuge from the apparently inevitable “madness” and hell destined for her because of her family and her mother in particular. Many times in the story, people on the island gossip, deeming her family as inherently bad for having ancestors who were slave owners. They also often discuss how Antoinette is crazy because her mother had gone mad and Antoinette clearly has bad blood. They have marked her with this mark of Cain (both literally and figuratively) and they see both her and her family unredeemable. Even the young English man, her husband, at one point makes a comment about how he has sold his soul by marrying her and references a “false heaven”. This raises the question of inherent good/ evil.

Furthermore, there is a lot of imagery that highlights the contrast between light and dark, heaven and hell. This is seen throughout the story in the form of skin color as well as in the climate. It is interesting she talks about her mother preferring the dark shade over the sunshine. As in Jane Eyre, weather is used to describe Antoinette’s feelings. For example, her husband was scared to touch her because he didn’t want to mess with that hurricane. The island is often described as unbearable hot at points, paralleling the friction going on in this marriage. We see imagery appear many times in both stories of fire and the color red. Personally, I connected this fire and the color of fire as hell. Society has condemned her to this fate and there is not much she can do to change that. She is driven mad—she is not mad because she has bad blood and was destined to Hell from the beginning, but she was rather driven mad by being labeled as such from an early age. I think it is also important to note that she is a woman; her mother was a mad woman, etc. Are women who have experienced the traumas and harshness of life and are able to have feelings and intelligence mad? According to society, this seems to be the case. Is this still true in our society today?

After reading part two of Wide Sargasso Sea, I feel like it’s possible to make the argument that this is the story of Mr. Rochester and Bertha before Jane Eyre comes into the picture; Antoinette as being Bertha and the young Englishman as Mr. Rochester.  After all, in Wide Sargasso Sea, the young Englishman calls Antoinette “Bertha” multiple times.  For example on page 53 when the Englishman says, “Certainly I will, my dear Bertha.” and Antoinette says, “Not Bertha tonight.”  Then on page 58, the Englishman calls her Bertha again but this time Antoinette is anger about it and says, “Bertha is not my name.  You are trying to make me into someone else, calling me by another name…”  Also, in Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester talks of Bertha as mad and so does the young Englishman in Wide Sargasso Sea on page 67 and I quote, “Antoinette I can be gentle too.  Hide you face.  Hide yourself but in my arms.  You’ll soon see how gentle. My lunatic.  My mad girl.”  There is also the fact that Bertha from Jane Eyre came from a drinking family which is similar to Antoinette because there is a scene when Antoinette is drinking when the Englishman and her argue; and then Christophine comes to comfort her.  It is on page 66 that the young Englishman states, “Pity.  Is there none for me?  Tied to a lunatic for life – a drunken lying lunatic – gone her mother’s way.”  Then my final comparison is towards the end of part two of Wide Sargasso Sea when Antoinette and the Englishman are about to leave for England.  Even before all this, Antoinette knows the young Englishman does not love her and he even acknowledges it again on page 69, “…If I was bound for hell let it be hell.  No more false heavens.  No more damned magic.  You hate me and I hate you.  We’ll see who hates best…” However, there are a few things that contradict that this can’t be the story of Bertha and Mr. Rochester before Jane Eyre because one: Bertha from Jane had a brother who came to visit her after she had been locked away, where as Antoinette’s brother died very young. And two: Adele from Jane Eyre does not exist in Wide Sargasso Sea.  Anyway, I still see many resemblances between Antoinette and Bertha, and the young Englishman and Mr. Rochester.

While reading Wide Sargasso Sea, I really liked being able to see the background of Antoinette, or “Bertha,” and to understand her as a character. In Jane Eyre, the reader does not get much background on Bertha to explain her behavior. It makes the reader believe what Jane and Rochester think about Bertha to be the absolute truth. It is easier to understand Antoinette, even if the Englishman is narrating, because it shows her childhood and how her marriage worked.

I noticed the timelines between both this novel and Jane Eyre are similar as the main character begins with hardships at a young age, lives with an aunt for some period of time, goes away, and then meets a guy and marries. There is also the resemblance, although Jane loses her parents before the novel begins, that in the end both girls become parentless.

Antoinette also parallels her mother in some sense, though we do not know the exact cause of her death. Annette goes mad after the death of her son and this causes her husband, Mr. Mason, to no longer want her. The same happens for Antoinette. Throughout their marriage, the Englishman finds Antoinette’s behavior to be strange and eventually, especially after the failed potion from Christophine makes him ill, he begins to find her mad. Once he sets his mind on the fact that she is not right, the Englishman rejects Antoinette.

Throughout what I have read so far, I could understand why Antoinette would act as she does. If Antoinette is really Bertha from Jane Eyre, I could sort of understand why she would take any chance she could and do something horrible like set fires. Being locked in a room for a large amount of time would drive a person to degree of madness. Antoinette also shows signs in Wide Sargasso Sea that she is beginning to not think fondly of her husband, so her hatred for him would only grow with the time that she spent locked in the attic.

It seemed as if her whole childhood was filled with being seen as unfit to be a member of a certain community. Her family was not really accepted by the white Creole community or the black community. It is clear they do not fit into the black community as they are constantly called “white cockroach” as well as the fact that “the black people stood about in groups to jeer at her,” (Rhys 1). Then to add to that, she is also not all that accepted by he own mother who cares more for Pierre than for Antoinette. Eventually she was bound to feel something horrible out of being rejected from the community surrounding her and her own family and it would not help to add the fact that the man she marries also does not even love her. The Englishman blatantly does not love her which he says for himself, “I was thirsty for her, but that is not love,” (Rhys 34). He shows this enough that Antoinette is sure enough to say: “Christophine, he does not love me, I think he hates me,” (Rhys 41).

If Jean Rhys’ goal with Wide Sargasso Sea was to give people insight on Bertha/Antoinette’s life, she really accomplished that. When you read Jane Eyre, it’s easy to just focus on Jane and Rochester and their little dramatic life they have together. Bertha is sort of pushed to the side as the “mad woman” that is Rochester’s wife. Jean Rhys opens eyes to what could have actually driven Antoinette to be the woman who burned down Thornfield and really makes you question whether or not she’s “crazy” in the first place.

My impression of Antoinette from reading parts one and two are that she is sort of depressed and sad with life. She has practically lived her whole life without feeling love. She didn’t feel love from her mother, and now she has a husband who doesn’t love her or even really care about her existence. In part two of the story, Antoinette goes to see Christophine and begs her to make a potion that would make the Englishman love her. “If the man don’t love you, I can’t make him love you,” Christophine told her. This is a prime example of just how unloved Antoinette felt she was. Her Englishman husband, who is believed to be Rochester from Jane Eyre even goes a step further and sleeps with Amelie, knowing that Antoinette can hear everything going on between them. Antoinette craves his love, yet all she gets is his infidelity and lies.

I really believe that Antoinette, or Bertha, as the Englishman likes to refer to her, is just a girl who has been through a lot in her lifetime. She has felt nothing but negativity and has had to deal with all of it. Jean Rhys writing this book has given so much clarity on who Bertha from Jane Eyre really is. I now understand that Bertha probably wasn’t the “mad woman” she was made out to be. Regardless of how much she tried to change people’s minds, she seemed destined to live the life of the crazy lady. It was almost like her path was already laid out for her and she didn’t have a say. Overall, from reading parts one and two there is a compassion for who Antoinette/Bertha really was. It is starting to all make sense that maybe Bertha the “mad woman” wasn’t so mad after all.

After reading Jane Eyre and part two of The Wide Sargasso Sea, I have come to one definitive conclusion: I really hate Edward Rochester. Rochester and his parallel character, the young Englishman are very much the same in both The Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre; basically they are manipulative philanderers and rogues who should be given no sympathy from the reader whatsoever. In both stories they attempt to manipulate wealthy young women into falling in love with them and marrying them, and the end result in both cases is that they succeed.

In The Wide Sargasso Sea, the Englishman (Rochester’s parallel character) convinces Antoinette to marry him, but becomes more and more uncomfortable with the situation as more information is revealed to him about his new wife’s background. In the beginning, he is only interested in the monetary gain he will receive by marrying Antoinette and courts her until she agrees to marry him,  despite not having any romantic or affectionate feelings for her in return. However, he reconsiders his relationship with her after their marriage when he receives a letter with disturbing information about Antoinette’s family history. Rochester becomes increasingly more distant from Antoinette, having felt betrayed and lied to (he did not sign up to marry a “lunatic” after all) and their relationship becomes increasingly strained. Rochester’s reactions to many of his newfound revelations about Antoinette’s past are rash and caused mostly because he feels tricked into their marriage, (you know, because he was completely honest from the start). This causes him to resent Antoinette, cheat on her with their servant, and to develop an all-around seething hatred for her. He eventually takes her away from her home in hopes that an English doctor will lock her up for being crazy, which brings us to Rochester’s actions in Jane Eyre.

In Jane Eyre Rochester (the Englishman’s parallel) pulls similar tricks with Jane, although some of his tactics are a bit more theatrical. Early on in their acquaintance he dressed up a gypsy woman and tells Jane that he is getting married to someone else simply to make her jealous, and to manipulate her into declaring her undying love to him. Which, to be honest, is a really creepy and obsessive thing for a guy to do. However, that is not the only stunt that he pulls, because Jane decided to not drop him after this incident. Later on, Jane agrees to marry Rochester only to find out his little secret on their wedding day. Not only is he married to another woman, which would have legally nullified Jane’s and Rochester’s marriage, he also keeps his wife locked in his attic where she has been isolated and imprisoned for the last ten years. Rightfully, she leaves him at the altar. Of course, she then runs back to him later in life after his actions (locking Bertha in the attic) caused not only his wife’s death, but his own severe injuries, and in the end he succeeds in winning the hand of the young woman.

The Englishman and  Rochester are basically the same person living out two separate stories. They both manipulate young woman into falling in love with them. They both treat their  current wives horribly with little to no repercussions. Unfortunately, they both end up getting the girl, even if the girl in the Englishman’s case ended up not being his ideal. In the end, neither of these characters are likable or respectable because of the way they treat their wives.

Originally there was not much that we could say about Bertha in the novel Jane Eyre because she was never given the opportunity to speak for herself. We learn about her through the perspectives of others and define her by the current state she was in while locked up. Jean Rhy’s companion novel “Wide Sargasso Sea”, begins to analyze Bertha by writing about her past as a character named Antoinette who came from a family that could be considered mad.
By looking into others peoples thoughts about the relation between Bertha and Antoinette some interesting connections between the characters Antoinette (Bertha) and Jane were speculated as well. One connection between the two is there upbringing in a home that was difficult for them to live in. Jane struggled living her aunt and cousins because they were harsh to her both physically and mentally. Mrs. Reed would be considered a mother figure to Jane but she did not fit that role at all because of her coldness and cruel treatment towards Jane. Mrs. Reed valued her children more and that took away from the emotional connection Jane needed to be comfortable living in their house. Antoinette was also neglected in ways because her disabled brother needed the attention of their mother Annette. He was favored by Annette and was more motherly to him. Annette treats Antoinette as an inconvenience and takes her anger out on her. This makes the conditions of living in that home difficult for Antoinette because she does not have strong connections to her family just like Jade’s similar situation living with the Reeds.
Both characters also struggle with finding their personal identity. Jane goes through her life in many separated stages. Only for a portion of her life at Lowood does she find personal peace. Antoinette also finds comfort being at the convent school instead of being home. Antoinette states, “This convent was my refuge, a place of sunshine and of death where very early in the morning the clap of a wooden signal woke the nine of us who slept in the long dormitory.” (34) Jane spends a lot of time on self reflection in her life because she is fighting to find her identity. Antoinette finds herself reflecting on her life in the moment she has looking at another character. As her family is fleeing their burning house, Antoinette sees her peer Tia and is overwhelmed with a sense of their similarities when Tia hurls at rock at Antoinette’s face, splitting it open: “I looked at her and I saw her face crumple up as she began to cry. We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking-glass” (27).
There are not many connections to make between Jane and Antoinette, but the ones that can be are notable. In the scene where Jane is seeing Bertha locked up for the first time, the thought of them being similar isn’t easily imagined. After learning what could be considered a background to Bertha’s life before Mr. Rochester, it becomes more probable and connections to experiences can be made. Ultimately their lives led them to the same man, so how different can they be?

As the story begins along with what was talked about in class, it is quite clear that this story has very similar traits to the story Jane Eyre. Antoinette who is the main character is a young girl just as Jane was in the beginning of her book about her life. The new story of Antoinette takes place after the death of her father, where she is left alone again with a woman, her mother and another child, her brother. Just like in Jane Eyre and the story of Cinderella, Antoinette is the left out child, she is the child that is liked the least in her own eyes. Because Antoinette knows this, she tries her hardest to please Annette. Being accepted is a struggle that Antoinette faces, whether it’s by Annette, the white citizens or the black citizens in their hometown. In the story of Jane Eyre, she knows she isn’t wanted or accepted by certain people such as her cousins at times and her aunt. Jane does not try to get them to like her, she doesn’t try to get on their good side, and she lets it be and befriends Bessie a worker to the house. Antoinette on the other hand tries to get Annette to like her, to love her like a mother-daughter relationship should be. But because this isn’t happening she also befriends a house worker who is named Christophe. Just as Jane did with her books, Antoinette likes to hide out as well, in her garden that is over grown. Even after Antoinette tries to get on the good side of her mother, nothing seems to be working, after a mishap with Antoinette’s ‘friend’ Tia, her mother can not even look at her. Antoinette is ‘best friends’ with a little girl named Tia who constantly insults her, and takes her things and also scars her forehead for life. Because there is no one for Antoinette to turn to and have her back, besides some of the house workers, Antoinette likes to take some time and roam around and explore new things, usually while avoiding others. Even though this story isn’t suppose to be exactly like Jane Eyre, there are many different aspects of it that lead to believe they have things in common, just as they do to the story of Cinderella. Girls who learn to live on their own due to a death of a loved one, and the ignorance of another. And how these girls deal with the cruelty and loneliness they must live with each and everyday.

While reading Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, especially Part Two narrated by the Englishman I am assuming to be Mr. Rochester from Bronte’s Jane Eyre, I can tell that this he is the same ‘tricky’ Rochester from Jane Eyre, but I think because he narrates most of the book, it is harder to notice how tricky he is because his narration or “version” seems to disguise his manipulating ways that we saw in Jane Eyre and cause the reader to actually favor him and feel for him. In Jane Eyre, which is all written from Jane’s perspective, as it is to be an “auto-biography,” Jane portrays him as a very mysterious man; the reader is able to tell that Mr. Rochester is a very manipulative man. Many of the events in the book, especially involving him, make the reader not favor him as well as the other characters. The reader starts to question what his motives are while reading the book when he performs events such as dressing up as a gypsy in order to hear what Jane has to say about him and pretending to marry someone to make Jane jealous. On the contrary, in my experience reading Wide Sargasso Sea, except for when Rochester slept with Amelie and “had not one moment of remorse,” (p.55) I found no other thing during his narration of the story that would make a reader dislike him/question his motives. Obviously, him marrying Antoinette for her money “according to [his father’s] plans and wishes” (p.25) was a tricky move on his part, but it almost doesn’t seem as tricky as it would be if we actually heard Rochester say that out loud. The way he approaches it in his letter appears to put most of the blame on his father.

Along the same lines, I found it quite interesting that unlike when reading Jane Eyre, where I favored Jane and wanted the best for her, in Wide Sargasso Sea, I really didn’t prefer one character over any others. When Antoinette was a young girl, I definitely felt for her and wanted the best for her. But as an adult, I did find her to be kind of crazy; definitely not as crazy as she is portrayed to be in Jane Eyre, but still, as a reader, I didn’t fully understand or ‘support’ her. Nor did I fully agree with or understand what Mr. Rochester was thinking or doing, but I would have to say that I almost felt for him more because he was pretty much forced to marry a woman he knew nothing about, who turned out to have many secrets and possible insanity. Antoinette appears to be normal and happy during the day, “but at night how different, even her voice was changed… always this talk of death” (p33). There was definitely something off about her that Rochester clearly noticed. I am glad that Wide Sargasso Sea doesn’t try to prove that Antoinette wasn’t crazy at all, because I believe that she was at least somewhat insane. I do believe that Rhys’ point in writing this book was to show the readers of Jane Eyre Bertha’s (Antoinette’s) side of the story so they could more understand her background and where she is coming from while reading Jane Eyre. Though I can now see that Bertha grew up in extremely difficult circumstances and understand why she may have possibly gone crazy, I feel like after reading this book, I now almost reason with Rochester more than I did before. I believe I was lead to this understanding of him because he narrated the majority of the book.

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys from the beginning reads solemnly, like the reader knows that this girl Antoinette is not going to have a good childhood. Antoinette who is narrating, right away in the beginning talks about “Mr. Luttrell…One calm evening he shot his dog, swam out to sea and was gone for always.” Starting off with those memories only foreshadows what doom is possibly to come. She also talks about how she got used to the seclusion, though she is talking about being fine and not having any friends, the children who possibly could be her friend are following her around singing, “‘Go away white cockroach, go away, go away.’ I walked fast, but she walked faster. ‘White cockroach, go away go away. Nobody want you. Go away.’”

Antoinette is really not fine with this for she then goes “safely home I sat close to the old wall at the

end of the garden.” For Antoinette doesn’t completely understand the dangers of being in her situation for I’m sure she thinks this must be normal for poor white children in Jamaica, but at least she understand that home is where she can feel safe. It’s weird here that Antoinette mentions that home to her feels safe though it didn’t really feel homey. Jane in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte felt that she didn’t even have home in her childhood. For she had daily reminders from her own family that she didn’t belong much less from strangers like Antoinette who had to deal with it. For Jane the danger was being inside the home. She got constantly beat up by John Reed and ignored by the sisters and the Aunt and basically everyone in the house. She was unwanted by her kin, which Antoinette suffers from the outside and from her actual mother.

Now, back to when Antoinette is home, she mentions the garden. She compares it to the Garden of Eden but even in her garden there is corruption, the wildness of the plants have takin over. This garden where she was supposed to feel safe is now corrupted just like how a bond between a mother and her child should be safe but for Antoinette and her mom is corrupted as well. Furthermore, we see more of Antoinette’s childhood and her predictability that some evil is going to occur. After the wedding scene, “Antoinette feels that that the sky and sea were on fire.” Which then is foreshadowing of the fire to her house. Antoinette has a poor, lonely, and secluded childhood and this seems to give her a sense of the evil around her, whereas with Jane she knew people for their good and bad qualities and made sure to dislike those characters, which brings me to conclude that children have this sixth sense about who and what is evil, though children are supposed to be so innocent.

Mrs.Reed is portrayed as a cold, selfish women, who only keeps a Jane around because her late husband, Mr.Reed, made her promise to take care of Jane. Georgiana Reed is the beautiful one and seems to have things easy. She treats Jane just as bad as her mother does and is quite selfish. Eliza was a bit better then Mrs. Reed and Georgiana but still did not treat Jane well. The only women in the Reed Household that Bronte paints in a nicer light is Bessie, the nursemaid. She is the only one to treat Jane nicely most of the time and Jane seemed to have bonded with Bessie. As for John Reed, he is the only male in the family and is unfortunately  looked at as the head of the house. He is a spoiled brat, that gets away with everything that he does. He treats Jane worse then anybody else.

The Red Room is a bedroom that Mr.Reed has died in and is avoided by everyone. Jane was sent to the Red Room after her fight with John. Being sent as punishment to the red room is the worst punishment you could get. Well in the room, Bronte gives the reader a bit more insight into the Reed family and how Mr.Reed ,if still alive, would treat her well and not toss her aside.

Jane likes reading “History of British Birds” by Biswick because it allows her to escape her world and the Reed’s for a bit. The birds in the book get to fly away when they wont to and that is what Jane wishes she could do.

Jane meets Helen at Lowood and they become best friends. Helen is someone that shes the brighter side and is optimistic. She is the opposite of what Jane is. Jane at first is in awe of Helen and the way she sees things and handles situations.

I’m immediately drawn to the very different idea of race in this novel. From the beginning, it seems that blacks hold a very prevalent role in the society within this novel, and not just because of the roles they hold as slaves. Granted these blacks are enslaved and work under the authority of Antoinette’s white family, the Cosways, but while most whites are visibly superior to blacks, Antoinette clearly fears the African Americans, and certain blacks that Antoinette is exposed to show hostility towards her. For example, Antoinette says “I never looked at any strange negro. They hated us. They called us white cockroaches. Let sleeping dogs lie. One day a little girl followed me singing, “Go away white cockroach, go away, go away” (Rhys 3). Antoinette is clearly open to threats from the blacks in her community, especially after the Emancipation Act has been passed. Since the death of her father, the former slave owner, the Cosway family has been open to more hostility from the slaves, and Antoinette suffers from this perhaps the most. Tia, the same girl who taunted Antoinette and called her a white cockroach, however, becomes Antoinette’s only friend, identifying with Tia because of both of their inferiority in their racial groups. Neither girl is part of the dominant white Colonial class of the time period, so they befriend one another. However, Tia doesn’t prove to be much of a friend to Antoinette, especially after she steals Antoinette’s dress and teases her, daring her to do a somersault underwater, and when Antoinette does as Tia dares her to do, Tia still steals her pennies and dress, and makes fun of Antoinette. I think it’s incredibly interesting just how much slaves speak out and revolt in the beginning of this novel, especially at this time, before the Civil War. Tia especially proves to be very outspoken and rebels frequently, proving that this time in history is the beginning of African Americans’ road to freedom. Also, the argument that Mr. Mason and Annette have about African Americans proves that Annette believes that blacks are capable of things besides just working, and she disputes Mr. Mason’s idea that slaves are simply lazy and hold no real importance. As Annette tells Mr. Mason, “You don’t like, or even recognize the good in them, and you won’t believe in the other side.” To which Mr. Mason replies, “They’re too damn lazy to be dangerous. I know that.” Then, Annette says, “They are more alive than you are, lazy or not, and they can be dangerous and cruel for reasons you wouldn’t understand” (Rhys 8). It’s incredible to me to see just how different blacks can be portrayed while still being enslaved. While they still hold their working roles in society, they are extremely rebellious and viewed very differently and in many different ways within this novel than many others.

While I was reading part one of Wide Sargasso Sea, I had started to feel bad for Antoinette. In the beginning we get the sense that her own mother doesn’t really like her. Each time she goes near her mother she sort of pushes her away. We also see that the mother greatly favors Antoinette’s little brother Pierre. We see this very early on when Antoinette tells us that a doctor came to see Pierre and although she doesn’t know what the doctor says to her mother it mustn’t have been good because “…she changed. Suddenly, not gradually. She grew thin and silent, and at last she refused to leave the house at all” (2). Then after Pierre dies because of the wounds inflicted on him because of the fire, Antoinette returns home to see her mother and her mother she tells her “but I am here, I am here” to which her mother cried no, no, no and “flung me from her” (15). After this incident, she didn’t see her mother again, she went back to the convent and then went away with Mr. Mason.

Another reason that I felt sorry for Antoinette was because her one and only friend Tia was a terrible child. One day, “Christophine had given me some new pennies which I kept in the pocket of my dress” (4). One day Tia and Antoinette went down to play in the water, and the pennies fell out of her dress, so she set them on a rock. Seeing this, Tia bet Antoinette that she couldn’t do a somersault in the water, so of course, thinking that she most definitely could, Antoinette took the bet and did a somersault (4). Tia then said that Antoinette didn’t do the somersault correctly and took the money from her, even though Antoinette argued with her saying that she did the somersault just fine. Tia then said she “hadn’t done it good and besides pennies didn’t buy much” (4). Then after Tia was done taking her money, she decided that wasn’t enough and took her “…dress, starched, ironed, cleaned that morning” (4) and left her old gross one there for her to wear back to the house. Because of the course of events that took place that day, especially Antoinette coming home in an old, gross dress, she said “she is ashamed of me…” (5) speaking of her mother because her mother ignored her the entire evening. Then, the last straw was when Coulibri was burning down Antoinette “saw Tia and her mother and I ran to her, for she was all that was left of my life as it had been,” but then “when I was close I saw the jagged stone in her hand but I did not see her throw it” (13). Tia threw a stone at Antoinette that would leave a scar on her forehead for the rest of her life. The one person who she thought was her best friend, who she did everything with, threw a stone at her.

The only good thing that happened to Antoinette was that she had her Aunt Cora as well as Mr. Mason, her stepfather, to look after her because her own mother wouldn’t. Aunt Cora took care of Antoinette for a good portion of the time after Coulibri burned down, but Mr. Mason did come and visit her often and bring her gifts each time that he came to see her. Then, at the very end of the first part of the reading, we see that Mr. Mason is going to take Antoinette away from the convent to live with him somewhere else. This made me feel a little less bad for her because she did have some people there to help her through things and take care of her after her mother basically cast her off after Pierre died.

In reading Wide Sargasso Sea, it is easy to identify with the character of Antoinette. She endures a difficult childhood, much like Jane Eyre. Her mother, Annette, is the complete opposite of what a good mother is defined as. Annette focuses all of her time and energy on Antoinette’s younger brother, Pierre. Antoinette often spends time alone strolling around in the gardens, preferring to be isolated from other people. Annette never asks how her daughter is doing. She never checks in on her or even gives her words of love and encouragement. Despite all of this, Antoinette actually tries very hard to get her mother’s attention. Even though her mother seems to not care for her, Antoinette still cares for her mother and tries to bridge the mother-daughter gap they have in their relationship. Antoinette also feels like she doesn’t fit in culturally. The black people near her home don’t want anything to do with her. The white people don’t except Antoinette and her family because they think that Annette is far too young and beautiful to be married to Antoinette’s father. Fortunately for Antoinette, she has a friend in the household servant and nurse, Christophine. Christophine reads and sings to her. They treat each other kindly and Christophine is one of the only people in Antoinette’s life that she can call a friend. Later on, Antoinette marries a young English gentleman (Rochester from Jane Eyre). Their marriage is awkward in the beginning, in large part because they don’t know each other very well. The two of them start to become more comfortable around each other and for a moment, it seems like they began to bond. They become more sexually active with one another and Antoinette thinks that Rochester loves her. Unfortunately, Antoinette fells emptiness after spending time with Rochester and she comes to realize that he just wants her sexually. Their marriage is not based on love, but on lust. All Antoinette wants is somebody to love and for that person to return her love. She tried with her mother and that failed. She tried with Rochester and that failed. Antoinette is a very sympathetic character when you take into consideration all the pain she has experienced in life.

When I first started to read the Wide Sargasso Sea, I began to wonder what was so significant about this book and as I began to get farther ahead I started to realize that this was the story of Bertha. Who now is Antoinette. While reading this book I wondered why in Jane Eyre, how or when did Antoinette become mad. My thought about the madness motif is that madness seems to come from her inheritance by her parents. Her father, Alexander Cosway, had supposedly gone mad according to his so call “bastard” son Daniel. Also, her mother Annette, was showing signs of her madness when Antoinette was a young girl. When the fire occurred in their house, the death of Pierre seemed to be the trigger to Annette’s madness. Another indication of Antoinette’s madness is because of her upbringing and how she becomes paranoid, solitary, prone to vivid dreams and violent outbursts. It can be significant that women like Antoinette and her mother Annette are the most susceptible to madness because women like them that are pushed into child like servitude and feminine docility. Their madness consigns them to live invisible, shameful lives.  Which leads me to when Antoinette marries a man that truly doesn’t love her and gets locked in to an attic that is like solitary confinement leads her to become a woman of madness.

As I was reading Part I of Wide Sargasso Sea for Monday, I became really fascinated with the relationship/lack thereof between Antoinette and her mother, and I’m happy we talked about it a little bit during Monday’s lecture.

When I first read about what Antoinette’s relationship with her mother is like in Wide Sargasso Sea, I was reminded very much of the relationship between Adele and her mother, Celine Varens, in Jane Eyre.

I found myself thinking about how Adele seemed to try and emulate her mother, perhaps to gain Celine’s affection. Adele sang operas, recited poetry, and danced, in my opinion, because she was copying her mother in order to try and get Celine to pay more attention to her and to express her love for her mother.

This is kind of like the relationship between Antoinette and her mother, Annette Cosway, in Wide Sargasso Sea because before Annette becomes reclusive and asocial, Antoinette seems to try to make some effort to gain her mother’s affection.

This is different from the “mother”-daughter dynamic of Jane Eyre and her Aunt Reed because there exists a mutual hatred between the two characters, as discussed in class on Monday. Neither Jane nor Aunt Reed make any effort to even try to love each other in the early days of their relationship because Aunt Reed is convinced that Jane is a devil child and Jane gives up trying to make her see otherwise once she realizes the attempt to do so is futile.

In the relationship between Adele and Celine Varens and that between Antoinette and Annette Cosway, there is some effort from the child to try and cultivate some kind of love, but there does not seem to be any attempt from either mother. This, to our modern-day minds, is a scary notion. That a mother does not love her child, or even make any effort to love her child, is preposterous to us; it is alien, foreign, unheard of. But perhaps there is a reason for it in both cases examined here.

Dr. Nesvet talked about how, as an actress in the 19th century, it was common for a woman to pick up various “survival skills” in order to make a living with even slightly more worth than that of a beggar. Those “survival skills”, unfortunately, often included becoming a prostitute in order to make more money just to be able to eat or afford a place to stay. During that same lecture, it was brought up that perhaps Adele was being deliberately taught the tools of trade of an actress at a very young age so that she would be brilliant as an adolescent/young adult actress, and so that she would never have to resort to prostitution.

It is quite possible, if that was indeed the motive for Celine’s teaching Adele to dance and sing, that was simply a different form of love for her child than is typical. Perhaps Celine believed that she could protect her daughter by teaching her how to survive, and that survival included not getting too attached to anyone or anything.

Going off of this, perhaps a similar motive may be extracted from Annette’s non-evident love for Antoinette. (A quick side-note: why would Annette name her daughter Antoinette, which is French for “beyond praise”, if she didn’t love/”praise” her in some way?) The Cosway family, we know, is of Creole descent. Creoles were, during the slave-trading days of both Jamaica and America, held to a higher status than African-Americans because they had European blood. It’s kind of a reverse-look at the whole, “If you’ve got a drop of black blood in you, you’re not pure” thing that the Nazis believed in. Because the Cosway family was of a higher status, they were also richer than the people they lived near to. Their mixed blood and their wealth made them the subject of hatred from those people, so perhaps Annette’s form of love for Antoinette was rooted in teaching her how to survive among people who hated her in order to protect her rather than to try and form an affectionate relationship that she knew might come to a bitter, abrupt end some day.

Wide Sargasso Sea is kind of like a version of Jane Eyre in a different perspective.  The book even starts out talking about the main characters childhood just like in Jane Eyre. The main character is Antoinette. Antoinette is like Jane in the beginning of the book she is an outsider in her family and in her town. In the town her whole family are outsiders. In her family she is because her mom favors her little brother Pierre. Pierre is disabled and later died because of a fire and the townspeople. When her brother dies her mother is even less kind to Antoinette. Some would say she is trying to distance herself from losing another child or that she has gone mad with grief but I disagree. I think the Annette is a lot like Mrs. Reed is to Jane except it is her actual daughter she is like this to. First off even before Pierre dies Annette is less loving and different with her daughter. It also seems Annette cares more of wealth and status which they don’t seem to have. After the fire she was even more hostile and detached from her daughter as ever. I think because Annette was Antoinette’s actual mother that made things worse for her than Jane because Jane will always know that her real mother loved her and would have cared for her if she was alive. In some ways its like Antoinette never even had a mother like she was just as dead as Jane Eyre’s mother was.

The book Jane Eyre reminds me a lot of the movie “The Sound of Music.” I will describe the movie and the readers of the book Jane Eyre will also see the parallels between the two.

Maria who is a nun, in the movie, isn’t fitting in anymore at the nunnery, she is restless and in need of a change, as in Jane Eyre and her need for a change from Lowood. Maria is assigned a governess job looking after seven kids in a rich home where the master of the place; Captain Von Trapp, is single and ready to mingle. Likewise, Jane Eyre, though not seven kids, is also sent to be a governess of a rich family whose master is likewise single. And of course, like all good novels or movies, the governesses fall in love when they shouldn’t for they are lowly in comparison with their masters and both of the masters were courting other women, making the governesses love them more.

Both governess bring light and joy to the rather gloomy mansions and the children love them. Soon the masters have no choice but to fall for these; different/unique, opinionated, “plain”, educated, well with children women. Of course, something always happens to make the lovers not make it in the middle of the story. Maria realizes that she shouldn’t be in love with this captain for she is supposed to be married to God, and cops out and runs back to the nunnery. Jane had no choice in leaving for she was a women of God, and her “idol” Mr. Rochester was married and if she would have stayed it would have made him commit adultery and made hr the mistress.

The governesses leave, and find themselves to be miserable. Maria because she was confused and was running away from her problems. Jane because she needed to keep her self-respect and conscious. However, the men in both their lives lose the women they’re currently with right about the time the governesses want to come back and then they end up together and live happily ever after. Of course, there are differences in the women the two masters were courting. Also, there were different backgrounds of the governesses and hardships but otherwise these two stories have a lot of similarities and while I was reading Jane Eyre, “The Sound of Music” just kept popping up in mind.

When Jane first gets to Thornfield, and weird things started happening and Jane thought that there was a ghost it reminded me a lot of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The Turn of the Screw is mainly about a new governess going to a new house which is apparently haunted by an old governess. The two children Miles and Flora tell the governess that they don’t ever see a ghost. One other similarity between The Turn of the Screw and Jane Eyre with the governess seeing the ghost is the first time that the governess in The Turn of the Screw sees the ghost is in the turret. Then, the first time that Jane hears weird noises that she thinks sounds like a demon laugh is when she is in the attic with Mrs. Fairfax.

As I continued to read the book, Jane Eyre started to remind me more and more of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is written by her sister Anne. One main thing that made me think of Tenant was when Mr. Rochester said to Jane, “Jane, will you hear reason? (he stooped and approached his lips to my ear); because if you won’t, I’ll try violence” (283). In Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Helen’s husband Mr. Huntingdon, took to violence when Helen wasn’t agreeable to him. Another huge thing that I saw similar in Tenant and Jane Eyre is when Jane said, “I had been struggling with tears for some time:I had taken great pains to repress them, because I knew he would not like to see me weep” (284). In Tenant, Hellen said something very similar to himself because her husband Mr. Huntingdon was very mean to her and when she cried he just thought that she was doing it so that she would feel bad for her. One last final thing that made me think of Tenant was when Jane ran away from Mr. Rochester when she found out that he had been married before and that she could no longer trust him. Helen also ran away, but her reasoning was because her husband was cruel to her.

I am very interested to finish the book and see what other types of things from Jane Eyre could be linked to The Tenant of Wildfell hall. I am also interested in seeing how things end for Jane, whether she will go back to the man that she loves or if she will stay away and make a life for herself away from someone who she can no longer trust.

The women in the Reed household are portrayed as snooty unwelcoming people. Jane’s aunt Mrs. Reed treats her very poorly and favors her own children over Jane tremendously. She treats Jane poorly because her husband who had passed away loved Jane more than his own children and she was jealous. Mrs. Reed’s two daughters are different in both their appearance and nature. Georgiana is described with having a spoiled temper and a very acrid spite. Her beauty masked her personality faults making her appear to be delightful. Her sister Eliza was seen as headstrong and selfish, but still respected. What the sisters had most in common was their cruelty towards Jane. John Reed gets the most grueling description of all. After all his cruel acts that were not all directly toward Jane, he still received no punishment. By Bronte revealing that Johns character gets away with his poor behavior we can assume this is a connection to all men. John is the only man in Reed family left and Mrs. Reed excuses his terrible behavior and acts as if he did nothing wrong. This could be connected to the thought of women’s fear overstepping authority. His behavior and cruel actions make the women’s in the household seem normal or tolerable.

Jane is able to escape all the reality of her terrible life when she reads Bewick’s Ornithology encyclopedia. She does not feel she is where she belongs and reading this helps her visualize all the possibilities of the places she could go. It is also her way of getting some kind of education. She has not yet been introduced to school so by reading from the encyclopedia she is gaining valuable knowledge.

The red room is the place Jane was sent as a punishment for fighting with John even though he was the one who was most harsh and started the fight. Mr. Reed died in the red room and that is why everyone in the house is shocked and scared for her to placed in there. In this room Jane locked alone with her thoughts and the paranoia that something may be lingering in the room for her. The red room represents Jane’s first time facing self-doubt. Her mood is set with humiliation and forlorn depression. In the room she begins to feel that what the Reeds think of her may be true. The red room is important because it is the first of many obstacles than Jane faces in book and the room shows her deep emotion and logical thoughts.

The relationship Jane form with Helen is important because Helen shows Jane a brighter outlook on life. Jane learns about forgiveness and the importance of seeing the good in every situation. After Helen’s death Jane had a reality check and tries to live life the way that Helen would. Good things in Jane’s life never stay for long and the death of Helen is another example of that.

Charlotte Bronte describes each character in the Reed household fairly well. Eliza Reed is very into her religion.  She is rather cold and stern toward Jane.  Georgiana tends to be rebellious and self-centered, only caring about herself. She is also rather mean to Jane.  John Reed is clearly the spoiled rotten brat in the family.  John bullies everyone around him, and the ladies of the house cater to him causing him to feel empowered.  Mrs. Reed is a selfish and spiteful woman, who always has things go her way.  If someone tries to cross her, or disobey, there WILL be punishment. Finally, Bessie is the character who takes care of Jane, showing her favoritism amongst the other characters in the story.

The Red Room is where Mr. Reed, Jane’s biological uncle died in. It has an eerie atmosphere. This is where Jane is sent by Mrs. Reed when she is being punished.  This is Jane’s literal and metaphorical imprisonment, also representing her isolation within the social hierarchies of her family.

Bewick’s Orinthology encyclopedia gives Jane a fantasy retreat from her dreadful home with the Reeds. When she reads this book, it makes her happy to imagine all of the places she could go to obtain her wish of being somewhere where she feels she belongs. These places give her a hope of freedom.

Dorothy and Jane are both striving towards a greater life.  They both strive to become independent, to be able to create their own identities, and make their own choices. Jane’s Bewick and Dorothy’s Dreams both give the girls a way to achieve these dreams, if only for a short time.

Lowood is a charity school sponsored by those with money (family, friends, subscribers) for female orphans to get an education. The girls who attend this school can only leave by achieving death, marriage, obtaining a different job, or being expelled. There are no exceptions other than these to leave Lowood School.

Meeting Helen is vital to the upbringing of Jane.  She teaches her how to deal with the conditions at Lowood, and how to keep her dignity. Helen gives Jane Johnson’s Rasselas because Jane questioned what the book was about.   Jane finds that there are no fairies, or things of the like, and it lacked the bright variety she was looking for in a book.  This shows Helen’s personality is a bit more sophisticated and mature.  She doesn’t seem to be much of a dreamer.  She is simply devoted to her religion and her schooling.

Jane and Helen have a very strong relationship, almost as close as siblings. Helen shares her Christian knowledge and endurance, and shows Jane that she is indeed loved. She also teaches her about forgiveness, acceptance, and tolerance.  This helps Jane grow to be a better person.

When Jane has decided she is in need of a change, she places an advertisement in the local newspaper, looking for a job. Mrs. Fairfax, from Thornfield, replies to this ad, looking for a governess for a ten year old girl named Adele. Jane accepts this job, thinking it will be a good change for her.  She also assumes that Mrs. Fairfax is the owner of Thornfield and that she may be frigid, but not uncivil.  If she does find Mrs. Fairfax to be anything like Mrs. Reed, she will immediately search for different employment.

Works Cited:

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2002. 1-88. Print.

Without a doubt we can read the character of Jane Eyre as an independent person craving more than the simple life she leads.  But taking a step back and analyzing the life she lives and the narration she gives us, we can actually deduce that Charlotte Bronte means more for this character than simply just an individual.  She has written Jane Eyre as the embodiment of feminism.

Throughout the stories we have discussed in class so far there has never been a woman who has come across as striving for more than solving her own problems.  These previous heroines all center around the struggles they face in their individual lives, such as the lady in Meacham’s story focusing on her marriage, or Briseis focusing on her love for Apollo.  One pines for freedom while the other pines for her lover, but can we really say the same for Jane Eyre?  From the very beginning our interest is peaked at not only her attitude, but at her acceptance at being different from all the rest.

It starts out as being a black sheep amongst the Reed household.  She is an orphan, a book lover, and fights against the norm.  Even the servants display their discontent for her outlandish behavior, with Miss Abbot commented, “I’ve told missis often my opinion about the child, and missis agreed with me.  She’s an underhand little thing (7).”  *For even the female servants of the house to make such a boast on Jane’s rebellious nature should speak in and of itself: even women expected other women to behave a certain way.

In Charlotte Bronte’s time there were these conduct books written for women by the richer upper class, and in these books women of all kind were instructed on how to live their daily life.  How to eat, how to dress, how to carry themselves, and so on and so forth.  These rules were not only written by men and women, but these were supposed to be examples of how one should look up to the richer citizens and desire to be like them.  While Jane is indeed a woman who understands when to be polite and have certain manners, there is something that makes this heroine different from all others.  She has an inherent desire to do more with her life than just ‘be a woman’, and speaks often of how she would love to live an active life.

There are often scenes depicted in Jane Eyre where we could almost hear Bronte speaking to us through the pages urging us to defy the norm and break social expectations the way she has Jane do, almost like a hidden feminist manifesto right under our noses.  No other passage than in Chapter 12 do we see this, when Jane is looking out over the horizon in a fit of restlessness, and we can practically see Charlotte leading us on to embody the idea of feminism and defy expectations: “It is vain to say that human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility; they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it (123).” *

*My edition is different from the one assigned in class, so these pages correspond with my book

How does Bronte describe the women of the Reed household? What does her characterization of John Reed tell you about the Reed women?
Bronte doesn’t show the Reed family in the best light. John Reed, for example, is a spoiled brat who always gets what he wants. John also knows this and uses it to take advantage of Jane and most likely even his sisters. Since John doesn’t have a father figure, he is unfortunately looked at as the head of the household. Even though he is not a responsible nor respectable character, his mother cares for him most likely so he can one day take care of her and the Reed daughters. Since all of the Reeds are so awfully rotten, this made me feel horribly for Jane. Also, even though the Reeds were so mean to Jane, they still told Jane she was lucky to be living with them. I think if anyone was Jane, they would want to get the heck out of the Reed household.
What is the Red Room? Why is it important?
The Red Room is where Jane was forced to take her punishment for fighting with John. It was an unjust punishment since John was the one who initiated the fight. The Red Room is also the one room in which the Reeds avoid since that is where Jane’s uncle died. It is significant because this is where Jane realizes that her uncle was the one person who was nice to her, and that he wouldn’t of wanted Jane’s aunt to act so cruelly towards Jane.
Why does Jane like reading Bewick’s ornithology encyclopedia?
This book is an escape for Jane from the suppressing Reed family. It also holds a symbolic since Jane admires the birds in the book. Jane wants to leave the Reed house and get away just like the birds and the book can do through migration and flying.
What is Jane and Helen’s relationship? What does Jane learn from Helen?
Jane quickly forms a bond with Helen, and they become best friends at the school. Jane learns a lot from Helen, because Helen has nearly the opposite outlook on life that Jane does. Jane has been largely negative about the adults in her life, and Helen finds the good in everything even when someone treats her badly. After Helen’s death, the book hints that Jane is going to take away something from how Helen lived her life. The positive outlook she had helped her get by in life, and Jane realizes that she shouldn’t have such a grim outlook on her life and how authority figures treat her. Jane also learns after Helen’s death how nothing good seems to be able to last. This so far has been a reoccurring thing in Jane’s life.

While reading Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, I found the young character of Adele to be incredibly interesting. It is most likely because of how she acts when she and Jane first speak. She was so willing to speak with Jane because she finally found someone new who she could speak with. The novel gives a very dark image and then for Adele, I was picturing an excited little girl just rambling on. For me, that seemed like a happier image, especially since Mrs. Fairfax asks Jane if she can “understand her when she runs on so fast,” (Bronte, 97). I highly doubt Mrs. Fairfax spends much time with Adele, not that she would be entitled to since that is not her job and since Adele has her nurse.

In my opinion, her existence in the novel is slightly ironic. She did not get the right kind of love from her mother as she is so willing to sit on the laps of people she may not know well and sing to them. Her mother taught her to sing and dance, but Adele seemed to really adore her mother. However, I found it all kind of ironic because Rochester brings her with him and she still does not get a healthy parental love. Rochester is gone a lot so Adele may have a far better life with him, but she still does not have someone there, except for her nurse, wanting to pay attention to her like a parent or guardian should.

Another thing I found interesting about Adele was her intelligence. She recited poetry for Jane and Jane describes her as “very unusual for her age,” (Bronte, 97). Adele was attentive to the little details when she recited the poem and I thought this made Adele seem wiser and older despite being described as “an infant singer” by Jane, (Bronte, 97).

It was a small section of the novel and Adele does not play a huge part, but this part of the novel so far has stuck with me.

While reading Jane Eyre, I noticed how Jane Eyre and Helen Burns have gone through similar situations regarding being corrected by authority, but they react to the punishments very differently. Jane Eyre believes strongly in standing up for herself and for what is right, while Helen Burns tries to learn from her punishments and forgives those that have punished her. These girls meet while studying at Lowood school, and I believe their friendship greatly impacts each girl. They learn a great deal from each other.
While Jane was at Gateshead with the Reeds, she was constantly being corrected for talking back to Mrs. Reed or asking why she was being punished. She questioned authority, and hit back if John Reed attacked her. In seeking answers and defending herself, she was locked in the red room or given other punishments by Mrs. Reed. She reacted very strongly to these injustices, telling the doctor, for example, that she was miserable while staying with the Reeds (Brontë 22). Jane develops a hatred for the Reeds and a general distrust of people.

As a reader, we meet Helen Burns at Lowood School, and she is also corrected by adults quite often. For example, Miss Scratcherd is not happy with Helen’s untidiness and eventually makes her wear a sign across her foreheads that reads “slattern.” In response to this, Helen merely says, “My things were indeed in shameful order,” (Brontë 70), but it makes Jane furious. As soon as Miss Scratcherd leaves the room, it is Jane who rips the sign from her forehead, not Helen. Helen tries to learn from these punishments as does not get offended by them, but Jane sees this as resignation and will not put up with the injustice.

However, I believe it is Helen who teaches Jane to have strong faith in God and to put more faith in humanity. Helen’s faith is unwavering, even in dire situations. For example, after Mr. Brocklehurt proclaims Jane is a liar and that no other girl should associate with her, Jane despairs, believing that every person in the world hates her for lie that has been told about her. Helen replies by saying, “Jane, you are mistaken: probably not one in the school despises or dislikes you” (Brontë 66).
When Jane and Helen first meet, Helen tells Jane, “It is not violence that best overcomes hate-not vengeance that most certainly heals injury,” and she goes on to advise Jane to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you” (Brontë 55). Even on her deathbed, Helen’s faith is unfailing, and she believes she will soon be with Jesus in heaven. This unwavering sense of faith in God and humanity is a new and difficult philosophy for Jane, but I believe it is this new way of thinking that allows Jane to believe there is some good in the world.

When Jane first arrives at Lowood, I believe Helen sees her as a friend in need and reaches out to her. As Helen becomes sick, Jane reaches out to her and stays with her on the night of her death. I think having to care for a friend in need helped both of these girls find peace in their experience at Lowood.

1. How does Bronte describe the women of the Reed household? What does her characterization of JOHN REED tell you about the Reed women?

• Bronte describes each person in the Reed household but she describes John Reed as a bully. John Reed acts just like Jane Eyre in so many ways yet she is always punished for the way she acts and he isn’t. The characterization of John Reed tells me that he is treated like the man of the household and he is in charge of how Jane Eyre is punished. Mrs. Reed is a cruel old woman who likes things to go her way and likes for people to obey her and if they don’t then there will be punishments. Georgiana and Eliza are sisters and even though they are, they act nothing alike. Eliza is the more innocent one but very selfish while Georgiana was very spoiled and her attitude acted as such. Bessie is the one who cares for Jane Eyre and she shows Jane love and favoritism over everyone else in the house but that is their secret.

2. What is the Red Room? Why is it important?

• The red room is a room that Jane Eyre biological uncle died in, it was cold, and superstitions dawned upon Jane every second she was in that room.  The red room is where no one goes especially not at night but Mrs. Reed sends Jane to it to punish her for talking back. This room is important because it demonstrates how the room is used for punishment towards Jane for her attitude towards her aunt. Bronte makes it seem as if Jane heard voices and felt closed in, in that room were depressing feelings that Jane felt.

3. Why does Jane like reading Bewick’s ornithology encyclopedia? What is the subtext of her paraphrase of Bewick?

• It made her happy and she was able to learn about many things since her Aunt Reed kept her out of school. Reading Bewick was her way of learning about the world around her. It also helped her get away from her current situation the more she read the book the only thing that could stop it was interruption.

4. Relate Jane reading Bewick to Judy Garland’s Dorothy Gale

• Dorothy Gale and Jane Eyre are alike in many ways but at the same time they have two extremely different situations. They have one thing in common and that is that they want to go far away from their families and everyone that they ever knew. Jane has Bessie as a companion and someone she knows who loves her and Dorothy has ToTo, which is her dog who she loves very much and who loves her. Dorothy Gale has her family who she can always go home to yet Jane Eyre has no one. Jane has her “family,” the ones who despise her and her attitude and Dorothy has the evil witch who is after her dog. Reasons such as these lead me to believe that this is why Jane liked to read Bewick so much.

5. Why does Lowood exist? What are the ways girls can leave Lowood?

• Lowood exists for young girls who doesn’t have any family or relatives it is sort of an orphanage for the girls, a place for them to get an education, learn discipline, and other things to prepare them for society. The girls can leave Lowood if they are proposed to and wants to start their own family or if they are leaving for a job. None of the girls can just up and decide to leave Lowood without having a good reason as to why they are leaving.

6. Why must Jane meet Helen Reed? Why does Helen give Jane Johnson’s Rasselas? What does this work tell us about Helen’s personality?

• Jane must meet Helen Reed because Helen is the one who stuck to herself and didn’t involve herself with other people she liked to read and Jane does too that’s what made her approach Helen Reed in the first place because she seen her reading. Helen gives Jane Johnson’s Rasselas to Jane because she thought that she would enjoy reading the book just as much as she did. Also because she seen how interested Jane was in the book and that is why she asked so many questions about it.

7. What is Jane and Helen’s relationship? What does Jane learn from Helen?

• Jane and Helen’s relationship is very close they are like best friends and Helen is Jane Eyre first real friend that she has ever had. Jane learns from Helen that she needs to forgive people who have hurt her in the past. If she doesn’t God will not be pleased with Jane. Jane always feels that she needs to get even with people but Helen informs her that she doesn’t and she needs to grow up and see that for herself.

8. How does Jane find out about the job at Thornfield? What are her assumptions about her new life when she leaves Lowood for Thornfield?

• Jane found out about the job at Thornfield because she wrote an advertisement in the Shire Herald  discussing the experience that she has and how she is looking for a job who would suit her needs. Jane felt as if a part of her life was was closing and leaving to Thornfield another chapter in her life opened. Jane was happy for a new beginning and she felt that change was happening. She assumes life in Thornfield has to be much better than the sorrowful years she spent at Lowood.

Works Cited:

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2002. 1-88. Print.

So far the book interests me. It has horror/suspenseful aspects to it which makes me curious what will be happening in later chapters. Jane’s parents died, so her Aunt and Uncle (the Reed’s) took her into their house to raise her. Mr. Reed had put into his will he wanted his wife to raise Jane as one of her own, after he died she attempted at doing just that. But in all reality, she does not treat Jane as an equal to the family. Whenever something goes wrong, Jane is to blame. At one point John Reed begins to fight with Jane and starts to pull her hair out, once Mrs.Reed sees this, she blames Jane and sends her to the “red room”. This room is the most terrifying room in the house, because it is the room in which Mr.Reed had died in. As Jane is in there, she feels as if his presence is in there with her, which makes her start to panic. Later, the Reed’s decide it will be beneficial to send Jane away to a school so she would find happiness. Torturous months go by until Jane actually leaves for this school, but once she gets there she realizes this school isn’t as dreamy as she expected. Turns out, it was a school where girl orphans were sent, and worked harder than they every expected. Luckily Jane makes friends with a girl named Helen; which they both quickly attach and depend on each other.

In what I have read so far of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, I have seen a common theme of Jane ‘losing’ the people she loves. Whether that means physically losing them to death, having them leave her, or having to leave them. The first obvious separation is of course when Jane loses her parents to the Typhus Fever as a child. Next, Jane loses Bessie, her nurse at the Gateshead residence. Although Jane did by no means have an enjoyable stay at Gateshead, she grew very fond of Bessie. It is a tough moment for both of them when they are separated. Jane describes that she “was taken from Bessie’s neck, to which [she] clung with kisses” (p. 40). It is very sad to see that Jane had to leave the only friend she had at the time. Jane’s next journey is at Lowood, a school for orphans. Here, she experiences a very deep loss of a girl named Helen. Jane does not fit into Lowood very well, but is able to make a friend in Helen. Jane and Helen have profound conversations about faith and God, something it appears Jane has never really thought about before. Helen also explains to Jane that you should “love your enemies, bless them that curse you…” (p. 55). This is a new concept to Jane; she has experienced much hatred and cursing from the people around her and has always despised them, never thinking to love and bless them. Sadly, just like Jane’s parents, Helen gets very sick and passes away, leaving Jane again without a friend. The final loss that Jane experiences (in this section) is the loss of Miss Temple, a woman who had “stood [Jane] in the stead of mother, governess, and latterly, companion” (p. 80). Miss Temple gets married and leaves Lowood, and Jane. I find it amazing that Jane is able to not only handle and move on from the loss of both of her parents, but also three more friends, the only ones she had ever had. Jane is obviously a woman of very strong character. I think that most women who live through situations such as Jane, would have very negative and bitter attitudes about the world. It is wonderful that Jane keeps her head held high and is now looking to start a new life as a governess for Mrs. Fairfax. It makes total sense to me after all the loss she has experienced, that she is looking forward to “a new place, in a new house, amongst new faces, under new circumstances” (p. 82).

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2002. Print.

Jane Eyre is a 10 year old girl who lives in a place named Gateshead Hall with her Aunt, and three of her cousins. Her parents have both died, and by her uncles wishes she is made to stay with her and become a part of their everyday lives. In the beginning of Jane Eyre, you hear a lot about the Reed family. There is Mrs. Reed, Georgiana, Eliza, and then a boy named John Reed. They are Jane Eyre’s relation, although I would hardly say that they act as such. Jane Eyre does not seem to like any of them, or to care about the people that are now the only family she really has.

Before Jane heads off to Lowood, you heard a lot about this family and how unusually cruel they are to someone that is their blood relation, and who they should treat with love and care. The women of the household seem very self centered and snobby. In fact, Mrs. Reed gets upset with Jane and tells everyone not to associate with her. The girls listen and have as little to do with her as they possibly can. This is just one example cruelty to Jane that this family projects.

John Reed is characterized by Jane as just another big bully. He goes out of his way to hurt her, and to get her in trouble. It does not matter if he started the altercation with her either, Mrs. Reed and the other ladies of the household will always take his side. Right from the beginning you can tell that Jane is different, and that she isn’t going to just let things go. She stands up for herself, and that’s something that the people in her extended family do not like. Jane is not like the Reed girls that are her blood. She is very different.

I read Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre for my Major British Writers class in high school, but I have started to make some different connections upon this reading than I did the first time. As I read up to Chapter X, I continually made content associations between Jane Eyre, Cinderella, and Harry Potter.

I noticed that these three characters actually have quite a lot in common–at least, in their childhood lives–as I was able to extract a few different and very specific details that each has going on in his or her life as he or she is growing up. These are: In all cases, the character’s parents are dead; in some cases, more relatives than just the character’s parents are dead; in all cases, the character’s “benefactor” does not do much that is beneficial to his or her well-being; in all cases, the character’s “benefactor” has at least one child of his or her own; in all cases, the character must physically leave the environment in which he or she is abused (whether this is physical, emotional, or mental abuse) in order to get his or her “benefactor” and that “benefactor”‘s family members to cease harassment.

There are, of course, some stronger connections between two particular characters over the third character depending on the detail one is examining. However, that does not make the associations that arose when I was reading Jane Eyre again any less valid–it just shows that there are not exact connections between the characters in all cases.

That being said, I’m going to look at the second detail listed above: “in some cases, more relatives than just the character’s parents are dead”. Jane Eyre’s uncle, who married Mrs Reed, died nearly a decade before the opening lines of the book. As far as I am aware, Cinderella has no directly-related relatives but her parents, both of whom are dead. Harry Potter’s mother’s sister, Petunia, raises him with her husband, Vernon, but at least some of his other relatives (e.g., his grandparents, whose history is speculated upon) are dead. The reason that this point is important is because it shows that the “benefactors” to the characters have less of a motive to care about their relatives’ offspring than they do of their own.

Next, I’ll break down the third detail: “in all cases, the character’s “benefactor” does not do much that is beneficial to his or her well-being”. This is probably contributed to because of the next detail, “in all cases, the character’s “benefactor” has at least one child of his or her own”. While it is desirable that a guardian should raise his or her charges as if they were of his or her own flesh and blood, it is understandable how difficult such a task might be if he or she already has his or her own children. Mrs Reed, for example, has three very difficult children. Lady Tremaine has two daughters, both of whom require a lot of pampering. Petunia and Vernon have their son, who they spoil all the time. It makes sense that it would be difficult for these “benefactors” to raise their relatives’ orphans.

However, that does not mean that the way each of the characters I’m discussing is treated fairly by his or her “benefactor”. In fact, every one of them must escape the torment and punishment of the “benefactor” in some way or another. Jane Eyre escapes the verbal and physical abuse by Mrs Reed, John, Eliza, and Georgiana by going to school. Harry Potter escapes similar torment from Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley by going to school as well. Cinderella escapes the isolationist treatment given her by Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella through marriage to the prince. All three of these escape methods are physical actions of moving from one place (the place of torment) to another (the place away from torment) which may also involve some social changes (specifically, Cinderella’s marriage).

I thought it was really interesting that the comparison I made between Jane Eyre, Cinderella, and Harry Potter seemed so obvious to me now that it never did the first time I read this book, so there’s something to be said about literature that makes you think differently each time you come back to read it.

From what I have read thus far, this quote perfectly portrays Jane’s character. Jane Eyre is an independent, well-rounded girl and although she is treated as the opposite, never loses hope. While it is apparent in this novel, we must remember that in this time period it was a cultural norm for the men in the home to be the head. Due to the death of Mr. Reed, it only makes sense that John Reed, although only 14, takes over as the “man of the house.” Of course as an audience, we are appalled at the treatment John bestows upon Jane, and while I am not condoning his cruelty or harassment in any way, women were seen as inferiors when compared to men and for this reason was not considered to be harsh treatment. Although John clearly treats Jane in a worse manner than his sisters Eliza, and Georgiana; John still treats the women in the household as inferiors. This same mindset can be used when analyzing Mr. Brocklehurst’s behavior. His actions are evidently unjust and makes his decisions based off of selfish gain, however he feels entitled to such actions because running a school for orphan children, as it is explained, is a selfless act that should be rewarded. Bronte bases much of the novel and its characters off of her own life experiences and memories, which after learning of her back story, makes the novel that much easier to relate to. Much like Bronte becomes a teacher after receiving her education, Jane furthers her education as a teacher at Lowood. The fact that her reasoning for branching out and leaving Lowood as a teacher is because of Miss Temple’s marriage, and thus resignation as a teacher is a bit disheartening. Jane is portrayed as such an independent young woman and yet when she is faced the challenge of being a teacher on her own she decides without Miss Temple, it is not worth it. Of course I understand that Jane needed to leave the school and become a governess so as to continue to portray Bronte’s life, however I feel there was a way in which this could have occurred without Jane appearing so submissive.

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2002. 1-88. Print.

In reading the first 10 chapters of Jane Eyre, it is immediately clear that Jane has a pretty rough life. She lives at Gateshead Hall with her terrible relatives, the Reeds. There is her aunt Mrs. Reed, who is constantly cruel to Jane and doesn’t allow her to attend holiday gatherings and often shuts her up in the nursery. There is also her cousin John Reed who everyone in the house refers to as “Master Reed”. He physically abuses Jane and torments her every chance he can get. In an early instance in the book, John throws a book at Jane causing her to fall and cut her head (Brontë 10). Then there’s John’s sisters Eliza and Georgiana who don’t do much but lie around and never do anything when John abuses Jane. Despite living with the Reeds, Jane tries to keep her head up and has a friendship with Bessie, a maid in the Reed household who treats Jane kindly. Not long after the beginning of the novel, Mrs. Reed plans to send Jane away to school called Lowood. Before departing, Jane and Mrs. Reed have an interesting conversation. Mrs. Reed puts on a fake smile and wishes Jane well and reminds her to be polite to the people at the school. Jane calls her out and stands up for herself telling her aunt that she is going to tell everyone at Lowood about her terrible childhood at Gateshead Hall (Brontë 34-35). All she wanted was for them to love her, but they mistreated her and Mrs. Reed always neglected her, locking her away in the nursery. Jane is accused of being deceitful but she makes it very clear that Mrs. Reed is the one full of deceit and that Jane could never love her. Jane makes the tedious journey to Lowood and discovers that the school is not what she thought it would be. The girls are overworked and underfed and the days are long and difficult. Despite all of this misfortune, Jane meets Helen Burns and the two instantly become friends. Helen has a tough time at Lowood and often daydreams about her home and family. She explains to Jane that although this life is miserable, life in Heaven will be great and that’s what matters most to her. She further explains that Mr. Brocklehurst, who runs the school, is a bad man and he will pay for the things he has done. Soon after, Helen dies in Jane’s arms from consumption. Several years pass and the quality of the school improves as Jane excels in her studies. Bessie, the maid from Gateshead Hall that Jane was fond of, comes to visit Jane at the school. They discuss the lives of the Reed family and how chaotic it has gotten back home. Bessie reveals that Jane’s father’s brother, John Eyre, came to look for Jane at Gateshead Hall seven years ago. He did not have the time to see her in Lowood and departed for somewhere far off in search of wealth. It is interesting to think how Jane’s life would’ve been different if she would’ve been at Gateshead Hall when her uncle came looking for her. Jane then bids farewell to Bessie as she heads off for Thornfield to get a job as a governess.

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Mineola, New York: Dover, 2002. Print.

As I finished the first chapter of the book Jane Eyre, it was easy to see that Jane Eyre is forced to live a hard life with a strong sense of helplessness. She lives in a house with the Reed family and a few other people such as Bessie, the nurse, Abbot the maid, and the three Reed family children, John, Eliza and Georgiana. In the first chapter it is very obvious that the man of the house, John Reed has very much control over how the house runs even if he is only 14 years old. When John found out that Jane was reading a book hiding behind the curtain he said, “You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen’s children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mama’s expense” (Brontë, 10). John is saying that Jane is not apart of the family and later goes on to say that she should also not be taking and reading HIS books. As soon as John began to rip the hair of Jane out of her head, and the others saw they immediately blamed Jane and locked her into the red-room. The red-room was a special room in the Reed mansion for a reason. It was a room that was rarely visited by anyone in the house. There were red and white furniture all around the room along with a secret drawer that belonged to Mrs. Reed. The red-room as told in the book is where the father of the Reed children and the husband of Mrs. Reed has passed away. There in the drawer is “…a minurature of her deceased husband (Brontë, 14), along with other valuable items. Jane believes that there remains a spirit in the room. Even though John is the child of the Reed family that is in the hierarchy, the other two girls, Eliza and Georgiana as well are the perfect children when in all reality they all have flaws. But what Jane doesn’t get the most is, why she is always the one getting in trouble, the one getting beat and the one getting locked into the red-room, in other words, jail. Soon it is clear that Jane is living in this mansion with the Reed family because Mr. Reed was her uncle, who has a dying wish to Mrs. Reed that she took care of Jane. It almost connects to the classic story of Cinderella, where there is a man who passes away, and the girl is left with an evil mother figure who does nothing but the opposite of the man’s wishes. As I continue to read through the book it is nice hearing the story from her point of view, as being the child who gets the short end of the stick, we get to see how she see the world, and the Reed family.

Brontë, Charlotte. “1-3.” Jane Eyre. MINEOLA, NEW YORK: DOVER, 2002. 7-17. Print.

Reading the first bits of Jane Eyre kind of reminds me of Cinderella except it is her aunt and cousins. Her aunt is like the evil step-mother always punishing and demeaning Jane while thinking of her own children as prefect little angels. Even though she isn’t Jane’s step-mother she could be the definition of evil step-mother. I feel like so far this book doesn’t really paint its male characters in good light, starting with John Reed. John Reed is so abusive to Jane for no other reason than he can plus he treats her like trash. One fact that interested me was that he was called Master Reed by everyone, which goes to show how in that time women were kind of seen as second class citizens no matter who they were. However you see Jane starting to stand up for herself pretty quickly. I think this was a good way of showing that women aren’t spineless. They don’t say much about Mrs. Reeds daughters; Eliza and Georgiana, basically that they are obnoxious and don’t really do anything or care that John Reed abuses Jane. The Red Room which was Mr. Reeds former room and where he died is where Mrs. Reed sends Jane for punishment is extremely creepy and reminds me of  a torture dungeon.  I feel like the main reason Mrs. Reed sent Jane to Lowood is because of what Jane says about Mr. Reed and what he would think of her because her husband is the only reason she took Jane in the first place. In the book that part is in chapter four page 27. Upon her arrival at Lowood she soon figures out it is a charity school for orphans and they aren’t treated very well and that part reminded me a lot of the movie Matilda. A character whom I both like and disliked was Helen. Helen like to read like and Jane and seems like a bit of daydreamer. She gets in trouble for not being organized and not paying attention. The reason I disliked Helen was because while talking to Jane she said she deserves to be punish and that Miss Scatcherd is just trying to make her better and to me this makes her sound weak and brainwashed. Then when Jane was punished and humiliated by Mr. Brocklehurst Helen actually is the one saying just the opposite to Jane which is why I liked her and was very sad about her passing. This isn’t the type of book I would normally read but I do think it is more in the favor of women then men. My favorite parts are when Jane stands up for herself to anyone, like Mrs.Reed and John Reed.

 http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/dvdreviews30/jane_eyre.htm

Within the first few pages of Jane Eyre, I was struck with the theme of education and a want for knowledge. Jane is looking at pictures of birds in a book as the novel opens, and as she describes the picture, “Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting…(Bronte 5). Jane is clearly already interested in the pursuit of knowledge, connecting the pictures from the book in her mind to link them to what they really mean. Jane is eager to go to school from the beginning, and is often resentful of her cousins since they have the ability to go to school. She has no idea what school really entails, but is eager to go nonetheless. As she says in chapter 3, “Again I reflected: I scarcely knew what school was…John Reed hated his school, and abused his master: but John Reed’s tasteswere no rule for mine…Besides, school would be a complete change: it implied a long journey, an entire separation from Gateshead, an entrance into a new life (Bronte 21). Jane yearns to go to school, not only because she wants to hold a role in society as an educated woman, but also because she hates Gateshead and hates her aunt and cousins that live there. She views school as a chance to finally get away from a life she despises, and when she finally does go away to school, she has every intention of making the most of it. The school she attends is a charity school for female orphans, and is poorly funded. Life for Jane at the school is harsh, and the girls are often underfed and attend class from dawn until dusk. Nevertheless, Jane makes the most of her experience at Lowood, and she says in chapter 8, “I had meant to be so good, and to do so much at Lowood; to make so many friends, to earn respect, and win affection (Bronte 64). Jane, despite the hardships she faces at Lowood, views school as the perfect opportunity to gain approval from the world, which she has never had the opportunity to do before, and she wants to win the respect and affection of her peers and her mentors, hoping she can find her own place in the world. Jane uses education to find herself, and finally get away from a life she hated in Gateshead. It’s no surprise she goes on to be a teacher at Lowood, and I think that the theme of education in Jane Eyre is extremely important, especially to demonstrate just how Jane comes of age and begins to find her own niche after being trapped in Gateshood for her early childhood. As soon as she leaves Lowood and tells her aunt that she will never come see her again, and that she resents her for making it so difficult for Jane during her childhood, education really saves her, and it plays an incredibly important role for the rest of the novel to come, especially since without being educated, Jane would never have found her way in the world nor have the ability to be educated to become a governess.

Works Cited

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847. Florida: Trident, 2001. Print.

• How does Bronte describe the women of the Reed household? What does her characterization of John Reed tell you about the Reed Women?

Bronte describes Eliza Reed as woman of religion who is without passion, and she is cold, stern, and spiteful towards Jane. Bronte describes Georgiana Reed as a rebellious girl who is restless and self-centered, and very cruel to Jane. Bronte also describes Mrs. Reed as cruel, oppressive, selfish, and spiteful woman. Bronte illustrates that John Reed is a sallow, stocky, and gluttonous boy whose overbearing presence dominates and bullies everyone around him. So the ladies of the household cater to his every wish and demand.

• What is the Red Room? Why is it important?

The Red Room is where Mr. Reed died; however, it is also a representation of an atmosphere of mystery and the supernatural. This room is important because it is a symbol of Jane’s inferior position within the Reed household. Furthermore, it is Jane’s literal and metaphorical imprisonment because it represents her feelings of isolation because of social class and gender hierarches. Just because she is an orphan, has no money, and is a girl, Jane is inferior to the Reed’s, and because of this they exclude her, and are cruel towards her. Moreover, it represents her struggles to find freedom, independence, happiness, and a sense of belonging. Once Jane is finally free of the room, she obtains some her freedom and independence back; however, she is still unhappy because the Reed’s continually ostracized her.

• Why does Jane like reading Bewick’s ornithology encyclopedia? What is the subtext of her paraphrase of Bewick?

Jane likes to read Bewick’s Ornithology encyclopedia because it is a fantasy retreat from the Reed’s home. The one thing Jane wants more than anything in the world is to belong somewhere and be valued. When she read this book, she saw all of the places there were she could go to obtain this wish, and to finally become independent and free from oppression.

• Relate Jane reading Bewick to Judy Garland’s Dorothy Gale.

Dorothy and Jane both wish to find something more in their life, to be independent and to make their own chooses. Therefore, Jane’s Bewick is the same as Dorothy’s Dreams; they are both a way for the girls to retreat into a fantasy, and to get away from the hardships they are enduring.

• Why does Lowood exist? What are the ways girls can leave Lowood?

Lowood exists for female orphans to get an education. It is a charity school sponsored by whoever can pay: family, friends, but also subscribers, such as benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen in the neighborhood and London. Girls can leave Lowood by being expelled, death, marriage, or obtaining a different job, such as a governess.

• Why must Jane meet Helen Burns? Why does Helen give Jane Johnson’s Rasselas? What does this work tell us about Helen’s personality?

Jane must meet Helen Burns because she is vital to Jane’s development. Helen teaches Jane to bear the harsh conditions at Lowood with dignity and a kind of understanding; furthermore, Helen provides strength for Jane especially when Jane had to stand on the stood, and Helen gave her smiles to reassure her everything was going to be alright. Helen gives Jane Johnson’s Rasselas because Jane was curious what the book was about. Jane states “the contents were less taking than the title: “Rasselas” looked dull to my trifling taste; I saw nothing about fairies, nothing about genii; no bright variety seemed spread over the closely-printed pages” (Bronte, 31). This quote illustrates that Helen has intellectual maturity and self-negation, but also she is not interested in dreaming or learning of no importance. She is invested in her education and her devotion to God.

• What is Jane and Helen’s relationship? What does Jane learn from Helen?

Their relationship is of a strong friendship or kinship or even like sisters. Furthermore, Helen believes in Christian endurance, and that she should love her enemies because only God can pass true judgment. Consequently, Jane learns from Helen love and forgiveness and tolerance and acceptance.

• How does Jane find out about the job at Thornfield? What are her assumptions when she leaves Lowood for Thornfield?

At the age of eighteen, Jane desires the need for a change, so she places an advertisement in the newspaper. A Mrs. Fairfax from Thornfield replies that she is interested in Jane as a Governess for a 10 year old girl named Adele. So, she takes the job at Thornfield and assumes that it will be a good placement and change for herself. She also assumes that Mrs. Fairfax is the owner of Thornfield and that she might be a frigid woman, but not uncivil. Jane also assumes from the plainness of the servant and carriage that “Mrs. Fairfax is not a very dashing person,” and that if she is anything like Mrs. Reed, she will find a different employment (Bronte, 65).

• My favorite thing about this book.

My favorite thing about this book is that Charlotte Bronte surpassed the ideal of a male hero and created a new feminine hero for the Victorian time period who struggled with social and gender oppression and won in the end.

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Dover ed. N.P.: Dover Publications, 2003. 1-448. Print.

• How does Bronte describe the women of the Reed household? What does her characterization of John Reed tell you about the Reed Women?

Bronte describes Eliza Reed as woman of religion who is without passion, and she is cold, stern, and spiteful towards Jane. Bronte describes Georgiana Reed as a rebellious girl who is restless and self-centered, and very cruel to Jane. Bronte also describes Mrs. Reed as cruel, oppressive, selfish, and spiteful woman. Bronte illustrates that John Reed is a sallow, stocky, and gluttonous boy whose overbearing presence dominates and bullies everyone around him. So the ladies of the household cater to his every wish and demand.

• What is the Red Room? Why is it important?

The Red Room is where Mr. Reed died; however, it is also a representation of an atmosphere of mystery and the supernatural. This room is important because it is a symbol of Jane’s inferior position within the Reed household. Furthermore, it is Jane’s literal and metaphorical imprisonment because it represents her feelings of isolation because of social class and gender hierarches. Just because she is an orphan, has no money, and is a girl, Jane is inferior to the Reed’s, and because of this they exclude her, and are cruel towards her. Moreover, it represents her struggles to find freedom, independence, happiness, and a sense of belonging. Once Jane is finally free of the room, she obtains some her freedom and independence back; however, she is still unhappy because the Reed’s continually ostracized her.

• Why does Jane like reading Bewick’s ornithology encyclopedia? What is the subtext of her paraphrase of Bewick?

Jane likes to read Bewick’s Ornithology encyclopedia because it is a fantasy retreat from the Reed’s home. The one thing Jane wants more than anything in the world is to belong somewhere and be valued. When she read this book, she saw all of the places there were she could go to obtain this wish, and to finally become independent and free from oppression.

• Relate Jane reading Bewick to Judy Garland’s Dorothy Gale.

Dorothy and Jane both wish to find something more in their life, to be independent and to make their own chooses. Therefore, Jane’s Bewick is the same as Dorothy’s Dreams; they are both a way for the girls to retreat into a fantasy, and to get away from the hardships they are enduring.

• Why does Lowood exist? What are the ways girls can leave Lowood?

Lowood exists for female orphans to get an education. It is a charity school sponsored by whoever can pay: family, friends, but also subscribers, such as benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen in the neighborhood and London. Girls can leave Lowood by being expelled, death, marriage, or obtaining a different job, such as a governess.

• Why must Jane meet Helen Burns? Why does Helen give Jane Johnson’s Rasselas? What does this work tell us about Helen’s personality?

Jane must meet Helen Burns because she is vital to Jane’s development. Helen teaches Jane to bear the harsh conditions at Lowood with dignity and a kind of understanding; furthermore, Helen provides strength for Jane especially when Jane had to stand on the stood, and Helen gave her smiles to reassure her everything was going to be alright. Helen gives Jane Johnson’s Rasselas because Jane was curious what the book was about. Jane states “the contents were less taking than the title: “Rasselas” looked dull to my trifling taste; I saw nothing about fairies, nothing about genii; no bright variety seemed spread over the closely-printed pages” (Bronte, 31). This quote illustrates that Helen has intellectual maturity and self-negation, but also she is not interested in dreaming or learning of no importance. She is invested in her education and her devotion to God.

• What is Jane and Helen’s relationship? What does Jane learn from Helen?

Their relationship is of a strong friendship or kinship or even like sisters. Furthermore, Helen believes in Christian endurance, and that she should love her enemies because only God can pass true judgment. Consequently, Jane learns from Helen love and forgiveness and tolerance and acceptance.

• How does Jane find out about the job at Thornfield? What are her assumptions when she leaves Lowood for Thornfield?

At the age of eighteen, Jane desires the need for a change, so she places an advertisement in the newspaper. A Mrs. Fairfax from Thornfield replies that she is interested in Jane as a Governess for a 10 year old girl named Adele. So, she takes the job at Thornfield and assumes that it will be a good placement and change for herself. She also assumes that Mrs. Fairfax is the owner of Thornfield and that she might be a frigid woman, but not uncivil. Jane also assumes from the plainness of the servant and carriage that “Mrs. Fairfax is not a very dashing person,” and that if she is anything like Mrs. Reed, she will find a different employment (Bronte, 65).

• My favorite thing about this book.

My favorite thing about this book is that Charlotte Bronte surpassed the ideal of a male hero and created a new feminine hero for the Victorian time period who struggled with social and gender oppression and won in the end.

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Dover ed. N.P.: Dover Publications, 2003. 1-448. Print.

One thing that I found very interesting is how Caroline picked which children to take into her care. She seemed to be very exclusive with which children she wanted both when she found Elizabeth as well as Justine. When Caroline went to Italy she saw five children living with a peasant woman, “the four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants;this child was thin, and very fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head” (Shelly, 17). She makes it seem as if all the other children and dirty and unworthy of her time. After this encounter, the Frankenstein’s had an extra child, Elizabeth. The Frankenstein’s also took in another child, Justine. She was also a child of a mother who was in poverty, but Justine’s mother treated her very badly because she thought she brought sickness upon them.

Victor Frankenstein, while away at school also decided to take in a child. Victor’s child though was not one made by woman, but by his own hands. While he was at school he worked “nearly two years” to build his child, as some would call it (Shelly, 35). Most parents would love their children no matter what, but once Victor’s child came to life, he instantly despised it. He was horrified because he had thought that he would be “beautiful” because the parts he used for his child’s body were beautiful. Victor said “his skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuries only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” conveying to us his disgust for his child (Shelly, 35).

Now, most would say that it seems odd that Victor wouldn’t love his only child. On the other hand though, what kind of role model did he have growing up? Sure his mom was wonderful, taking in two children that weren’t her own and taking them out of poverty, but one has to think… what about the other children she left behind? Justine had two other siblings that Caroline didn’t take with her when she took Justine. Then, when she took in Elizabeth, she left behind four other children. So, what made Caroline pick those children out of the others? From the description we get of Elizabeth when Caroline first sees her, we can tell that she is absolutely beautiful and bright, unlike her four siblings. Then, with Justine, we learn from a letter from Elizabeth to Victor, that Justine is “extremely pretty” (Shelly, 42). So, when Victor makes a child that is ugly is it any surprise at all to us that he would shun it? If you ask me, Victor is just taking after his mother and only want to love things that are pretty or beautiful, which his child, most certainly is not.

Works Cited:

Mary Shelly, Frankenstein