Due Monday, June 18th - Read "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë - Chapters 21-26
Please read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Chapters 21-26. In this blog space, please post questions for our class discussion. Use evidence from the text in your response.
These chapter has so much detail and information that shocked me. The most shocking part of these chapters is when we found out that Rochester already had a wife who was Mason's sister. Like what??? That's why Rochester was so shocked when to hear that Mason was in town. Also it also explains the weird sounds that Jane hears because it's coming from Rochester's wife who is crazy. She killed Rochester's brother and tried to strangle Rochester. I wonder if she was always crazy because she's been stuck on the top of the house for so long with only Grace Poole to take care of her. LIke was he normal because she married Rochester??? Also why did no one tell Jane about this…? Did Mrs. Fairfax not think that Jane was going to fall in love with Rochester? Also the most interesting part was that Mrs. Reed was dying but didn't want to make things right with Jane. Like she gave the letter to Jane from her Uncle but refused to smooth the relationship between them and then she dyed.
Wow. Well, that was a curveball. Here I thought the book was actually going to take a turn towards happiness; I was going to write a lovely post about how, though the beginning was rough, the book was actually turning out to be decent. But nope. I'm confused as to how Mr. Rochester ended up marrying the crazed woman. How did she only turn crazy after he wed her? Why is she crazy? Jane was driving me mad with her constantly provoking Mr. Rochester, but now perhaps it is better that she did so, because, though she is still obviously sorrowful, at least she did not have sweet moments of the past month to reflect on. I wonder if Mrs. Fairfax knew that Mr. Rochester had married previously, and whether she knew that that woman was locked up, and that it was not Grace Poole that made the strange laughs, but rather this other woman? It has got to be rather awful for Jane to think about this woman creeping into her bedroom, tearing her veil, and coming close to her. To think, this woman tried killing Mr. Rochester by setting his bed on fire and tried killing Mr. Mason by cutting him up with a knife, yet spared Jane... Such a weird tale this is turning out to be.
While I sort of understand why Mr. Rochester did what he did, I do not think his method of separating from his wife was at all humane or very smart, and learning about her is not making me like his character. Even before the wedding there were a couple warning signs, mainly using Miss Ingram to make Jane jealous. This seems like a pretty jerk move, and way to manipulative for a good man. Now we learn that he had basically kept a woman captive for years, leaving her with one person to talk to and pretending she doesn't exist. No matter how 'mad' the woman was, it doesn't justify locking her up, and I can't imagine that solitary confinement has helped Mrs. Rochester's mental health in any way. Attacking her own brother and Mr. Rochester is clearly a manifestation of her anger at being married to a man that then locked her up. I don't know what he could have done instead, since I assume divorce isn't acceptable yet, but I bet we could come up with something a lot more ethical than just pretending the woman doesn't exist and marriying some girl you persuaded into marrying you.
Also, am I the only one finding some racist undertones in these chapters? I mean, the only thing standing between Jane and her happiness, Rochester, is a 'Creole' woman who is not just mad but savage, and is described as a wild animal, more thing than human, several times.
To begin with, Mrs. Reed was hiding a letter from Jane's uncle from Jane, in which he wished to adopt Jane and leave her all his fortune. Then Jane tries to make things up with Mrs.Reed but she's stubborn and wont make things right. Then Mrs. Reed dies from a stroke or something (she had it coming lol). Then we fin d out that Mr. Rochester is "planning" to marry Blanche, and after Jane keeps pressing him about it, and confesses her love for him, he asks her to marry him and that the plan to marry Blanche was just to make her jealous. Then, after a series of weird events leading up to the wedding, we find out that Mr.Rochester has a wife already which he keeps in a dark room under the care of Grace Poole. This was probably the woman that tore up Jane's veil before the wedding, and also set Mr. Rochester's bed on fire. The book is taking an interesting turn by introducing this strange wife of Mr.Rochester.
Why does Rochester want to marry Blanche and why does he need to buy a new carriage for it? Also, why does Rochester feel the need to pretend to want to marry Blanche instead of just directly asking Jane? I think that it is pretty suspect that the marriage was so sudden, but why did Jane question it during planning, why is she doubting Rochester and herself so much? Why does she do that right after dreaming of him and realizing what he meant to her? Why didn’t Mrs.Fairfax tell Jane that she was marrying a married man? Did she even know about the other wife? Also isn’t it a little messed up that his wife is literally kept in a random hidden room as a prisoner? Why didn’t anyone say anything afterwards? I think her existence has a symbolic meaning and isn’t really meant to be taken literally because it would literally make no sense if she were. She literally attempted murder, arson, and possibly more.
Reading about the madwoman in the attic was really interesting, and added a dark turn to the novel. Rochester claims to have imprisoned her because she is mad, but it is easy to imagine an opposite relation of cause and effect, in which years of enforced imprisonment and isolation have made her violently insane or, at least, increased her insanity. Bertha was originally a colonial subject, a creole, and Rochester could be using her foreignness as an excuse for locking her up. In this Bertha represents both Britain's oppression of its colonies peoples and cultures and also the affects of a Victorian marriage, which could feel like imprisonment, could have on a woman.
I found this section of the novel both very interesting, with all the new revelations and twists, and a sort of sad reflection of some of the values of its time period, especially in its racism and how mental illness was regarded. I also found Jane’s separation of Jane Eyre and Jane Rochester in her own head as very interesting- perhaps indicating that she feels that the loss of some independence and the gain in wealth and status marriage will bring is akin to a transformation, at least on a subconscious level. Also the difference in class status is evident here, where she shuns all of Mr.Rochester’s attempts to bedeck her in elaborate, fancy clothes.
A lot happened in these chapter. I wasn't expecting love story that would work out but the way it was all put together and how close they were to marring surprised me. It was obvious that she liked Mr. Rochester but I never thought she would agree to marry him especially with her pessimistic views. I'm exited to see how this all plays out
Overall, this book seems to be much darker than I expected. First, I quickly began to realize how terrible of a love interest--and a character, for that matter--Mr. Rochester is. These chapters demonstrated that he is manipulative and controlling over everything that Jane does. Despite Jane feeling frightened, he instructs her to wear jewels and fine clothes to make her seem like she has a higher position in society. In addition, he doesn't seem to truly love anyone. Instead, he treats several women as his "playthings" that are quickly disposed. Rochester doesn't appear to care much about other peoples' feelings, and how his treatment of them can affect themselves. He is also shown to be unreliable, as Jane often feared that the wedding would not happen. Of course, there is also his carelessness and stupidity in not mentioning to Jane that he is married.
Poor Jane, she just can't catch a break. Between trying to patch things up with the Reeds to finding her uncle to trying and failing to build her own sort of family at Thornfield, things just aren't going her way. The build up to the wedding with the dreams and the symbolism of the split tree kind of gave an idea that something was gonna happen, but Rochester has some intense skeletons in his closet-- like actual living breathing skeletons that run on all fours. I'm scared for Jane, but obviously things will work out in the end cause this is the 1800s. I wonder if Jane will find a better place where she can settle without issue, or if Rochester will mend things and make Thornfield a proper home? Furthermore, how on earth are they going to deal with Bertha cause she seems severely neglected but also poses a great problem for the plot? In short, Rochester's a creep and Jane is being dumb-- welcome to Jane Eyre. - eileen
As a whole, these last couple chapters have readily expanded on the Gothic nature/tone of the novel. I think it's also interesting to see how Mr. Rochester's carefully guarded secret has come out so easily. Currently, this puts Jane in a terrible position that will be interesting to see her find a way out of.
So far, this book has reminded me so much of the various American Girl Doll books and movies I've read and watched. Just the way that everything seems to always go wrong reminds me of the series. First Jane experiences the classic misfortune of her parents dying and her being placed with hostile relatives. Then when Jane finally gets to leave Gateshead Hall and things are looking up, her new school, Lowood, takes a turn for the worst as well. The headmaster Brocklehurst is very cruel and negligent in his treatment of the pupils resulting in the deaths of many of them including Jane's friend Helen. Even when Jane is older and goes to work at Thornfield her bad luck plagues her. She comes very close to marrying Mr. Rochester only to discover, at their wedding, that Mr. Rochester is already married. So far, Jane hasn't had many positive things in her life that weren't at least tainted by loss or hardship, however, I still hope for a happy ending for Jane.
In these sections, we get many twists and just a lot of stuff into these chapters. Jane is now starting to realize how different her life has become, how much she has gained and how much she has grown. For a twist, we find out that she likes Mr.Rochester but at the same time, Rochester want to marry Blanche. Which is kinda a love triangle scenario. We also start to learn about the eerie laughter she has heard, the mysterious fire when she saved Rochester, the strange figure who tears Jane’s wedding veil, and other smaller clues that may have led Jane to make some smaller conclusions. Currently, I hope that Jane figures this all out and hopefully gets a happy ending to it all.
I don't think a relationship with Mr. Rochester is in her best interest considering she now knows that he is fully capable of keeping huge lies from Jane. That being said, he has not only completely mistreated Jane, but Bertha too. It was very noble of John Eyre to save Jane despite the two never really having a connection other than being family. I wonder what actions and decisions Jane will make now that this turning point in her life has occurred.
ReplyDeleteThese chapter has so much detail and information that shocked me. The most shocking part of these chapters is when we found out that Rochester already had a wife who was Mason's sister. Like what??? That's why Rochester was so shocked when to hear that Mason was in town. Also it also explains the weird sounds that Jane hears because it's coming from Rochester's wife who is crazy. She killed Rochester's brother and tried to strangle Rochester. I wonder if she was always crazy because she's been stuck on the top of the house for so long with only Grace Poole to take care of her. LIke was he normal because she married Rochester??? Also why did no one tell Jane about this…? Did Mrs. Fairfax not think that Jane was going to fall in love with Rochester? Also the most interesting part was that Mrs. Reed was dying but didn't want to make things right with Jane. Like she gave the letter to Jane from her Uncle but refused to smooth the relationship between them and then she dyed.
Wow.
ReplyDeleteWell, that was a curveball. Here I thought the book was actually going to take a turn towards happiness; I was going to write a lovely post about how, though the beginning was rough, the book was actually turning out to be decent. But nope.
I'm confused as to how Mr. Rochester ended up marrying the crazed woman. How did she only turn crazy after he wed her? Why is she crazy?
Jane was driving me mad with her constantly provoking Mr. Rochester, but now perhaps it is better that she did so, because, though she is still obviously sorrowful, at least she did not have sweet moments of the past month to reflect on.
I wonder if Mrs. Fairfax knew that Mr. Rochester had married previously, and whether she knew that that woman was locked up, and that it was not Grace Poole that made the strange laughs, but rather this other woman?
It has got to be rather awful for Jane to think about this woman creeping into her bedroom, tearing her veil, and coming close to her. To think, this woman tried killing Mr. Rochester by setting his bed on fire and tried killing Mr. Mason by cutting him up with a knife, yet spared Jane... Such a weird tale this is turning out to be.
While I sort of understand why Mr. Rochester did what he did, I do not think his method of separating from his wife was at all humane or very smart, and learning about her is not making me like his character. Even before the wedding there were a couple warning signs, mainly using Miss Ingram to make Jane jealous. This seems like a pretty jerk move, and way to manipulative for a good man. Now we learn that he had basically kept a woman captive for years, leaving her with one person to talk to and pretending she doesn't exist. No matter how 'mad' the woman was, it doesn't justify locking her up, and I can't imagine that solitary confinement has helped Mrs. Rochester's mental health in any way. Attacking her own brother and Mr. Rochester is clearly a manifestation of her anger at being married to a man that then locked her up. I don't know what he could have done instead, since I assume divorce isn't acceptable yet, but I bet we could come up with something a lot more ethical than just pretending the woman doesn't exist and marriying some girl you persuaded into marrying you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, am I the only one finding some racist undertones in these chapters? I mean, the only thing standing between Jane and her happiness, Rochester, is a 'Creole' woman who is not just mad but savage, and is described as a wild animal, more thing than human, several times.
DeleteTo begin with, Mrs. Reed was hiding a letter from Jane's uncle from Jane, in which he wished to adopt Jane and leave her all his fortune. Then Jane tries to make things up with Mrs.Reed but she's stubborn and wont make things right. Then Mrs. Reed dies from a stroke or something (she had it coming lol). Then we fin d out that Mr. Rochester is "planning" to marry Blanche, and after Jane keeps pressing him about it, and confesses her love for him, he asks her to marry him and that the plan to marry Blanche was just to make her jealous. Then, after a series of weird events leading up to the wedding, we find out that Mr.Rochester has a wife already which he keeps in a dark room under the care of Grace Poole. This was probably the woman that tore up Jane's veil before the wedding, and also set Mr. Rochester's bed on fire. The book is taking an interesting turn by introducing this strange wife of Mr.Rochester.
ReplyDeletegood job alex good response
Deletehaha thanks! i miss you :(
Deleteyah yet
Deleteyah yeet
ReplyDeleteWhy does Rochester want to marry Blanche and why does he need to buy a new carriage for it? Also, why does Rochester feel the need to pretend to want to marry Blanche instead of just directly asking Jane? I think that it is pretty suspect that the marriage was so sudden, but why did Jane question it during planning, why is she doubting Rochester and herself so much? Why does she do that right after dreaming of him and realizing what he meant to her? Why didn’t Mrs.Fairfax tell Jane that she was marrying a married man? Did she even know about the other wife? Also isn’t it a little messed up that his wife is literally kept in a random hidden room as a prisoner? Why didn’t anyone say anything afterwards? I think her existence has a symbolic meaning and isn’t really meant to be taken literally because it would literally make no sense if she were. She literally attempted murder, arson, and possibly more.
ReplyDeleteReading about the madwoman in the attic was really interesting, and added a dark turn to the novel. Rochester claims to have imprisoned her because she is mad, but it is easy to imagine an opposite relation of cause and effect, in which years of enforced imprisonment and isolation have made her violently insane or, at least, increased her insanity. Bertha was originally a colonial subject, a creole, and Rochester could be using her foreignness as an excuse for locking her up. In this Bertha represents both Britain's oppression of its colonies peoples and cultures and also the affects of a Victorian marriage, which could feel like imprisonment, could have on a woman.
ReplyDeleteI found this section of the novel both very interesting, with all the new revelations and twists, and a sort of sad reflection of some of the values of its time period, especially in its racism and how mental illness was regarded. I also found Jane’s separation of Jane Eyre and Jane Rochester in her own head as very interesting- perhaps indicating that she feels that the loss of some independence and the gain in wealth and status marriage will bring is akin to a transformation, at least on a subconscious level. Also the difference in class status is evident here, where she shuns all of Mr.Rochester’s attempts to bedeck her in elaborate, fancy clothes.
ReplyDeleteA lot happened in these chapter. I wasn't expecting love story that would work out but the way it was all put together and how close they were to marring surprised me. It was obvious that she liked Mr. Rochester but I never thought she would agree to marry him especially with her pessimistic views. I'm exited to see how this all plays out
ReplyDeleteOverall, this book seems to be much darker than I expected. First, I quickly began to realize how terrible of a love interest--and a character, for that matter--Mr. Rochester is. These chapters demonstrated that he is manipulative and controlling over everything that Jane does. Despite Jane feeling frightened, he instructs her to wear jewels and fine clothes to make her seem like she has a higher position in society. In addition, he doesn't seem to truly love anyone. Instead, he treats several women as his "playthings" that are quickly disposed. Rochester doesn't appear to care much about other peoples' feelings, and how his treatment of them can affect themselves. He is also shown to be unreliable, as Jane often feared that the wedding would not happen. Of course, there is also his carelessness and stupidity in not mentioning to Jane that he is married.
ReplyDeletePoor Jane, she just can't catch a break. Between trying to patch things up with the Reeds to finding her uncle to trying and failing to build her own sort of family at Thornfield, things just aren't going her way. The build up to the wedding with the dreams and the symbolism of the split tree kind of gave an idea that something was gonna happen, but Rochester has some intense skeletons in his closet-- like actual living breathing skeletons that run on all fours. I'm scared for Jane, but obviously things will work out in the end cause this is the 1800s. I wonder if Jane will find a better place where she can settle without issue, or if Rochester will mend things and make Thornfield a proper home? Furthermore, how on earth are they going to deal with Bertha cause she seems severely neglected but also poses a great problem for the plot? In short, Rochester's a creep and Jane is being dumb-- welcome to Jane Eyre.
ReplyDelete- eileen
As a whole, these last couple chapters have readily expanded on the Gothic nature/tone of the novel. I think it's also interesting to see how Mr. Rochester's carefully guarded secret has come out so easily. Currently, this puts Jane in a terrible position that will be interesting to see her find a way out of.
ReplyDelete-Matthew Hebert
So far, this book has reminded me so much of the various American Girl Doll books and movies I've read and watched. Just the way that everything seems to always go wrong reminds me of the series. First Jane experiences the classic misfortune of her parents dying and her being placed with hostile relatives. Then when Jane finally gets to leave Gateshead Hall and things are looking up, her new school, Lowood, takes a turn for the worst as well. The headmaster Brocklehurst is very cruel and negligent in his treatment of the pupils resulting in the deaths of many of them including Jane's friend Helen. Even when Jane is older and goes to work at Thornfield her bad luck plagues her. She comes very close to marrying Mr. Rochester only to discover, at their wedding, that Mr. Rochester is already married. So far, Jane hasn't had many positive things in her life that weren't at least tainted by loss or hardship, however, I still hope for a happy ending for Jane.
ReplyDeleteEllie Yates
DeleteIn these sections, we get many twists and just a lot of stuff into these chapters. Jane is now starting to realize how different her life has become, how much she has gained and how much she has grown. For a twist, we find out that she likes Mr.Rochester but at the same time, Rochester want to marry Blanche. Which is kinda a love triangle scenario. We also start to learn about the eerie laughter she has heard, the mysterious fire when she saved Rochester, the strange figure who tears Jane’s wedding veil, and other smaller clues that may have led Jane to make some smaller conclusions. Currently, I hope that Jane figures this all out and hopefully gets a happy ending to it all.
ReplyDelete-Zachary Mola
I don't think a relationship with Mr. Rochester is in her best interest considering she now knows that he is fully capable of keeping huge lies from Jane. That being said, he has not only completely mistreated Jane, but Bertha too. It was very noble of John Eyre to save Jane despite the two never really having a connection other than being family. I wonder what actions and decisions Jane will make now that this turning point in her life has occurred.
ReplyDelete