Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Due Wednesday, June 13th - Read "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë - Chapters 11-20

Please read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Chapters 11-20. In this blog space, please post questions for our class discussion. Use evidence from the text in your response.

14 comments:

  1. I'm wondering why Adele's dialogue is all in French with no translation except for a few context clues based on the next dialogue clips from Jane - was it commonplace for English readers to also have a background in French that would allow them to understand these paragraphs?
    I am also questioning Mr. Rochester's judgement in the last pages of chapter 20. On page 234, he characterizes this person (the identity we do not know at this point in the text) that will regenerate him as a "gentle, gracious, genial stranger." Yet half a page farther down, this person he appears to be referencing is said to be Miss Ingram, whom from Jane's accounts is everything but gentle and gracious. Is Mr. Rochester blind to Miss Ingram's true character, or was he talking about Jane, but from her lack of response, decided to cover his feelings with this remark?
    I'm enjoying this section of reading a bit more than the last section, though Jane’s complaints of Thornfield being too calm towards the beginning of this section of reading were trying. She is depressed when she has reason to be, but now, when she has no reason to be, she still is down in the dumps. However, the section of reading has since recovered and been more pleasant.

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  2. Wow! These last few chapters were very deep and very interesting to read. I was so shocked to learn that Rochester had a daughter named Adele who was the same girl that Jane was tutoring. I was wondering why Adele was also with Jane and Rochester when they were together. Also I have a feeling that Jane and Rochester will be together in the future because Rochester is always coming to Jane for help and always is so caring to Jane. Especially when Jane was crying. I feel like Blache is just trying to get in the way between Jane and Rochester because Rochester is very wealthy and Blache wants to marry a wealthy men. But I don't believe that Blanche will succeed. Meanwhile I have a suspicion that Rochester slammed Mr. Masons hand because Rochester looked scared when he heard that Mr. Mason arrived in Thornfield. Also I feel like Mrs. Fairfax is trying to give Rochester a bad reputation but when Jane meets Rochester, all the words that Mrs. Fairfax said about Rochester were mostly wrong. So I believe something is going up and there is a lot of secrets. And why did Rochester almost slipped out a word when he said bye to Jane at the party??? There must be a huge secret that Rochester almost let out. I wonder what it was?

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  3. I’ve noticed a theme in this book of appearances being deceiving, and Jane seeing people as beautiful or not based less on appearances, and more on what she thinks of them. She, in the later parts of this section, regards Rochester as handsome even though she knows he is not conventionally attractive. And Miss Ingram, who appears as a cultured and refined beautiful lady of high society, is really unoriginal and seems as though constantly putting on a part. I’m curious as to the circumstances surrounding Grace, and Rochester’s reactions to her actions especially. Additionally, the charade scene seems as though it might have some sort of foreshadowing or symbolism in it, but I’m not entirely sure for what.

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  4. It's nice to see Jane finally happy!... well happier. It's nice that her and Rochester are becoming such close friends, after she previously led a life of such loneliness and sadness. I thought it was very funny when he asked Jane if he was attractive and he said no. It was also great characterization for Jane, for only she would say something so truthful, yet so blunt. I agree with Brianna on the weirdness of the sections in French, for it seems a little unnecessary to include such a gimmick and yet deprive the audience of Adele's dialogue. There is a lot of mystery surrounding Grace Poole, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Rochester, and I am especially curious as to whom started the fire in Rochester's room.

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  5. The last nine chapters brought a massive amount of content to the table; Mr. Rochester’s return and introduction, Jane’s experience as a governess tutoring, the attempted murder of Mr. Mason and Mr. Rochester, and the finally unveiled pasts of Mr. Rochester and Adele. I think the most interesting parts of this section were the attempted murders and Mr. Rochester’s analogy for what seems to be his own life at the end of chapter 20. The attempted murders added a nice mystery into this section and also gave way to a deeper question of who Grace Poole really is and what her greater/personal purpose at Thornfield is. I think Mr. Rochester’s recently divulged past is pretty important, but I’d like to know about his more personal past hinted at towards the end of chapter 20; I’d also like to know what relations Mr. Mason has to Mr. Rochester.

    -Matthew Hebert

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  6. I've just been wondering on what level of the social ladder, being a governess, Jane is at? I don't think this is a detail particular crucial to the text but its still been bugging me to be unsure. I noticed that Jane, at one point in the text, while thinking about how she is dressed noted that she is not dressed to the standard of a lady's maid. So I assume from that that Jane's position is below that of a ladies made (side note- is a lady's made a servant that is simply employed with helping a woman with her everyday tasks like getting dressed?). However, Mr. Rochester seems to treat Jane as though she is above Mrs. Fairfax, although this could simply be do to the fact that Jane "puzzles" him. Finally, as a governess does Jane's job still entail the upkeep of Thornfield, like she is just a servant.
    Ellie Yates

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  7. While reading, I began to wonder what the relevance was of the "spirits" in the book. Since the beginning, Jane has always questioned the existence of ghost-like figures in both Thornfield and Gateshead. This seems to add a bit of a gothic feel to the book, which seems slightly out-of-place with the rest of it. In chapters 11 and 12, we are introduced to what Jane believes to be spirits surrounding the house in Thornfield. Jane gives narration on Gytrash, a spirit who transforms itself into several different animals. In my opinion, the use of spirits in the book connects to Jane's loss of parents. Her parents' death serves as a crucial aspect of her character, making her life at Gateshead what it was, and adding a sense of independence and loneliness to her. I feel like, having known about death, Jane manifests her experience into the belief of an afterlife. Still, whenever a spirit is introduced in the book, it seems irrelevant. It doesn't do much to advance the plot, but rather have you wonder what its purpose is.
    In addition, I've also noticed that a lot of the book touches on social class differences. Jane often compares herself to women of a higher class, such as Blanche. Each wealthy woman in the novel is immediately described as beautiful, though somewhat spoiled and impatient. Meanwhile, Jane, who is much poorer than Blanche, is merely described as plain and treated with less respect. This highlights the social-based inequality at that time, as well as how Jane perceives others who are considered "better" than she is.
    Jill Schuck

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  8. Jane finds her life at Thornfield a lot more enjoyable than her life as a child which is good to see. It seems like there are many spiritual forces in this book, between hearing the laughter in the house and the gypsy telling everyone their fortunes. These spiritual forces seem to be unknown right now but hopefully the book will expand on them and we will get to see why they are there and what purpose they serve. We already know a bit about Mr. Rochester but I feel like there is more we do not know about him so I would like to have that revealed to us also.

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  9. In this chapter we learn that Jane has become tutor at Thornfield to an 8 year old french girl named Adele. Mr.Rochester, the owner of Thornfield, returns from one of his trips and meets Jane Eyre. While Mr.Rochester is sleeping, Jane Eyre hears a scream in the middle of the night and she finds Mr. Rochester's bed curtains on fire. She saves Mr. Rochester's life by dousing his bed out in water and they come to the conclusion that Grace Poole's laughter before the fire makes her the prime suspect of the attempted murder. Later on, there is a party at Thornfield and when Mr. Mason shows up Mr. Rochester becomes kind of weird. Later in the party we find Mr. Mason stabbed upstairs and it was likely Mr. Rochester.

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  10. These chapters have proven to lead with the theme of the supernatural begging many questions about the history of Mr. Rochester, his household and Thornfield. Between the events of the fire, the stabbing and the sudden and strange party with Mr. Manson and the "gypsy woman." I wonder, what is Grace Poole's association? Somehow, I feel that she has something to do Mr. Rochester's mysterious past and his relations with Celine Varens. Furthermore, the ghostly happenings aligning with Jane seem to reflect her past, but make one wonder how the ghosts of Mr. Rochesters past and her own have come to minge.
    -eileen

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  12. I find it odd that Charlotte decided to include the gypsy and the fortune telling in the novel. Even though it turns out to be Mr. Rochester, I wonder why Bronte included in a story that also includes a lot of Christian imagery and discussion. Mystical elements like fortune telling, as well as the Gytrash and spirits that Jill mentioned seem rather out of place alongside discussions of Heaven and Sin. Also since it is quickly followed with images of the apostles and Christ's crucifixion. Is Bronte adding a mystic element simply for dramatics, or is she exploring beliefs different to her own?

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  13. I think that it’s good that Jane’s new life is better than her life at the school and her early childhood home. I wonder what the significance of the spiritual elements are. Why does Jane keep on bringing up the supernatural? Also what does Adele say to Jane and what does she say back? Why is Grace allowed to continue working even though she tried to kill her employer and why did she try to murder him? Why did Mason get stabbed and why did he lie about getting stabbed at first?

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  14. Its funny how Jane enjoys her life more when she’ sin Thornfield. Usually people enjoy their young childhood times the most. While Mr. Rochester was sleeping, Jane Eyre heard screams in the middle of the night and she finds Mr. Rochester's bed curtains on fire. She saves him and she thinks Grace Poole is the one who tried to murder Mr. Rochester. After this chaos there is a party at Thornfield and that’s where we find Mr. Mason stabbed to death .

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