Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

When young Jane Eyre's parents die of disease, her kind uncle, Mr. Reed, takes her in and promises to raise her as his own. However, when he passes away as well, his wife shows that she does not feel the same way about Jane. Jane goes through her childhood unfairly being cruelly treated by her aunt and three cousins and never feels like she fits in or is respected. Even the maids disrespect her saying, "Yes, if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that" (Bronte 22). One day when her cousin bullied her for no reason, her aunt believed she was lying and sent her to be punished in the "red room" where her Uncle Reed had died. She believes she sees her uncle's ghost while in there and faints in exhaustion and fear. When she awakens, she is happy to find that her aunt has agreed to send her to school. However, once she gets there she is disappointed. At Lowood School, headmaster Brocklehurst does not treat Jane still with the respect she deserves. When Mrs. Reed was talking to Brocklehurst about getting Jane into the school, she explained to him, "...this little girl has not quite the character and disposition I could wish: should you admit her into Lowood school, I should be glad if the superintendent and teachers were requested to keep a strict eye on her, and about all, to guard against her worst fault, a tendency to deceit" (Bronte 30). He tells everyone that Jane is a liar at her school and she is shunned. Jane does manage to make one good friend, Helen, who is the ideal Christian. Unlike Brocklehurst who says one thing and then does another, Helen truly lives up to the standards expected of her. Many children get sick while in school, and Helen ends up dying of consumption. When others find out about Brocklehurst's mistreatment of the children, he is replaced. Jane stays at Lowood to teach for a few years. When Jane is ready for a new pace, she accepts a governess position at Thornfield manor and teaches a young French girl named Adele. Here, Jane secretly falls in love with her employer, Rochester. She even saves him from a house fire which was supposedly started by his drunken servant Grace Poole. However, Poole continues with her job, so Jane knows that there must be more to the story. Jane is upset when Rochester brings home a beautiful woman, but he ends up proposing to Jane. On the wedding day she finds out that he had already been married to a woman that is locked up on the third story because she had gone insane and that he had hired Poole to keep her under control. She leaves Rochester and is taken in by the Rivers family where St. John Rivers finds her a new job. He finds out that they are cousins and that their uncle John Eyre left her a large sum of money when he died. When St. John decides to go to India as a missionary, he asks Jane to go with him as his wife. Jane decides she doesn't love him so she doesn't marry him. When Jane goes back to Thornfield, she finds that the house had burnt down with Rochester's wife in it. Rochester lost his eyesight and one of his hands from the fire, but Jane agreed when he proposed to her again. At the end of the novel, Jane writes that she is happily married with a son and that her and Rochester enjoy perfect equality in their life together.

1) Jane grows up as an orphan in her disapproving aunt's house and is mistreated throughout her life. Jane was still family to the Reeds though, so what might be some reasons she was treated differently than her cousins that she lived with?

2) Jane decides to marry Rochester even after he is blind and has only one hand. If someone you loved became handicapped, would you still chose to marry them like Jane did if she didn't have to? Why does Jane chose him over St. John?

3) What would you do if you found out on your wedding day that the person you were about to marry was already married? Even if the person they had married had gone insane?

4) Although during the era this novel was written women were known to be subservient to men, Jane felt that she didn't want to marry Rochester until after proving her self-sufficiency to herself so that she wouldn't feel she was dependent upon him as her “master.” How is marriage thought to be today compared to back then?

12 comments:

MaryL11-12 said...

Question 2:
If someone I loved became handicapped I don't know that I would marry them. Not because I'm shallow and don't want some like cripple husband, but I want to marry someone that is going to be able to provide for me and my family, and unless you're Ray Charles, you can't really do much if you're blind. My dad is handicapped and I've watched my mom work the entire time she's been married and he can't do anything to help. It's definitely not a life I'd want for myself, but if I really loved the person, anything is possible I suppose.
Question 3:
I'd be furious if the person I was about to marry had never told me they'd been married before let alone they were still currently married. That's a huge thing and I'd probably call off the wedding.

Kelsey M. 11/12 said...

2)I think if I loved the person, I would not care if they were handicapped. It is hard to find someone that you have a strong connection with and if you feel that they are the right person, nothing should keep you apart. Mary does bring up a good point that it may be hard for them to help provide for your family, but I guess that depends on what kind of handicap it is. This kind of reminds me of some discussions we've had in biology about the decisions parents have to make if they find out their child could have a birth defect or be mentally retarded before they are born. They then have to make the decision of whether to keep the baby or not. They can choose to keep it and may lead a more challenging life or simply terminate it. Therefore, like Jane, you would have to decide if you were willing to take the challenge of marrying someone with a handicap.

Kaitlyn H 11-12 said...

That's a good point Mary. If the person you were about to marry couldn't provide for you, that would put a lot of stress on your life trying to care for everything yourself. Even if you truly did love the person, it would be hard to deal with that every day.

Kaitlyn H 11-12 said...

That's also a good connection about babies Kelsey. People love their babies even before they are born, but when the child may have problems, the parents have to decide whether or not they want to have to deal with the amount of time, money, and energy they will need to care for a handicapped child.

Natalie S Mods 5-6 said...

3) If I found out that the person I was about to marry was already married to someone else I would be furious. I would be the most angry because they had lied until the day we were going to get married. I would also be upset just finding out about a wife that was insane. I feel like something that serious should come up in conversation. Also, I would believe that he is unable to let go of his wife because he is still married to her. I would end up calling off the wedding.

Kali D. 13-14 said...

3. If I found out the person I was about to marry was married to someone else, I would be so upset. Just to know they had lied to me up to that point is not right at all. From that point I would be concerned to know if they lied to me about anything else. I would end up calling off the wedding because I would feel I could not trust him.

Kelsey M. 13-14 said...

3. If the person I was about to marry never told me that they were married and I found out on my wedding day I would be furious. Just because the person they had married became insane is not a reason that makes it okay that they didn't tell you.

Betsy C 1314 said...

If I found out that my future spouse was married I would most likely be upset. Even if I loved the person very much, it would be a big deal breaker.

LibbyS5/6 said...

Yeah, I'm with bets. I think the topic of "meet my first wife" should have been brought up during the planning of the wedding, not on the wedding day. That's poor judgment on his part.

Heather M. 13-14 said...

If i found out that the person i was about to marry was already married, i would be devastated. Thats a huge secret to try and keep hidden from someone for so long. Even if they had told me right when they first met me, it wouldn't be much better because i wouldn't want to become involved in a relationship with someone already married to someone else.

Jacci L. 11-12 said...

3. If i found out on my wedding day that the man i was going to marry was still married i wouldn't marry him. Even if his wife was insane, to me, if he didn't divorce her yet because of her condition that means hes still in love with her and obviously im not going to waste my time on a man who cant get his priorities straight.

Mrs. Sherwood said...

Graded