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Post by Dominique on Apr 23, 2007 19:35:28 GMT -5
I finished reading Jane Eyre for the first time last night. I really enjoyed it, so many of the characters were interesting and Jane has such a strong voice and sense of self. Ok so here is what I thought: I particularly found St John's character interesting in the way that in being so pure and full of aspirations his character was also dark and cold and caused suffering to Jane with his relentless demands that she marry him and move to India to work as a missionary. I especially liked this quote about him: "I felt how - if I were his wife this good man, pure as the deep sunless source, could soon kill me, without drawing from my veins a single drop of blood, or receiving on his own crystal concious the faintest stain of a crime." (pg 364) Rothbury was not as interesting to me because having already known the secret about the insane wife he didn't seem as complex. But I still liked him, the way he raved on and on about things made me think he was a little immature though. I thought it was pretty strange when the one family she happened to gain help from turned out to be her only living relatives, I'm not sure how much I liked that twist I think it might be better if she had found them in a different way. Edit: I forgot to say that I got The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde out of the library yesterday and plan to read it next, in a few days after I've finished my massive international media studies assignment I will start it
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Apr 24, 2007 3:15:31 GMT -5
I'd like to read The Eyre Affair too, let me know how do you like it.
I loved Jane's sense of selfe and also the way Charlotte Bronte described her characters, they seem so real and they have the psychological thickness of real people (I'm not sure if "thickness" is the correct word to say that), they're not completely good or completely evil...is that makes any sense? My favourite character is Bessie, though she's not one of the most important, because she was affectionated to Jane when no one cared about her. As you Dom, I thought the way Jane casually met and found out about her relatives was really strange, even more strange if compared to the realism of characters; I really felt that contrast and, at first, I didn't liked it but then I thought about Jane's life and all the things happened to her and I thought it was ok.
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Michelle
First novel published
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Post by Michelle on Apr 24, 2007 9:27:04 GMT -5
Is "Rothbury" Mr. Rochester? Is it different in different editions?
The Eyre Affair is pretty good. Not amazing - I read it awhile ago but I seem to remember there being holes in the story that left me unsatisfied.
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Post by Dominique on Apr 24, 2007 11:20:31 GMT -5
Sorry know I meant Mr Rochester, lol I got his name wrong.
Yeah I thought it was good that she found her cousins and stuff, because of her life etc. But I definately thought it was strange how it was done and thought perhaps they could have been introduced in a different way.
The other thing I thought of was about Jane's experience of being locked in the red room and the menal anguish she describes occured as a result and that she comes back to it a couple of times. I thought that Bronte could be deliberately linking it somehow to Bertha Rochester being locked up with her mental illness. It was quite a significant event to Jane and I can't quite explain how it's linked to the insane wife being locked up but I definately feel like a link is there.
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phishhead42
First piece published in the school’s newspaper
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Post by phishhead42 on Apr 24, 2007 12:32:08 GMT -5
We read Jane Eyre for my history of English Lit Class. I thought the book was long but interesting none the less. I wrote an essay on the names of the settings and their significance to the story. Places such as Gateshead, Thornfield Hall, The Red Room, Ferndean, and Marsh's end all carry symbollism in their names if you look for it.. The story took on a new level of meaning after I looked at the settings and did some word play with what the settings were meant to describe about the story. Just something to think about.
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Apr 24, 2007 16:39:03 GMT -5
It sounds like a good subject for an essay. I didn't know that names of the settings have any symbolic meanings. Could you explain some of them? If you want.. I think it would be interesting.
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phishhead42
First piece published in the school’s newspaper
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Post by phishhead42 on Apr 24, 2007 18:05:17 GMT -5
The first setting is the Red Room. Red symbolizes passion hunger and anger. Jane learns from the Red Room that she should learn to control her passion. Her passion made her break under the pressure of being teased. The next setting we encounter is Gateshead~ Gates are usually meant to hold something in or imprison something. Head is a metaphor for the condition of the mind; your mind is usually what you think with that contains your head. In Gates head Jane gets used to the negative aspects of life and learning how to break free on the imprisonment on her mind. Because she is denied her free thinking her mind is quelched. The meaning behind Gateshead is to show how the environment you are in can shape your outlook on life. Lowood~`The word low points out that this is a primitive and low level or low hopes of life The second syllable of Lowood is wood, as in hardship like cutting down a tree for use later or to gather up wood for preparation. Wood also is a barter able good, possession of the wood or a skill to gather wood. Brocklehurst tries to teach them skills that will help them to prepare for suffering and navigate through life. Thornfield Hall~ Thorns remind me of pain and fields make me think of wide-open observable nature. The field part suggests openness and freeness. This ability to be free is akin to Jane’s inherited luckiness to be a governess. Because of her status she is socially superior to the servants and free to roam the house doing as she pleases as if roaming a field. Next, the word thorn makes you think of pain. Jane endu`res her fair share of pain by finding out the Mr. Rochester had been married once before to Bertha. However, we must not forget that thorns also are found on roses so the symbol has at least some positive Image. The idea here is that Jane must navigate the field even though it has thorns ready to dampen her spirits. Marsh End~. Marsh’s synonyms are words such as swampy, bog, or quagmire and the word End signals a possible end to Jane’s need for a husband. St. John’s personality is very structured and he is not charismatic as Rochester was. St. John tries to and pleads with Jane for her to marry him. This would leave Jane bogged down to a man she didn’t have feelings for. If Jane would happen to do so she would be in a quagmire having married for opportunity instead of true love. Jane’s thought process also would be described as confused or bogged down by circumstances. She almost succumbs to St. John’s will yet she hears Rochester’s voice calling her. Ferndean is interesting because at first I saw no importance in this name. However after close observation I came up with a few ideas. Ferndean broke into three syllables (fer-n-dean) sort of sounds like the words fair ending. I think this is fitting symbolism because Jane ultimately finds her one true spiritual marriage partner and seems to be fulfilled and happily married. However you look at the story Jane ultimately gets to live happily ever after with Mr. Rochester. She has gotten her goal in life along with the goal of many other women of the time period.
It's a lot to read but I think there are some pretty good observations to make note of. This is assuming you've read the book.
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Post by Dominique on Apr 24, 2007 20:13:55 GMT -5
Wow thanks for the great analysis It was quite interesting. Maybe marsh end could also be like how that place is a bit of an intermission in the whole Rochester romance, like she is caught (or bogged down) there and the Rochester aspect of the story is at a stand still? I guess also you could say that the action at Marsh End also symbolises possible alternative endings to Jane's story and the Marsh that those endings would leave Jane bogged down or uncomfortable. The alternative endings of staying there a spinster living with her two cousins, or agreeing to marry St John would not have been pleasant! The place names being significant to Jane's story and development is a really interesting concept! Thanks for sharing, you've got me thinking now.
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phishhead42
First piece published in the school’s newspaper
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Post by phishhead42 on Apr 24, 2007 20:32:42 GMT -5
Hey, glad I could help out. :-)
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Post by Dominique on Apr 24, 2007 22:05:02 GMT -5
Ok I just went back and read half of the introduction to the book (only half for I have to get back to my assignment after this post ), it's quite interesting. It brings up this idea of the places as symbollic as well: The journeying nature of the novel has been frequently remarked: Jane moves from place to place as the narrative progresses, each marking a new structural departure. Gateshead is the font of her development and her point of entry into life; Lowood is the site of both decay and growth; at Thornfield, we are waiting for the hero and the heroine to snag themselves on the briars; conversely when Jane heads for her reunion with Rochester at the dolorous Ferndean green shoots of cheerfulness will keep breaking through.
But then while acknowledging this the commentator goes on to criticise it for the order that reading places on the text, and goes on to say that Jane is often erratic and has an idiosynchratic form of process and that she sees herself as a "wanderer" and "adrift from every connection". I think both interpretations of the book are valid and interesting, because the symbollic place idea has obviously been done deliberately and very much reflects Jane's progress. But at the same time she is quite erratic and haphazzard. A couple of more interesting points the introduction had to say on the book was that in its first four editions the title was Jane Eyre: an autobiography. To add to this the first edition had Currer Bell (Bronte's pen name I assume) credited as the editor of the autobiography rather than the author! I thought this was interesting especially since Jane says "this is not to be a regular biography" at one point! I also have some interesting points on the red room to post later, but I really must be getting back to my international media studies assignment now
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Apr 25, 2007 7:28:16 GMT -5
Thanks for your posts and interesting concepts!
I agree with your addition to the meaning of Marsh End, Dom. I felt as a sort of being-entangled-in-somtehing (sorry, I'm not sure how to explain that) Jane's staying at Marsh End, I know she finally met some relatives and it's one thing she really wished, but I can't help to fell all the situation a bit uncomfortable...maybe that is due to St John's behaviour.
I've followed your example Dom and I've re-read the introduction to my copy of Jane Eyre (it's an italian edition), it's quite boring and mostly about her life and authobiographical supposition on the book, there's only one point I'd like to share: introduction says that there are different opinion on Jane Eyre's plot; some people support that Charlotte Bronte had planned and built the whole structure of the plot in all its details at the beginning; other think that a plot so well contrived is to be due to fortuitous circumnstances, and not to be due to a number of pre-constructioned narrative choiches. I can't decide what to think but I tend to agree with the second opinion, just because I think that a "pre-constructioned" story would sound different, not so good as Jane Eyre...but I'm not a writer and I can't be sure.
At the end of my edition there's an exctract from an essay by Thackeray on the Bronte sisters and it's about the sort of "myth" grown around the mysterious author Currer Bell, fed by the success of Jane Eyre and what Thackeray personally think of Charlotte Bronte when he met her. That's more interesting than the introduction.
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Bina
First novel published
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Post by Bina on Apr 25, 2007 13:38:38 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite classics. The beginning seemed a bit slow to me but after a while I couldn´t put it down. The conversations between Rochester and Jane were fun and I liked Jane´s voice. I can only recommend the Thurday next series
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
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Post by neh on Apr 27, 2007 5:34:31 GMT -5
I wasi n major Jane Eyre mode for about 2/3 months at the end of last year, so i must recall all i had to say on the subjecdt then! The recent BBC adaptation got me into it, and i love the universe and the characters, in all their faults and virtues. St John aggrivates me, Mr R seduces me, Jane inspires me, Adele amuses me! That's it in short, but give me time and i'll think of more detailed eloquent things to say.
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
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Post by sagedautumn on Apr 27, 2007 15:32:25 GMT -5
i thought that in itself was pretty eloquent!
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
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Post by neh on Apr 28, 2007 2:56:32 GMT -5
Hehe, why thankyou! I do my best! I was looking in another forum that i belong to, where we have a Jane Eyre thread, and i thought i'd put a bit of one of my posts up here, to see what you guys think of what i ramble on about. To set the scene, we had somehow got onto the fact that when reading the novel we skip from Jane's childhood to the end of her adolescence with no pause inbetween to see what one would expect are crucial years, concerning her internal makeup and all the typical teenage angst that anyone, even Jane, would experience. I spat out the following as my little say on the matter (it has some references to the 2006 BBC tv version, so i apologise if you don't know what i'm talking about!). As always, i go off tangent and end up saying something else entirely!
"I have to agree that i think it a shame we completely skipped Jane's teen years (by which i mean you know 12- 18ish, coz i know she's 18 when she goes to Thornfield) because in my mind Jane as a child had this instinctive curiousity (all the questions she pesters Helen with) that carried through to her yearnings for freedom and experience as a woman, yet she also had a rather spunky defiant attitude at times (towards her aunt, towards Mr B) that later came through, if not a little dilated IMO (though Ruth does it very well) in her relations with "superiors' such as Mr R, which of course was one of the main attractions for him... so these characteristics would have been great to witness during adolescence, when so many things get turned on their head. Plus, from a girl who openly scorned her major male authorative figure in Mr Brocklehurst to one who came to love and respect her hardened employer in Mr R - i would have liked to see the seeds of this change mentally and emotionally...... i have no idea whatsoever what i am saying now!!!!!! Also, as awful as it may sound, Jane's move from a girl who innocently but determindly (sp?) questions religious rules and codes of conduct as an "ignorant" child, to a young woman who is so very firm and fast in her beliefs seems so severe to me sometimes that it's hard to grasp and empathise with.... i know that Helen, her friendship and her passing, had a great deal to do with this.. and mabye i'm just a faithless evil little idiot... i'm sorry guys! I'm talking trash, and it's amoral trash at that!!!! Excuse me! "
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