I chose Jane Eyre for you to read for several reasons. It’s a first in novels for several reasons. Keep in mind as you read it that it was published in October 1847. Some world events happening at that time were: The Mexican American War, the first postage stamp, and the birth of Thomas Edison. The American Civil War doesn’t start for another decade and a half. She published it under a pen name, Currier Bell. We have not yet seen a woman write a bildungsroman, and it is truly the first novel that deals so much with psychological themes. We’d call her a feminist now, but they had no such word then, so we use the term proto-feminism, as in before, like prototype. What I like about it is that without any of that, it’s a solid read with a good storyline and an excellent plot. Bronte casts Jane as the outsider right from the beginning, as a poor girl amongst her rich family. This is also something unique about this novel. She uses her perspective to comment on society, the church, social classes, and education. You can see why I like it.
Chapter 1- Jane is an orphan who lives with her father’s sister and her children. You can immediately see how she is treated and her relationship to the other kids, especially John.
Jane feels like an outsider, so she goes to sit in the windowsill and read. This is one of those places where you think, “My English teacher wants me to overread into all the things she sees.” But really, it’s not overreading. Take a note of what she sees and what her descriptions evoke.
And then she’s attacked by her bully, her cousin John (quite a description, feels sort of like Dudley Dursley). I think we’ve all been there. Her punishment? The red-room.
I wonder all kinds of things: What’s Auntie Reed’s problem? What’s going to happen to Jane? Why do I feel like I really understand a girl born 100 years before me?
Chapter 2 – Okay, the red-room. It is what you think it is, the room her uncle died in, so people don’t hang out there very much. Quite a time-out for a 10-year-old girl.
I feel as if the servants are there to be as neutral as people who need to be loyal to their boss can be, and to give a perspective of Jane’s situation.
How Jane describes herself in the mirror is the first sense we have of something supernatural. “I thought it was one of those tiny phantoms, half fairy, half imp.”
In thinking of her dead uncle she thinks she sees a ghost, which she tells us was probably her mind playing tricks on her, but it enforces this idea of superstition. What’s interesting is how everyone reacts to what is obviously a scared child.
Chapters 3 and 4 – Jairo
Chapters 5 and 6 – Lasnier
Chapters 7 and 8 – Naomy
Chapters 9 and 10 – Dolly
Chapters 11 and 12 – Nairobi
Chapters 13 and 14 – Minaliz
Chapters 15 and 16 – Loenny
Chapters 17 and 18- Melissa
Chapters 19 and 20 – Diana
Chapters 21 and 22 – Genesis
Chapters 23 and 24 – Glorimar
Chapters 25 and 26 – Alysia
Chapters 27 and 28 – Neni
Chapters 29 and 30- Franchesca
Chapters 31 and 32 – Mia
Chapters 33 and 34 – Erykah
Chapters 37 to end – Extra credit, first come, first served
longoap 