I want to ask everyone one question about Jane Eyre. Actually, I haven't complete the book yet, and also I didn't read all the academic paper that you mentioned here. However, I actually don't know which part of story people found some similarities between Jane Eyre and Beauty and the Beast. I talked with my group member last week, but I haven't found it clear for me. Also I want anyone to share what he or she thinks toward this. I am sorry for bothering you to ask such a question here, and I know it's not kind of suitable to ask this here on this blog, because this is the blog for sharing interesting papers, and what we have learnt from the lessons. I would like anyone to answer this for me, thanks.

A paper about Jane eyre

maybe this will be helpfull! The video was interesting
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/jane-eyre-and-the-19th-century-woman

the paper I found interesting

I found one interesting paper in the evernote Mr.Wilson made.link to paper
This paper is only five pages long but what the author says is convincing and I thought that the construction of this paper is very clear and it might be a good model for us.
I summarized the paper in about 400 words so I will post it here but if you found the content interesting I suggest you read the paper itself because it is only five pages long and what I thought useful was the structure of the paper.

summary 

The main point of this paper was to say that in the book “Jane Eyre”, the story is mostly told in past tense and that makes the story less fresh. The narrator always stands between the reader and the events that happen in the story so the reader cannot feel the story directly as stories that are told in present tense. But the story “Jane Eyre” is not consisted only in past tense. The narrator uses present tense in the story at some points that are really important in Jane’s life. The author of this paper says there are at least seven points. He also says that present tense is used to convey either rising emotional tension or a new departure in the story. For example, the use pf present tense in the scene of Rochester’s second house party not only gives the reader a spectacular image of the scene, but also illustrates the emotions of Jane directly, as if the event is going on right now. Present tense is used similarly when Jane comes back from Mrs.Reed’s death, at the scene of proposal from Rochester to Jane, and to describe Jane’s concern towards her new duty at Morton. But these are not the most significant scenes that present tense is used.

 The most significant scenes are at the beginning of chapters xi and xxvii. The beginning of chapter xi is the point where Jane’s childhood ends and she goes out to the world as an adult. The author directly addresses the “reader” many times, and at first it may seem disturbing but the reader’s displacement in time is lost for a while. The readers again feel Jane’s anxiety and passion towards her new stage directly. Chapter xxviii is another turning point in Jane’s life and present tense is used. Jane’s life at Thornfield is over and she arrives at a place called Whitcross. Jane is now completely destitute and the use of present tense here again makes the reader feel Jane’s loneliness and plight at the same time with her.

The story “Jane Eyre” mainly proceeds in past tense and bears the problem of the reader being displaced in time. But as these special points in the story where present tense is used show us, the narrator skillfully uses present tense to make the reader feel the emotions of Jane directly and also to show the important turning points of Jane’s life.

LINK to the paper "The Pleasures of Submission: Jane Eyre and the Production of the Text"
 It was hard for me to understand everything so I picked up some points  argued in the paper that I could understand.

Jane is trying to discipline her spirit throughout the book and she turns her suffering into pleasure.
Jane is directly talking to the readers. She is expecting those "readers" as women.
→I think this manner makes the readers feel more close to Jane. 

The book doesn't empower the readers(=women)
Jane shares her pleasure of submission and pain as some kind of a common sence.
"Jane Eyre" is a book of feminine self-display and that was rare in the Victorian era.
The readers often take the book as a representative feminist novel, but it is dangerous to determine so. Jane tries to repress her passiom and give punishment to herself.
Although she talks about feminism,  she takes pleasure to be submissive to Mr. Rochester. She doesn't desire to be completely independent.
In the book, the women is written as a '"social and cultural construct".


"Between and beyond Boundaries in "Wide Sargasso Sea"
In Jane Eyre, Bertha Mason is a mute character and is only understood in what others say about her. Wide Sargasso Sea focuses on Bertha's life before living in Thornfield. The writer, Rhys's research about the histories of Creole heiresses of the nineteenth century is represented in Bertha Mason.

Bronte's work symbolizes English culture and Rhys' work symbolizes tacit acceptance of British colonialism. Rhys is trying to avoid total identification of these symbolisms by naming Bertha Mason, Antoinette Cosway. "Antoinette" is Bertha's real name in Jane Eyre and "Cosway" is Rhys' own addition and it's Bertha's white Creole father's surname.

Wide Sargasso Sea is "inbetween" because
・Rhys makes it clear that the work derives from Bronte's, but she also tries to stay true to both her colonial identity and background.
・Fiction and history actively intersects
・It's the product of a consciousness which is a product of multicultural heritage
・Rhys’ story makes Antoinette's childhood and life with Rochester before her confinement at Thornfield clear (these stories exists "between the line" in Jane Eyre )
・Antoinette is caught in between and alienated from two "mothers",  her real Creole mother Annette and her black house-servant Christophine. →Annette rejects her and although they care for each other, race and cultural differences between Antoinette and Christophine keeps them separated.

Annette and Christophine also "suffered from the contradictions and cruelties of a cultural system that forces differences together only to break them apart into rigid categories and hierarchies."

・Antoinette lives between the world of white Europeans and that of black colonials

 Reading this paper made me think that Jane Eyre could also be "inbetween".
 ・Jane being naturally passionate but trying to repress it.
・Some parts in the book shows feminism,  but looking at a broader view,  it might not be a feminism novel
・If you read between the lines of Rochester's romances, it could be said that the text is saying that the British is the best. (Bertha is Creole, Celine is French, Gicinta is Italian, Clara is German and Miss Ingram has an exotic face.)

Although we can only assume, Adele is half British, she never can fully adapt in England. She almost always uses French and she is clearly not loved by her "father", Rochester.


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Paper   statement

Jane Eyre shows the constant conflict between passion and self-control. Although Jane is naturally a passionate person, she follows her passion only in her childhood. She learns to restrict herself  by meeting some social expectations of how a girl / woman should be like.
Jane Eyre indicates women should be able to control  herself to live in society.

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I like to take classes in computer room because I can share new information with everyone right after I find good articles. Also, in normal classroom, classmates just sit facing forward and it is a bit difficult to discuss with each other. In computer room, we can see each other's face and move freely so I like computer room more :)

Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

Here is the paper that I find very interesting.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a novel which depicts Bertha before Jane Eyre begins.
(You can find its movie on YouTube)

This paper compares the ways of describing Bertha(Antoinette) madness in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea.

She shows how Bertha's identity as a white Creole ("in between white English and black West Indian identities")  relates to the cause of her madness.

According to this paper, Jane represents "the normative English point of view " and "...Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea answers Bartha's call in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre —Bertha's fight to be recognised — giving her the voice she demands(24)."

My opinion

At first, we have to have aim of this class. Each of the students have done D and P class in last year. It is natural that each teachers have diffrent styles of the classes and do diffrent classes so that we have the diffrent images for this class. If the object of the class is improving academic paper, we have to know what is the academic paper: why are the academic papers written? how do we approach works. what is the literary theory. At least we do not have enough knowledges and ways to analize. I think it is better to teach students examples of analizing books and then we should practice writing acadepic papers!

Brontë’s Jane Eyre and the Grimm’s Cinderella

This paper is written about the resemblances between Jane Eyre and the Cinderella tale.
 Here is the link.

The “I” of Jane Eyre

This paper talks about Charlotte Bronte's use of first-person narration in Jane Eyre. It is interesting that how she uses "I", not "she."

Here is the link.

Jane Eyre : Water and Fire

This paper focuses the images of fire and water in Jane Eyre, and argues that the novel is not formless “romantic” art. The novel makes up a certain flabbiness of plot by a hard coherence of thematic and symbolic pattern.

Here is the link.

hi

I think that it is better to do our research in computer room because we tend to be more interactive. For example, the chair. This chair is so movable that we can move around and talk about everything with all the people in this class. I also think that it is so much easier to work on your paper if you have your computer infront of you and add new information or edit as soon as possible. yup. thanks!

The Victorian Governess: Status Incongruence in Family and Society

This paper talks about the social status of the governess. It might be interesting for those who wants to know about the historical background of the governess. HERE IS THE LINK

Information about Bertha Mason

If you want to have some information about Bertha Mason (the wife of Mr.Rochester's wife) may be this can be useful :)
 http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/authors/bronte/cbronte/iwama8.html

Speech and Silence in Jane Eyre by Janet H. Freeman

I found the paper which shows about Jane's speech and silence in the story. Here's URL of the paper. Above: site Below: PDF http://www.jstor.org/stable/450486?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/450486.pdf

Women, Marriage and Economy in Jane Eyre

This paper talks about how Charlotte Bronte uses Jane Eyre as a conduct book to describe basic virtues that women should have and to criticize the marriage of economic motives.

Here is the link!

The Sultan and the Slave

I found this very interesting paper about gender and power in Jane Eyre.

HERE IT IS!!

According to the author, questions of gender and questions of race are very closely linked in Jane Eyre. At this time the British Empire as at its height, and British people tended to look down on people from other countries. When men are trying  to boss women around and control or bully them, Bronte frequently compares them to foreigners. For example, John Reed is compared to the Roman emperors, Rochester is compared to an Eastern Sultan, who keeps a harem of women, all at his command.

I also found a good YouTube video:


It's not as complete as the BBC video we're using in class, but it's a good way to get an overview of the story.

Welcome!

This is your blog. It's private and no one else can see it. Whatever you post here is between us (the group). I hope you will feel free to post here and make comments on other people's posts. Let's try to make the class work properly as a workshop!