Thursday, July 28, 2011
Jane Eyre---Discussion Question #5
At a critical moment in the novel, Jane proclaims herself Rochester's equal: "It is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both of us had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal---as we are!" Rochester responds, "As we are!" Why is Jane so passionately outspoken? Is her self-valuation exceptional and true? Is she more noble and impressive here than Rochester is? Why is this long scene so important for the novel as a whole?
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I think this scene is important to the novel as a whole, because you see a side of Mr. Rochester that you wouldn't expect to see. It shows that maybe Jane and Mr. Rochester have acquired a sort of friendship. Jane hasn't had a lot of "friends", with growing up in such a wicked environment so to me, it is such an important scene because it changed how I felt about Jane. I have more respect for her. It takes a lot of guts to say to anyone that we're all equal, no matter who it is. Although she might be a little scared at this moment, it doesn't show, and I admire her courage.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Jane is so Passionately outspoken because of her past. She was always quiet as a child and took so much in and held so much in. On the day when she yelled at Mrs. Reed i believe it opened up a new Jane who now constantly has to speek her passions because of fear of being shut up again. She has so much knowledge in passion in her that she cannot hold it in from the world. I believe that her self vaulaation is exceptional but not true. Throughout the story Jane mostly saw herself as plain and boring. She didn't feel like she deserved love and devotion from any human being. She just wanted kindness and exceptence. I feel that these thoughts of her about herself are untrue. She is beautiful in her own way. Especially in her faith, which also gives her her passionatley outpoken mind. She cares about so many people that its heartbreaking when she puts herslf down. I believe that she is more noble and immpressive in this scene than Mr. Rochester because she took a bold stand. In those days she was a governess and below Mr. ROchester. It took alot of guts for her to speak her mind to him in that way. She was no0t considered his equal by anyone of that time period but she spoke her mind and told him they were equals. She is more impressive than him because she said it first and put it out there. Mr. Rochester just agreed to the claim. This long scene is so important to the novel as a whole because Jane's true character is finally shown. She takes the whole world in and sees it as one giant picture where everyone is equal. She finally prclaims how she feels about herself and Rochester and the mood of the story has a sort of suspensin to it in this scene because for a few seconds you are unsure of what rochester may say. I believe this scene is very important in explaining the bond and relationship between jane and rochester and what they each see in the other.
ReplyDeleteThis scene is important becaue it's one of the 1st steps Jane takes in taking control of her own life. We the readers get to see her declare her own declaration of indepence as she realizes she has the power not to live suppresed by other people. It is true because for the 1st time in her life she isn't afriad to be bold and is glad about. She is more impressive than Rochster because this is her moment of clairty. The stormy cloud that was her life in the begiing of the story is ending and rays of the Sun are begiing to shine. This is important to the story because it is a climatic moment in her life for when she truly becomes an independent woman.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nichole in that i think Jane is outspoken because of her past. During her experiences with Mrs. Reed, she bottled up so much anger and grief, then when she actually talked back to her she was shocked at how good it felt to stand up for herself. Her self-value increases throughout the story. As a young girl, she was always told that she was ugly and worthless. So that's what she believed she was. As she went to school and became educated, her self confidence and self value continued to increase. I think the more capable she became, the more she felt like she truly was competent. Jane is more noble here than Mr. Rochester because, like NIchole said, she put the words out there. She took a stand and said what she thought. This was a big step for Jane, as Mr. Rochester is her employer. This scene is where Jane finally becomes Jane, in her relationship with others as well as inside herself. She says what she wants to say. There is no fear really of ridicule or punishment, like there had been in the Reed's home or at school.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but feel that, while Jane may feel like an independent woman, she only decides to agree that she is because of the large some of money that she received... So the question is, does having money make make you truly independent? Or is it something else? Perhaps it is the idea or the thought that counts? Either way, Jane gets married to Rochester, indicating that she finds that part of independence is listening and taking your emotions into account. While Jane wants to be independent, she realizes that being married to Rochester does not make her a dependent woman. I believe this is one of Brontë’s main points of the story: One in a quest for love and belonging does not need to disrupt their sense of self.
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This long scene is crucial to the novel because all Jane ever tried to achieve throughout her life was equality and she was finally capable of sharing equality with the man she loved. When they were originally intended to be wed, she had a knot in her stomach because she knew that marrying Mr. Rochester would eternally eliminate her chance to reach equality and that she would always suffer from social injustices due to marrying a fellow out of her class. In this scene, she proclaims that she can have her two greatest loves: Mr. Rochester and social equality.
ReplyDeleteThe scene is important to the novel as a whole because it really shows insight into how rochester felt about jane. After Jane said that she thought they were equals, he didn't deny what she had said, he simply agreed with g him. And considering the era of the novel, it would be very rare for a man to admit that a woman was his equal. This exchange of words really shows us that rochester sincerly cares for jane. For rochester to see jane as his equal, he had to have thought very highly of her.
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