Jane Eyre- The Unexpected Prejudice

Upon initially choosing Jane Eyre to read, I was immediately apprehensive manily for the book's literal size. Hundred's of pages? All about one girl? I was not sure my attention span could handle the story, but reading the first two  chapters in class helped me become interested in Jane. I couldn't help but wonder how her curiousity and maturity developed despite the oppression from her family. I expected a story about how this orphan learns to adapt to her abusive family, but I soon saw the discrimination and prejudice she faced as a female as she grew older.

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre depicts a patriarchal society characteristic of male dominance and female submission typical of Victorian Society. Protagonist Jane Eyre is undisruptive and passive towards the Reed family that is allowing her to live with them following the death of her immediate family. In Chapter Two when her cousin John Reed physically abuses the young girl, Jane retaliates in self-defense and yet is the one who gets reprimanded for antagonizing John. This type of mistreatment pursues Jane throughout the novel, in which the women in Victorian society are respected as inferiors, or sometime like children. Though Jane furthers her education, assembles into a middle-class role, and becomes a governess at Thornfield, she still earns a meager wage and remains under the control of the master of the house. Jane soon falls in love with her wealthy master Mr. Rochester, but due to culture’s perception of women she feels forbidden to act on her emotions. She says, “He is not of your order, keep to your caste”, showing her lower-class mindset of social inequality that prevents her from true happiness. The inadequacy of females is further demonstrated through the development of their relationship. Mr. Rochester intentionally talks about his marriage to more beautiful women other than Jane, thus torturing her emotions and making her feel substandard. Although the master claims it was to “assure Jane’s feelings” for him, it depicts the typical male-manners of twisting female emotions for his own pleasure and advantage. Additionally, his deceit towards Jane and infidelity towards his own wife epitomize the lack of reverence females possessed in the Victorian era. Conversely, Bertha Mason represents the contrast to expected female behaviors by acting boisterous, violent, and aggressive in pursuing her desires. However, her captivity in Thornfield and disregard by her husband show society’s disapproval of outspoken and whereas Bertha’s eventual death symbolize the Victorian era’s censure for aggressive women.

J. White

Jane Eyre

After some vacillation between the two novels that we had to choose to read at the start of this semester, I eventually chose Jane Eyre because its opening chapters, as shown to us in Mrs. Elliott's class, were far more interesting than those of Tess of the D'urbervilles, in my opinion. Although I initially dreaded to read the novel, intimidated by its sizeable stature and its miniscule font, the exposition of the book turned out to be much better than I had imagined, although still fairly slow. However, upon reaching the "meat" of the novel, I became increasingly engrossed in it, interested in how the relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester would turn out.
In addition to the solitary reading that I did, one of Mrs. Elliott's lessons was serendipidously focused on one of the passages of the novel that I had spent some time ruminating about. Although I had formed in my psyche a dislike of Mr. Brocklehurst, there were various points in that passage that brought me some confusion. Much to my surprise and pleasure, Mrs. Elliott's lesson on Thursday, January 21 answered every question I had about the passage, as well as showing me a new perspective on "reading between the lines;" honestly, I felt as if I was dissecting every word and examining it for any significant meaning.
In short, Jane Eyre, although slow at its start and slightly confusing in certain areas, is a great piece of literature. I felt that the book really captured the essence of 19th century England, and brought to me a new viewpoint about the situation of females in that era. Also, the characters are amazingly detailed, and Jane's sophistication despite her young age never ceases to surprise me. By reading this novel, I think that I will gain an idea on how someone else would view life, and possibly become more attracted to reading classic literature.

-Byron C

Chapter by Chapter: Quote Responses

Chapter 1

Quote:

“Accustomed to John Reed’s abuse, I never had an idea of replying to it: my care was to endure the blow which would certainly follow the insult” (Brontë 7).

Response:

Jane’s reaction to John’s abuse displays the imposition of male dominance during the Victorian Era and further depicts society and future outcomes. Women of the period were accustomed to male abuse and dominance. At the beginning of John’s assault, Jane did not try to oppose him, as if she was used the maltreatment from him. Besides describing the society during the setting of the novel, this event foreshadows the submission of women to men’s will, which will affect the story, because Jane tends to be rebellious against anyone that tries to harm her.

Chapter 3

Quote:

“Heaven is a home, and a rest will not fail me; God is a friend to the poor orphan child” (Brontë 23).

Response:

Bessie’s song is symbolic of Jane’s life. The song portrays the life of a miserable orphan child, which can be interpreted as Jane. The song also exclaims that eventually the life of the orphan child will improve. In other words, Bessie’s chant also serves as a foreshadowing of Jane’s life—she would have to endure many arduous and miserable moments, but, at the end, her life will improve.

Chapter 7

Quote:

“You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence” (Brontë 76).

Response:

Mr. Brocklehurst is a cruel individual with extremist Christian’s beliefs. He believes that deprivation and harsh conditions would make an individual a better Christian. Mr. Brocklehurst is a hypocrite and does not follow his own beliefs; though he forces the Lowood’s students to follow his idealistic form of living, depriving them from nourishing meals and decent clothing.

Chapter 8

Quote:

“No; I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough; if others don’t love me, I would rather die than live—I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen” (Brontë 84).

Response:

Jane is worried of what people might think about her, in the same way a high class individual would. While Jane resided at Lowood, the Reeds’ mentality of social perspective foiled onto her. Jane cannot surmount what other might think about her, while someone from her social class would more easily disregard the perspective of others. Jane’s foil of high class attributes has interfered with her mentality; thus on her actions.

Chapter 11

Quote:

“But you see they are only servants, and one can’t converse with them in the terms of equality” (Brontë 120).

Response:

Mr. Rochester’s words of partial equality towards Jane depict his captivation of her. During the Victorian Era, servitude personnel, such as Jane, were rarely treated in terms of equality; thus Mr. Rochester’s exclamation that he can talk to her in terms of equality portrays his feelings for her. One can even claim that it is love at first site, since Mr. Rochester and Jane just met.

Recap on First Semester

Being in 4th period English Literature really changed my perspective on English as a whole. I really have to thank Mrs. Elliott for being such a wonderful teacher and utterly changing all of the previous stereotypes I held about English teachers. Before, I thought that all English teachers were odd, a little crazy, kind of stuck-up, bad-tempered, strict, and waaay obsessed with literature. Although Mrs. Elliott definitely is addicted to English, the way she teaches her classes is completely different from what I have had to go through these past three years of high school. Freshman and sophomore year, I disliked my English teachers, and consequently disliked my English classes. Both my teachers would snap easily and yell at us, the students, from time to time because of our rowdiness. Junior year was not that much of a problem because my English teacher left on some sort of extended vacation or something along those lines from late November to the end of the school year. However, Mrs. Elliott has been, compared to all the other English teachers I have had, something like an idol among teachers. Our class does some crazy stuff in her class, but I don't think I have ever seen her get the least bit perturbed, which is surprising, to say the least. So I just wanted to say thank you to Mrs. Elliott for making me see that English is actually pretty interesting as a subject, and that literature can be really intriguing and not as boring as most people make them out to be.
Of course, it is not just Mrs. Elliott that makes up the 4th period English Literature experience. The other students in the class are interesting as well. There is never a dull moment, whether in our tables or in our teams. My table is filled with laughter and jokes, but we still get our work done. At least, I do. Our team is also surprisingly hard-working and diligent, since it seems that we spend almost all of our class time cracking jokes and laughing. I really am proud of my team for working so hard. Although we may not have the most paw prints on the board, I think we have learned a lot about each other and ourselves, and that our newfound knowledge has made us better people.
In short, this year's English class has been, by far, the most interesting, the most fun, and the most educational English class I have been in throughout all of my high school years. I have learned a lot about English literature that has changed my erroneous perspective on it. The students and Mrs. Elliott have both been amazing in making this class memorable. I will truly be looking forward to coming back to this welcoming class next semester.

The Journey of Life

The human mind creates superficial barriers within itself that limit what people consider can be done or answered.  Society tells us that certain objectives cannot be achieved.  These thoughts of impossibility are engrained into our subconscious from an early age.  We become so used to the idea that these thoughts are impossible to fully comprehend that, we, in a sense forget that they exist and carry on.  The constant weight of the rock weighing down our hands becomes commonplace and slips from attention until the given question becomes intuitively unanswerable.  Just as the rock becomes smooth over time, our thoughts are constantly being eroded by the sands of our mind, losing all edge and interest.  Over time, the quandary becomes nearly unapproachable to our mind as each crevice we initially saw as a point of entry that would allow us to break up the question, has been leveled out by erosion, eliminating any way to maneuver about the solution. 

The summer after my sophomore year, I decided to hike to the top of Mount Baldy with a friend, Alireza, and his cousin, Matin (an experienced hiker).  When we reached the halfway point, Alireza and I were exhausted and sure that we could not make it any further.  We sat down and contemplated whether we were capable of investing another three hours of effort to reach the top.  We promptly told his cousin that we could not go any further.  I saw a river of sorts in my mind, one that appeared too deep and wide to cross without a bridge.  Matin told us but one thing; “the human mind will always create false barriers that tell you that you cannot accomplish certain goals.  But if you stop listening and push through these barriers, you’ll see that such barriers do not actually exist”.  Alireza and I took this advice and decided that although we were sore and our minds were telling us to call it quits, we would accomplish our goal of reaching the top of Mount Baldy and continue on.  On our way up the mountain several times we stopped and thought, ”This seems like the top of the mountain. We can stop here.”  Instead we pushed forward.  Still exhausted, we chose to continue until finally reaching the summit.  When I stood on the top I realized that the river in my mind that looked too perilous to cross, was in fact an inch deep and could be crossed.  The first and most difficult step in accomplishing a goal that appears impossible is having the faith to continue when it seems pointless to try. 

Though I may never attempt to climb Mount Everest, I learned something that day.  It is said that “objects in mirrors are closer than they appear.” Although this statement is true for automobiles, life is exactly the opposite.  If you push yourself to your limits and reassess the situation, you’ll realize that your personal limits are in fact still several miles away. 
-Phillip Jones 4 L1f3

Imagination

J White 

It’s just a blank piece of paper- a sheet of plant fibers, vacant and void, yearning to be overflowed with attention and use. Yet a seemingly bare sheet transforms into an exquisite canvas of city lights and meadow landscapes, a famous script for a dramatic screenplay, an origami creature worthy of applause. A mere blanket converts to a cape of a valiant hero, the roof of a secure fortress, or a companion to snuggle while watching horror movies through one’s quivering fingers. Even this meager English essay becomes a gallant adventure, twisting and coiling throughout unrelated topics until an argument is reached.  This very action is imagination. This process of creating mental images and ideas is essentially humanistic as it provides an imperative vehicle to creativity, intelligence, visualization, and outright entertainment. Imagination provides us laughter, opinion, insight, invention- without it the world would be monotonous, poignant, black and white boredom. Imagination is essential to the universe, and thus is the most important word.

Envision a dreary world absent of imagination: no laughter from clever jokes, no art museums or comic books, no bicycles or airplanes, no iPods or cell phones. You simply cannot, plainly because in doing so you were using your imagination. Imagination is the application of expression, the method of fantasizing, creating, and employing. Without it, man would not have thought to create fire, invent the wheel, or throw some seeds into dirt and call it food as it sprang from the ground. Imagination establishes a hidden world inside one’s mind, a mental concept that travels beyond human senses. It is a universe of infinite opportunity, nonexistent of impossibilities, and capable of unfeasible prospects. Without imagination one would not attempt to explore the galaxies of our universe, one would not try to construct lyrics to a harmonious melody, one would not seek to shroud themselves as a character in a play. Imagination is critical to human nature, manifesting in many forms, strengthening the power of innovation and originality. It is a transcendental formation that combines our experiences and knowledge into a single connected whole; imagination is a universal consciousness capable of the impracticable.

Imagination is the reason for invention, yet no piece of machinery or new technology is capable of employing its own innovative imagination. This is because it is fundamentally humanistic, vital to the persistence of mankind into the pioneering future. This conscious power of mind permits the veracity of youth, the success of adult creativity, the sanity of old age. Imagination is simply the most important word, the most important action. Without it, the blank piece of paper will crumble from desolation.

After enduring twelve years of grueling, compulsory education, we (the students) are at a crossroads: As we seek to delay our adult life and escape the clutches of our parents, we frantically begin the search for the higher education institutions that will host us for the next four years (or more for some of us). We can taste the freedom from the constant nagging of our parents, yet, we cannot imagine Friday afternoons without mom’s delicious carne asada.

As the college application deadline approaches, we grow increasingly anxious (for some, even, their hair begins falling off or it turns white), as uncertainty overwhelms us. I am going to get in? If so, will it be to my dream college or one of my back-ups? Oh God, please, let me get in!

As an individual that has lost numerous hours of sleep thinking about how desperately I want to go to a particular institution, I fail to look at the positive. “I am not going to get in,” I think to myself as I lay down looking into the blank ceiling at 2 a.m. in the morning, “I am going to have to go to a college that I do not want to go to.”

However, recently I been thinking of how lucky we (as people who live in the United States and the Western World in general) are: There are thousands, if not millions, of qualified students in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that would yearn to get a college education wherever possible; however, they might not even get to set foot at an university. College is not about where you, but what you make out of it. An “A” student will be an “A” student at Harvard or Chaffey. Anyways, the whole point is that we must appreciate what we have and thank that, at least, we have the option and luxury of going to college.