Didn't do as well on the Jane Eyre test as you had hoped? Post a "3 Good Ideas" response to any one question for up to ten extra points.

Post your response under the question (or the last response you find). Make sure to put your name under your post.

Remember the "3 Good Ideas Format":

What is your answer?

Where in the novel is your proof?

So? How does the analysis make apply to an understanding of the novel as a whole?

Here goes:

What do Jane and Bertha have in common?

Jane and Bertha have quite a lot in common.  The most obvious to anyone is that both Jane and Bertha were married to Mr. Rochester.  Also, both were hidden from the world.  Bertha was put up on the third floor to be hidden from the whole world because she was crazy.  Jane was hidden from knowledge when she was younger.  Her guardian Mrs. Reed treated her harshly and punished her for countless things that were not here fault.  When Jane and John got in a fight, started by John, Jane was punished and put into a locked room.  Jane and Bertha both had someone looking after them who was not always there for them.  Jane had Mr. Lloyd, although Mr. Lloyd got her away from the Reeds, he took her to a school where she had horrible living conditions.  Bertha had Grace Poole.  Grace watched after her and kept her safe upstairs but when she got too drunk she let Bertha loose.  In letting Bertha loose she caused Bertha to be dangerous to herself as evident in the fire that she started and died in.  Jane and Bertha had much in common although they seemed like two completely different charcters.     

Andrew Sutera block 3

Andrew stated a lot about how Jane and Bertha have a lot in common.  I agree that they are both hidden from the world.  I also think that Rochester hides Jane in a different way.  He uses Ms. Ingram to act like he is not interested in Jane.  Mr. Rochester never really comes out infront of people showing that he likes her.  I feel that since he is rich he thinks he can not show his feelings towards a governess.  He does have a wedding with Jane because once they are married she will no longer be looked at as a governess and as his rich wife instead.  If Jane was rich like Ms. Ingram that he would not have waited so long to come out about liking Jane.  Mr. Rochester also hide Bertha from the world because she was crazy.  Mr. Rochester might force the two girl into having something in common by hiding his relationships with both of them all the time.  Other then that Andrew covered all of the similarties that Jane and Bertha have.

DJ DiPaola block 3

Like Andrew and DJ stated, Bertha and Jane's relationship with Mr. Rochester is clearly the main reason for their similarities. Yet both woman control different aspects in his life. For example, Jane portrays the "fantasy" woman who fulfills many of Rochester's needs such as love, support and distraction, distraction from his unstable wife. The other controlled aspect in Mr. Rochesters life is the reality, the reality of Rochester's sick wife, hidden in the attic. This secret kept from Jane eats away at Mr. Rochester and it creates tension between the two as well as the staff members at his estate. Andrew makes a really good statement about how both women had someone looking after them but not always there for them. Their struggle for Rochester's attention fails   Mr. Rochester does a really good job about keeping Jane and Bertha a secret from eachother but what I don't understand is why the Grace Poole or the other people in the house did not tell either women that Mr. Rochester was having an affair. Jane and Bertha's similarities are what makes the story interesting and if there was no "another woman" in the relationship between Mr. Rochester and Jane, the story would just be another love story and not controversal or realistic for readers. This signifigant information makes readers understand that the life of Jane as well as Bertha is filled with distraction, loneliness, and deep sadness. Jane and Bertha both strive for attention but neither recieve the love they deserve. 

Liz Toomey Block 3 (:

How is Jane Eyre (the character) a rebel?

 

Jane Eyre is a rebel in the sense that she doesn’t follow the standard of women of that time.  In the beginning of the book she is penalized by her cousins for reading and questioning the authority around her. In her later life while working as Adele’s teacher, Ms. Ingram shows up in the novel showing what a woman should be. Only knowing what people tell her and not digging deeper or questioning the subject. This is quite the opposite of Jane. Jane also does what she wants and does not let herself be held back by what other people think. Two examples of this in the book is when she leaves Mr. Rochester after finding out about Bertha and again by going back to him. Even though she knows that it would be difficult to live without means of income or a place to go, she still leaves him knowing that with him she cannot have the intellectual freedom she desires when she is with him. She would be reduced to a house wife of sorts. When she gets to St. Johns house she meets Mary and Diana Rivers, two intellectual independent women, who serve as role models to Jane. Jane realizes she can fulfill her need for knowledge by herself without a man in her life. But once again she rebels against society and herself by leaving the life she had always wanted to peruse her feelings and love for Mr. Rochester. In the end she ends up with Mr Rochester. But this too is rebellious in the fact that she controls where he goes and what he does, because he is blind. Instead of him controlling her which is in the beginning what she had feared would result in their marriage. This helps understand what Jane is running to and from the entire novel. It is all a search of happiness but in a very unique, rather rebellious way.  

 Elizabeth Szablya Block 3

There are fantastic, even unbelievable coincidences in the novel. (How convenient that her uncle's lawyer also represents Bertha's brother! Out of all doors in the world she could knock on to ask for food, she raps at her cousins'! The moment before she throws her life away to join St. John as a missionary, she hears the voice of her lost love calling to her from 50 miles away!) What is the effect of these coincidences on the novel and the reader?

These consequences have a huge effect on the novel and the reader.  If everything always went as planned in novels, there would not be much of a story line.  In Jane Eyre the coincindental events happen right before something awful is going to happen to Jane.  Jane is about to join St. John on his journey being a missionary but hears a voice (Mr. Rochester) calling to her in the darkness, "Jane, Jane, Jane!" (456).  Without her hearing this voice, she would have ended up living the rest of her life with someone who she did not truly love-- the coincindental event happens right before she is about to make this mistake!  The next coincindental event happens while Jane is roaming the streets trying to find shelter and some food.  She has no job and no house to live in.  Jane is quickly losing hope and has no energy left saying "my strength is quite failing me...I feel like I cannot go on much further" (356) but decides to knock on a nearby door.  It turns out that the people that live in this random house, are her counsins!  At first they don't accept her in and their servant Hannah says, "I'll give you a piece of bread...but we can't take in a vangrant to lodge" (362).  After much discussion, the family deicdes to let Jane stay.  A significant time into her stay at St. John's household is when he helps Jane realize that they are counsins, when she asks, "You three, then, are my cousins; half our blood from each side flows from the same source?" (417)  Again, this coincidental event happens right before Jane is about to perish on the streets.  Coincindental events add something deeper to any novel.  In the novel Jane Eyre, these events occured right before something terrible was about to happen to Jane.  They helped her avoid bad situations and helped get her to a stable place in her life, when the novel ended. 

~Emily Mulhern B.3

There is not much to say after what Emily said but....These coincidences are vital to the novel and the reader.  Throughout the novel these events seem to occur at an oppurtune time leading Jane in the right direction.  These coincidences almost serve as a guiding light to Jane making sure she stays on track and in the right direction.  It is almost a little humerous how these coincidences come about since that would most likely not happen in real life.  When she is desperate and out on the streets the guiding light, or coincidence, leads her to meeting her family which is then able to help her out.  Without this events the novel may have gone in the wrong direction with Jane never finding help and her family but the guiding light kept Jane and the novel flowing in the right direction.  Another instance in the novel is when Jane hears Mr. Rochesters voice before she is about to go off with St. John to India.  This coincidence keeps the novel going and Jane from making the wrong decision.  These events help tie together the novel and keep a steady flow of events that keeps the reader interested throughout the book.  These coincidences are important to the understanding of the novel for the reader as well as the flow of the plot.

Gus Sutera-block 3