Reading Overview for Wednesday, July 21

Assigned Text: Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Ch. 1-4 (pp. 19-51)

Summary Information for Volume III of Frankenstein

Here are the links for the Facebook pages presented by Plunk and Michael: Victor and the Creature

About the Victorian Period

Read George P. Landow’s brief overview of the period here. We’ll talk in class on Wednesday about the Victorian novel and then next Wednesday about Victorian poetry.

About Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte grew up in an intellectual family where she and her siblings began writing plays, stories, and poems during their childhood. Her father was a clergyman, and her mother died when she was young. Her father took an interest in the education of the children, and because of his fondness for literature, he encouraged his children to read and to choose what texts the wanted to read from his library. Charlotte’s two eldest sisters both died from illnesses because they were neglected by officials at their boarding school. Charlotte attended a boarding school that she disliked (on which she partially based Lowood) before going to the much happier Roe Head School where she eventually taught before becoming a governess. After several setbacks, Bronte published Jane Eyre in 1847 under the gender-ambiguous pseudonym Currier Bell, which began her career as a writer. After the loss of most of her family members to illnesses, she married in 1854 and died nine months later. Bronte’s life straddled the Romantic and Victorian periods, and contemporary events (spread of the empire, gender roles, issues of race and class, etc.) clearly influenced her writing in a number of ways.

Questions for Thinking and Discussion

• Look closely at the physical description of John Reed (page 22) and the general descriptions of all three of the Reed children (page 27). What words stand out in those descriptions? How do those descriptions compare to the description of Mr. Reed (pages 28-29)? How do they compare with the description of Jane’s parents on page 37? Continue marking descriptions of these figures as you read. 
• Begin thinking about this text as an autobiography, which is, after all, the subtitle of the text. In these early chapters, our narrator and main character Jane is a young girl. In what ways does this appear to be the narrative of a child? In what ways does this appear to be a grown woman writing about her childhood? 
• Jane mentions religion some in these early chapters, especially in her meeting with Mr. Brocklehurst. How is Christianity portrayed in this section? 

Questions from Wednesday’s Presenters

• When Jane is living with the Reeds, do you think she acts ungrateful towards them? 
• Does your opinion change of Mr. Brocklehurst when we find out that he has a lot to do with the spread of typhus? 
• Even though we have only read the first 10 chapters of the book, where is there already evidence that this is considered a gothic novel? 
• How is the story affected when Jane is the narrator for the first few chapters? Are there any similarities between Ms. Reed and Mr. Brocklehurst?