Jane Eyre XXXVIII -- chapter 37 and 38: THE END

from Disney's "Sleeping Beauty"

1. Why the contrivance of separation  from Thornfield and Rochester (I think this is a pretty big questions, and I use "contrivance" here for immediate lack of a better word and happen to disapprove of its assertive negative connotation), not the absence, but what/who filled that absence?  Did it do anything more than provide space for the crime of burning down Thornfield?  I think it did, and support Bronte's decision.  Thoughts?
2. Why blindness, of all available handicaps to impose on the poor man?
3. Jane the skylark.  More freaking birds!  (And what of the crows/rooks last chapter?)
4. Despite what Jane says in response, how is Rochester indeed like the lightning-struck chestnut?
5. "I love you better now, when I can really be useful to you, than I did in your state of proud independence, when you disdained every part but that of the giver and protector."  This seems unjust!  Is there a means for his love to increase by the new engagement?
6. "Never mind fine clothes and jewels, now: all that is not worth a fillip."  Has Rochester changed, more than immediately so by his injuries?  Were the jewelry and dresses so important to him at the first go-round?  (Answers here, I think, can easily build from those of the previous question.)
7. Both suitors make assertions regarding God's will for Jane.  Who, if either, is right?
8. After the thoughts/discussion of supernatural communication: "I kept these things then, and pondered them in my heart."  Quite a juxtaposition!
9. What of the conclusion and all those neatly tied loose ends?

And that's it.  The book is done.  Final thoughts?

For an excellent and succinct review of Jane Eyre, 

please visit James Smith's Unmoderated Caucus, here.

Jane Eyre XXVII -- chapter 27: FAREWELL THORNFIELD

1. What is the greater problem: the deceit or the first wife?
2. Why would she forgive him so quickly?  Is she is so subject to her own fancy, injected as it is by his supercharged rhetoric and emotion?  Why does such quick revolution say about Jane and/or her love for Rochester?  Finally, how can she consider it forgiveness here if in the end she leaves anyway?
3. Maybe I watch too many romantic comedies now that I'm married, but I can't help but wonder (and such supposition is, at its heart, ridiculous, since characters of a book or movie do not exist beyond their pages, film, or bits and bites and pixels) if Rochester had some nagging doubt that he might be found out and so planned only the smallest wedding to be as little publicly humiliated as possible.  Contradict me, please: It seems out of Rochester's character, especially in view of his efforts to flood Jane with all the typical aristocratic accoutrement, to not have the grandest of available pomp and circumstance for such an occasion.  
4. I don't get this: Rochester has houses all over the place, right?  France, elsewhere in England....  Why did he keep his monstrous wife in the abode as his "home base?"  Why not put her elsewhere?
5. Who is the antagonist of this chapter?
6. "Birds were singing in brake and copse: birds were faithful to their mates; birds were emblems of love. What was I? In the midst of my pain of heart and frantic effort of principle, I abhorred myself."  Birds were a motif early on with that book she read at Gateshead, which put them in grave- and churchyards, and islands and shipwrecks.  Is there any connection between those birds and these now?
7. "May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonized as in that hour left my lips: for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love."  But we all hurt those whom we love.

Jane Eyre XXVI -- chapter 26: THE ROCHESTER TREE

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I knew it was too good to be true.

awesome

(no, really)

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Now apart from all that, let's throw back to that lightning-struck tree from chapter 23, because I think we've got all the pieces now.  See if you agree with me:

• The shepherd in the picture is, in this case, a secret shepherd and in the form of one, and to this point much maligned, Grace Poole;
• of course, if Grace Poole is the shepherd, then that would perforce render the lamb the wholly impure (or is she innocent by insanity? -- does it matter?) Bertha Mason;
• the tree in the picture here is struck by lightning, of course, and by strain of metaphor and imagery, we have in the book a tree split by lightning, which tree is a likely metaphor for the otherwise perfect (perfect as in "complete" and, in this case, would-be seamless) union of Jane and Rochester;
• the lamb is also the lightning.  Maybe.

But we run into a couple problems.  Is the tree truly irreparable?  Is it even dead?  And here again is the comparison to The Lord of the Rings, whose White Tree of Gondor represents the unity of a kingdom under rightfully inherited and ordained monarchy.  In the books the tree is dead, and Aragorn must solve the problem of no white tree, which, of course, he does.  Is there a solution to the dissolution of the Rochester kingdom?

The symbolism of trees generally is big, and nearly every culture in the world has some mythological application for them.  In Western culture (that's us) there are the obvious trees of Life and Knowledge; move Northward (and if we stick with proper name-bearing trees) and there is also Ygdrassil; more than that there all the various tree spirits and nymphs and a metaphors of strength and worship and so on from around the globe--at least wherever there are trees.  I think the most important piece of imagery here in Jane Eyre is that this tree, a chestnut and rooted as deeply in the earth as the Rochester line is rooted in the English countryside, and once reaching worshipfully into heaven, indeed represents not just the current Lord but the Rochester line.  This being the case, it can in no wise be Mrs. Bertha Mason Rochester who struck the tree, but Mr. Rochester who is the lightning, and not most importantly by the fall and death of the tree, but by the tree's dispirited failure to maintain devoted and worshipful arms extended to Heaven and God.  Mr. Rochester, as he admits in the chapel, has offended God with his presumption.  Is he without religious reverence?  

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Finally, and about Jane now, is she still in love with Mr. Rochester?

• "I should fear even to cross his path now: my view must be hateful to him."
• "Be not far from me, [God,] for trouble is near: there is none to help."

Why didn't Mr. Rochester just tell the truth from the start?  Isn't that always better?


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If you're at all interested in more tree symbolism, check THIS out, specifically about the chestnut tree.

chestnut tree

Jane Eyre XXV -- chapter 25: A YEAR AND A DAY

1. Paragraph 1 is a fine example of existentialism.
2. The cloven chestnut tree in its description here is like, though perhaps only in portent and not eventual outcome, the white tree of Gondor from The Lord of the Rings (either the original textual version or the cinematic.)  Thoughts?
3. vampyre; vampire  -- application, then?  and is it more or less than the by-now so terribly stereotypical "modern" vampire tropes?  (Fascinating history, of course, but I wouldn't about more than etymologies in this case.)
4. A year and a day.  This law has always boggled me, as much invented, seemingly, for its poetry as its legal application.  But considering its contextual use here in the book, what is Rochester actually saying (you may include exclude other listed English traditions ascribed to this legalese anapest?
5. Interesting: once the tale is confessed and quelled (was it really?), the wind too has died down; but how could she possibly accept the lame, or at least incomplete, explanation from Rochester?

Jane Eyre XXIV -- chapter 24: A PLANE JANE

1. Such is the tone of this book that I am quite frequently reminded of EA Poe.  "I shall not be your Jane Eyre any longer, but an ape in a harlequin's jacket" I must say reminds me of Poe "Hop-Frog," though here, likely, is the least similar comparison between the two authors.  More, again, I think the recollection calls stronger attention to the issue of tone than any issue of conflict.
2. It seems that perhaps this, well, tirade of Mr.R's at the head of the chapter brings to the surface a distinct, and perhaps jarring, difference between the two lovers.  What is it?
3. Mr.R asks, "What do you anticipate of me?" and Jane's reply is bleak!  If she's right, what is her evidence, more than that of storybooks; if she is wrong, why is she perhaps naturally prone to such a misjudgment?
4. Mr.R pleads his case and Jane asks, "Had you ever experience of such a character, sir?  Did you ever love such an one?"  //  Mr.R: “I love it now.”  //  Jane: “But before me: if I, indeed, in any respect come up to your difficult standard?” Is this not a question impossible to answer?  Why or why not?  Is she justified in asking it?
5. What do Hercules and Samson have to do with any of this?
6. What is the real argument going on here?  Why does Jane not want the jewels, and why is Mr.R so bent on receiving them to her?
7. And here it is!  Soon after reference to a biblical king comes, "but for God's sake, don't desire a useless burden! Don't long for poison—don't turn out a downright Eve on my hands!"  Is she an Eve?  (Okay, I know that this is actually a pretty huge question.  Simplify.)
8. This, I think, is my new favorite line: "My principles were never trained, Jane; they may have grown a little awry for want of attention."
9. It is a hard thing for those of this current American culture to understand (and very little do I) the weight carried by "station" in Jane-Eyre period England.  What is Jane's station compared to Mr.R's, and what are the consequences both--NOT JUST MR. ROCHESTER--are accepting by marrying?
10. Is there yet disbelief within Jane that the marriage will happen?
11. All that glitters is not gold: HERE.
12. Of course, if Jane becomes a Rochester and inherits permanent residence at Thornfield, is she not bound to discover the mystery of the third floor, Mrs. Poole, and Mr. Mason?
13. brat and bairn
14. And as this chapter has produced my favorite line, so has it lent my favorite scene: the discussion of the moon and faeries between Mr.R and Adele.  Fantastic!
15. "I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol."

Jane Eyre XXIII -- chapter 23: LIGHTNING AND FIRE

1. Bronte misquotes Thomas Campbell's poem, "The Turkish Lady."  Check line 5: HERE.
2. The first page or two of chapter 23 can be described easily as Romantic--and not "romantic," as in the 'til-now stymied romance between Jane and Mr.R, but Romantic, as in the written gushing effulgence of emotion and unquenched idealism.
3. So, first Romanticism and now Mr.R is pointing out this amazing moth, alien denizen of the night!, and I'm reminded of the albatross from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."  (If you're going to bother with this question, don't read Coleridge's second master piece passively; this is a BIG and IMPORTANT work.)  I haven't read ahead and don't know if this moth turns out indeed to be a portent one way or another, but the at-least-partially-aligned imagery and tone are both here.  Notice also the mention of the sea foam and imminent voyage to Ireland.  
4. When Jane complains about her necessary--and necessary by statement from Rochester--departure from Thornfield, what is she really complaining of?
5. Is Jane a woman like Lot's wife?  Will she look back?  And what if she does not depart?  What might this indicate of Thornfield, if this is indeed an apt comparison?
6. What's with the sudden usage of "Janet"?
7. "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you—especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapped; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly. As for you—you'd forget me."  Is Bronte referring to the taken rib from Adam to make Eve?  Is she referring, strangely, to the umbilical cord?  What is going on in this absolutely fascinating quotation?
8. More poetry!  Considering the period of the book's composition together with the heavy Romanticism of the book and this particular chapter respectively, check out Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale" HERE, a truly masterful and hugely influential poem (at least as much so as "Mariner" above).
9. I do love to see the fire of Jane's childhood reemerge here in conversation with Mr.R, but culminating in a kiss!?  What is the man trying to do to our poor girl?
10. Name the many reasons Jane has to doubt Mr.R's sincerity of proposal.
11. What of the change of weather and general tone shift at the point of Jane's acceptance?  Remember the weather at the beginning of the book when we spoke of Gothicism, especially as it conflicts with Romanticism.  There is a strikingly similar moment in The Sound of Music (today, apparently, is the day of comparative literature).
12. What of the lightning-struck tree, so like a tower?  If this is indeed reference to Tarot, what of the shift from Tower to Tree?

Jane Eyre XXII -- chapter 22: EMOTIONAL MASONRY

1. "You are not without sense, Cousin Eliza; but what you have, I suppose in another year will be walled up alive in a French convent. However, it is not my business, and, so it suits you, I don't much care."  Immurement is an ugly thing.  I imagine this reference to masonry isn't exactly how Jane or Bronte intended it, but I think it's indeed rather fitting.
2. Interesting that the death of Mrs. Reed and the dispersion of the Reed family happen roughly the same time as the death of Jane's relationship--or hopes for one--with Mr. Rochester.

So.  Chapter 22: a surprisingly--or uncharacteristically--short chapter!  It leaves me thinking about the idea of immurement.  (If you haven't clicked the link, do so and read up, unless you already know all about it.)  Forget for a minute the capital-punishment element, and even the literal walling-up element (especially since wikipedia has listed all the stuff--the literary and folkloric references to this particular and very romantic act and mode of death--I would be talking about otherwise); is there a connection within the confines of our book here between a potentially figurative immurement and our modern notion of putting up and tearing down walls--emotional walls?

"Count Ugolino and His Sons in Prison," by William Blake

Jane Eyre XXI -- chapter 21: DEATH AND SECRETS

1. The words "presentiments, signs, and sympathies" roll off the tongue so well, but do such things exist in the world of Jane Eyre?
2. Our present and o-so-popular interpretation of the Indian concept of "karma" is not exactly accurate to those who actually practice its source religion.  However, and regardless of the details, is karma--in any of its iterations--what brought about poor Mr. John's untimely death?
3. (It seems that in nearly all books I've read for which I've written up reading guides or study questions (nigh unto twenty five, I should say, since I began teaching), all have an extended portion, roughly in the middle, leading into which pertinent questions come shorter and shorter in number and often remain so until nearly the end of the book, where things generally pick up a bit, philosophically speaking.  We seem to be there in the discussionary doldrums now, as I go pages and pages with virtually nothing profound to ask.)
4. Quite a relationship there is between the two sisters, and so different than anything Jane ever saw when she was a resident at Gateshead or might have predicted during her time away.  

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Jane Eyre XX -- chapter 20: A PEEK AT THE SKELETON

1. Jane is scared to death of Grace Poole.  Why has not made a bigger stink?  Is she so in control of her actions that she has set her concerns--even those most dire--by the wayside for the sake of or by trust in her boss?
2. The situation in the room next door to Mrs. Poole on one side and the howling, groaning canine thing on the other and with the injured man, locked in, the paintings, and the dying candle is a perfect storm for phantoms.  How does Jane hold up?
3. Crime versus Error; Sin versus Transgression
4. "Is the wandering and sinful, but now rest-seeking and repentant man justified in daring the world's opinion, in order to attach to him forever this gentle, gracious, genial stranger; thereby securing his own peace of mind and regeneration of life?"
5. What does Mr.R mean by "instrument," and what does he intend when he says he believes to have found the instrument for his cure?
6. Poor Jane!  Cane anything but heartache come?

Jane Eyre XIX -- chapter 19: LAUGHING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR FACE

If you are a frequent visitor and reader, you will have noticed the list of blogs and sites which I follow over on the right.  One of my personal favorites is Sentence First, by Stan Carey.  (Read his "about" here, if you're remotely curious.)  Today, surprisingly, his post provided the perfect title for my own and for chapter 19 of our current book, Jane Eyre: "Laughing on the Other Side of Your Face."  So, by combination of Carey's post and in the spirit of chapter 19, be the gypsy and read my mind: what is the connection I'm getting at between Mr. Carey's and my own blog entries?

1. "The eagerness of a listener quickens the tongue of a narrator."
2. Shortly after indirectly affirming his love for Miss Ingram, he proceeds to examine Jane's face with such exquisite attention and detail that we may wonder, can it be anything but love that sees her as he does now, for love is as interested in the faults as the assets, and sometimes the more so for them?  After all: "I should wish now to protract this moment ad infinitum; but I dare not."
3. In the moment of the fortune telling, was Mr.R simply and boldly stating his feelings, or was he lost in the moment and gushing as romantically as unwittingly?  Does it matter?
4. "Do you forgive me, Jane?"  Well?
5. Some have said that trust and love go hand in hand, others that they are one and the same.  Clearly Mr.R not only trusts Jane, and to the core, but loves her; he also admitted his love for Miss Ingram.  Can he love both?  Is it possible he trusts Miss Ingram as well?
6. More questions: who is Mr. Mason?  What is Mr.R's history with him?  Does this have anything to do with Mrs. Poole, with the fire?  Does Jane really know anything about our Mr. Rochester?  If not, what/whom is she in love with (and I don't think Jane is so impractical as to be one who is in love with being in love)?

Jane Eyre XVIII -- chapter 18: HOW'S YOUR LIFE LINE?

Escher

1. We're in the second chapter of the visitors' frivolity, and I wonder what the guests think of Mr.R's treatment of the governess.  And what of Mr. Eshton's alleged proposal to invite Jane to the game only to be countered by Lady Ingram?  Is Jane's lack of rebuttal or challenge contrary to her character?
2. Mr.R garnered disgust for Adele's mother when he saw with what it was she was cheating on him.  Jane appears to hold similar distaste for Miss Ingram.  Should this not dissuade her love of Mr.R?
3. Are her justifications--his marrying for wealth, politics, family, etcetera--valid or delusional as foils against his charming such a lackluster lady?
4. What is Bronte doing by showing how the ladies are so attracted to the visitor, Mr. Mason, while Jane is fairly repulsed by him?  (Consider her descriptions of both men of her comparison in your answer.)
5. The Ladies and Gentlemen's attitude toward the Gypsy camp reminds me of the hunter (name?) in Disney's Tarzan.  Anything deemed beneath us is worth only its ability to entertain or by forgotten.

Jane Eyre XVII -- chapter 17: PARTY HARDY

1. After the first paragraph, Jane is clearly very much in love, but there is a problem, and a significant one, as much from her culture as for ours: "He is not of your order: keep to your caste, and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised."  Or do I overstep myself?  Are we not as susceptible to issues of caste as was those of Victorian England?
2. In the second paragraph, Jane considers leaving Thornfield.  If she indeed leaves, what then is her pattern?
3. Call me crazy, but I think I would actually prefer to be one of the permanent serving staff at a place like Thornwood than be a visiting Lord.  Thoughts (regarding the book, not me)?
4. I want to like Adele, but she's coming across more as a prop, less as a character--like a ventriloquist's dummy, which parallel I don't think is far off the mark considering that no matter how much she talks she doesn't really say anything.  (And indeed, "Oh what a little puppet!" from Miss Ingram, which comment in context of the situation which drew it causes me to draw up defensively in favor of Adele.  Perhaps she's not such a puppet after all!)
5. "...and all had a sweeping amplitude of array that seemed to magnify their persons as a mist magnifies the moon."  This is my favorite description of Bronte's yet.  It reminds me of Steinbeck's paisanos' foggy treasure hunt through the dark forest of Tortilla Flat, only here it's used as metaphor, and, perhaps surprisingly, Steinbeck intended to summon ghosts with his fog, while Bronte, otherwise wont to bring the phantoms, merely points out silvery, mysterious, and floating elegance.
6. I love the British "well preserved" to indicate what we call "aging well."  I can't help but think of pickles.
7. A stark grammatical shift!  Notice the change to present tense immediately after the introduction of Adele to the fancy ladies.  Certainly this lends a change of tone, but is it necessary (and by "necessary" I mean effectively serving Bronte's purpose, whatever that may be at this point)?
8. Finally Jane admits her love of the man; and, o, the final moments of the chapter!

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Jane Eyre XVI -- chapter 16: JANE'S OVAL PORTRAIT

1. "A deal of people, Miss, are for trusting all to Providence; but I say Providence will not dispense with the means, though he often blesses them when they are used discreetly."
2. Is there anything to be gained by translating Adele's French, or are the girl's words superfluous?
3. I appreciate Bronte's lack of attributive description.  Upon hearing that Mr.R is out and will be likely so a week hence or more, she asks, "Are there ladies at the Leas?" and I can't help but hear a variety of  tones in her voice, including, and most strikingly, panic.
4. I forget sometimes our contemporary parallel to the Lords and Ladies of England from this period.  I forget, because I'm not a little disgusted by the shallow fawning of Mrs. Fairfax over the beauty and elegance and accomplishments and blah, blah, blah of the rich and privileged, not to mention Jane's subsequent insecurity derived from it (a reflection, certainly, of my own insecurity).  Then I remember: People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, the tabloids, and so on.  Who doesn't love--love and hate--the rich and beautiful?
5. "...a greater fool than Jane Eyre had never breathed the breath of life; that a more fantastic idiot had never surfeited herself on sweet lies, and swallowed poison as if it were nectar."  There are layers and layers of thoughts.  There are thoughts I have (good and bad; fantastic and realistic) that I won't even let my internal, "speaking" conscious acknowledge, which I keep not just on the back burner but, like, in a crock pot tucked under a pile of collected Wal-Mart bags at the back of the pantry.  Has Jane been aware of her falling for Mr.R but wouldn't even let herself admit it until now?
6. Consider the themes of Jane's previously described paintings, and their sources.  While the therapy of these paintings was still a bit nebulous after the last mention of them, this seems to solidify their purpose for her: what benefit does she provide herself via her paintings?  With a twist, it recalls to me Poe's "The Oval Portrait."  It is one my favorites of his.  Check it out here.

Jane Eyre XV -- chapter 15: FIRE and LOVE (one and the same?)

1. Wow!  A juxtaposition I would have never presupposed: Jane Eyre-ish England and Havana!
2. Whether love is involved or not, what benefit is Mr. Rochester already gaining from the presence and listening ear of Jane Eyre--what is the therapy, more than "refresh"ment--and the saving of his life?
3. "Strange that I should choose you for the confidante of all this, young lady; passing strange that you should listen to me quietly, as if it were the most usual thing in the world for a man like me to tell stories of his opera-mistresses to a quaint, inexperienced girl like you! But the last singularity explains the first, as I intimated once before: you, with your gravity, considerateness, and caution were made to be the recipient of secrets."  Perhaps in contrast to the previous question, this sounds a little like Jane is becoming a receptacle--a box--much like Pandora's.
4. The conversation of the lovers with Mr. Rochester "was rather calculated to weary than enrage a listener."  Hmm.  Perhaps this is the subconscious motive behind all excuses, justifications, and lengthy apologies.  I will have to pay more attention to my students words at test times and due dates.
5. What a complicated thing the custody of poor Adele has become!  Part of me wonders if Mr. Rochester brushes aside the girl--or scorns her--because he is simply callow and brusk.  But if this is the case, why bring her in at all?  More likely or more hopefully, for my part--and this certainly because I'm the ever and hopeful idealist--there is some much more complex issue at heart here.  Thoughts?  More importantly--and for better of worse, this rings quietly at the door of contrivance--not to mention more obviously, why would this spur the inner mamma-bear in Jane Eyre?  Whatever the case turns out to be, I can't help but cherish a hope that Mr. Rochester does not, as Jane believes, think so poorly of Adele.
6. Is Jane falling in love with Mr. Rochester?
7. The haunting later that night seems much more palpable and significant than anything earlier, but was it benevolent, malignant, or arbitrary?  If the first, what might this indicate about Jane's spirituality (a very speculative, and likely insignificant, question)?
8. Expound a moment on the use of the word "baptize" at the finish of the fire.
9. I love this: "You have saved my life: I have a pleasure in owing you so immense a debt. I can not say more. Nothing else that has being would have been tolerable to me in the character of creditor for such an obligation: but you: it is different—I feel your benefits no burden, Jane."  Why is his debt to Jane not a burden?

Jane Eyre XIV -- chapter 14: PRETTY IS AS PRETTY DOES; OR PRETTY IS PRETTY, PERIOD?

1. One of the greatest enjoyments I get from reading is the discovery of universal truths well-articulated and which maybe had not occurred to me before reading: "His changes of mood did not offend me, because I saw that I had nothing to do with their alternation."
2. "Do you think me handsome?"  "No."  Perfect!  Each of these draws me closer to Jane.  How we envy the one who may comment as we wish we could or who has even the courage to utter it!  But is this refutation the truth?
3. The enigma of Mr. Rochester's character, demonstrated via his conversation, gives rise to pointed questions: A, is he fighting within himself with an attraction to Jane; B, is he simply fond of jest and sarcasm; C, is he so uncouth and/or malicious; D, is he sincere, play-acting (for his or her entertainment), or affronting; E, does he expect Jane to understand the source of his tone and comments, and therefore understand too his intent; F, or is he even aware of what he does?
4. Hmm: "...and though you are not pretty any more than I am handsome...."  But does he not consider himself handsome, or was it simply feigned vanity that wrought the defense of his appearance early in the chapter?
5. Readers (particularly female, as the question regards Mr. Rochester): is confidence enough to supersede a lack of physical beauty?  How?
6. There's a bald honesty in both Jane and Mr. Rochester, especially where such words might offend or indict, and I don't believe (and I have evidence) that this honesty is entirely natural to their characters; I believe it is a mechanism of the author in order to overcome what can be overcome either through more words (think Steinbeck) or through preternatural technical skill (and in the face of brevity: like Cormac McArthy, or, as I'm reading right now and with much surprise at its brilliance, AEW Mason, of The Four Feathers) --that is permitting the reader into a character's mind while still avoiding the in-intimacy of omniscient narration.  Example: I have just recently listened (audiobook) to the scene of The Fellowship of the Ring where Boromir attempts to take the Ring from Frodo.  While I can't quote it, there are several examples of similar bald honesty as here between Rochester and Jane.  It's purpose?  Expose the mind of a character, and in the case of Boromir, of an entire people.  I'm going to ask a sacrilegious question: is this evidence of a lack of skill of authorship?  (For the sake of the question, assume you agree with me that such honesty is not innate to character, even if you disagree (though in my defense, I've seen it too often and with too wide a range of character to believe it's not at least often used, even unwittingly by author, as device).)
7. (Aside: consider the entry regarding racism in literature at James Smith's www.unmoderatedcaucus.blogspot,com (entry HERE) against the use of the word "dumb" here: "You are dumb, Miss Eyre."  The word dumb, like so many others, not least of which is "gay," for example, has shifted its usage. What if the word's modern usage were so "vulgar" (another example of shifted usage) in modern context as to merit censorship?
8. While the early repartee (before the enigmatic discussion of sin and repentance and so on) between Jane and Rochester is pertinent and how it exposes their characters and the development of their relationship, are these topics not ancillary (which may also call into question the ultimate point of having described Jane's paintings so carefully, last chapter)?  In other words, could they not be talking about absolutely anything, so long as it brought about revealing discussion?
9. I expect there are resonant truths in the last several pages of dialog, but they are lost in abstraction, like a pronoun without a referent.  Of course, that opens wide the gate of personal application....
10. Why did Mr. Rochester take in his ward?

Jane Eyre XIII -- chapter 13: FAIRIES and THE MEN IN GREEN (not black)

Reading Questions

1. Interesting the rhetoric that goes into the building of a hero.  What does Bronte do to paint Mr. Rochester as a desirable, admirable man?  (Consider the difference between the author's unique slants in usage, and those that might be written off as Jane's own impressions and prejudices.)
2. "I should be obliged to take time, sir, before I could give you an answer worthy of your acceptance: a present has many faces to it, has it not? and one should consider all before pronouncing an opinion as to its nature."  What faces?
3. Why is Mr. Rochester such a grump--or, at least, "humph"-ing?
4. The dashes, by the way, in lieu of place and person names, and typical of literature from the period, are only to indicate nonfiction; most names and places, with periodic exceptions, are fictional.
5. "Eight years! you must be tenacious of life. I thought half the time in such a place would have done up any constitution! No wonder you have rather the look of another world. I marveled where you had got that sort of face. When you came on me in Hay Lane last night, I thought unaccountably of fairy tales, and had half a mind to demand whether you had bewitched my horse: I am not sure yet. Who are your parents?"  Of what kind of face does Mr. Rochester speak?  Fill in the blanks: describe, perhaps more visually, what he sees there.
6. How does this previous quotation and assumption (particularly augmented by the spoken sarcasm, though with at least a hint of sincerity, "Nor ever had," referring to Jane's lack of parents?) indicate our continued look at the fantastic and/or haunted?  (Or should I just shut up about the whole horror aspect of the book?)
7. Supposedly (and according to various sites where I've look for variance of interpretation for "men in green" (leprechauns or hobgoblins, by the way)) the exchange at the fire over tea is supposed to be "playful" and "light;" does it feel like that to you?  I see Mr. Rochester as mostly annoyed--or embarrassed--by his fall on the ice, and that mood, in my mind, plays throughout the dialog here.  Most optimistically I see him early on his guard with Jane and later relaxing as the discussion evolves.  Thoughts?  If playfulness is involved, at what point does it gain traction?
8. There must be some significance to the paintings, else why make such a big deal over them?  I get a clear impression of the source and meaning of the first, the next two are more nebulous.
9. Mrs. Fairfax believes--or so she says--that Mr. Rochester is not a complicated man.  Jane see more than that.  What might justify the difference?

Gee Whiz:

I've found the word "deuce" used over and over again in British lit, mostly from this time period, as well as in movies whose subjects take place then and there as well.  Mr. Rochester uses it as the object of the mild oath: "What the deuce," which is supposedly in reference to one of the many nicknames for the devil.  However, "deuce" is also a degenerate form of the French for two (deux), and shows up all over military slang to refer to something that would otherwise reference 2.  Better yet, just like the grade-school euphamism, it is also slang for the latter of two primary activities in which one engages in the bathroom ("bathroom" itself being also euphamistic) --yes, deuce can also mean "#2."

Jane Eyre XII -- chapter 12: Team Edward? Team Jacob? No. TEAM ROCHESTER!

Reading Questions

FH Townsend,
(thanks Wikipedia)

1. After the first page or so, I have to ask, will Jane ever be satisfied?  She's got an attitude of "Yeah, things are fine, but I'm still not really happy."  Is "restlessness was in my nature" an adequate excuse?  Or is her restlessness okay--right, even--and how does this play into the book's feminism as one of the themes of the book?
2. Is there any significance to the seeming invisibility--at least as far as Jane is concerned--of the other inhabitants of the hall?  These characters all have evident traits, certainly, but Grace has no physical feature "to which interest could attach;" Mrs. Fairfax, though kind, is entirely ordinary and unremarkable (redundancy intended); and Adele has "no great talents, no marked traits of character, no peculiar development of feeling or taste which raised her one inch above the ordinary level of childhood; but neither had she any deficiency or vice which sunk her below it," among further description.
3. Another mention of ghost/spirit: "Gytrash."  For my part, I love these little glimpses into local folklore.  ...and the goblins....
4. Of course, all the blandness of Thornfield could just be device to set up the manful beauty of Mr. Rochester.  (Sheesh!  That paragraph was like reading Stephenie Meyer!)  Interesting to note as well: Bronte has already proven herself skilled at manipulating the voice of the narrator to reflect age and proclivity; how might this description be the voice of the mature Jane reflecting back on the past?
5. "Like heath that in the wilderness, / The wild wind whirls away."  This quotation comes from a Thomas Moore poem, "Fallen Is Thy Throne," included below.
6. "Little things recall us to earth: the clock struck in the hall; that sufficed...."
7. Go back to the "gytrash;" despite the dog, horse, and man not being some strange North-Briton ghoul, how indeed is Mr. Rochester a gytrash after all, as I can't imagine this isn't important.

***

Fallen Is Thy Throne
Thomas Moore
Fall'n is thy Throne, oh Israel!

Silence is o'er thy plains;
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,
Thy children weep in chains.
Where are the dews that fed thee
On Etham's barren shore?
That fire from Heaven which led thee,
Now lights thy path no more.

Lord! thou didst love Jerusalem -
Once she was all thy own;
Her love thy fairest heritage,
Her power thy glory's throne.
Till evil came, and blighted
Thy long-lov'd olive tree; -
And Salem's shrines were lighted
For other gods than Thee.

Then sunk the star of Solyma -
Then pass'd her glory's day,
Like heath that, in the wilderness,
The wild wind whirls away.
Silent and waste her bowers,
Where once the mighty trod,
And sunk those guilty towers,
While Baal reign'd as God.

"Go," - said the Lord - "Ye Conquerors!
Steep in her blood your swords,
And raze to earth her battlements,
For they are not the Lord's.
Till Zion's mournful daughter
O'er kindred bones shall tread,
And Hinnom's vale of slaughter
Shall hide but half her dead!"

*

Jane Eyre XI -- chapter 11: GHOSTS and CROWS

For the size of this chapter, there's remarkably little in it, more than just the transition from old life to new, and I just have a few points to draw your attention to, any one or more of which are well worth discussion:

1. There's a marked romanticism to the opening of the chapter, through the stay at the hotel and the drive and early introduction to Thornfield;
2. the development of her impression and understanding of Mrs. Fairfax;
3. the continued absence of dominant male figures ("dominant" as in consistently present and/or influential), who have very little apparent motive for continued absence--they're just not here;
4. the slip from romantic back to gothic with the mounting exploration of the mansion;
5. the nature of the discussion--internal and external--of ghosts, as they are clearly an accepted facet and group of participants in every day life, unsurprising and unremarkable, except that they bear with them some measure of terror.