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Post by jordanhilker on Nov 18, 2015 18:11:35 GMT
I found it very interesting when the article compared and contrasted Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason. They two women both experience a similar childhood in that both of them were raised by relatives and not their own parents. They both received little love by their family and they were both lonely. The two both had a rough beginning life. When they had the ability to change how their life was going, Bertha did nothing. However, Jane was sick of the constant bully by her relatives and decided to stick up for herself and choose a different path. It was interesting to see what the women did when they had the ability to change their future. Some people stick with their fate, while others decide to change the way their life is. Bertha was never able to develop and distinguish her own identity, causing her to go crazy and become a "madwoman." Jane however decides to experiment with her religious and spiritual beliefs while going against the "normal" role of women during her time period. She sticks up for herself and never lets a man tell her what to do. By doing this, Jane is able to discover who she truly is and is finally able to find love and acceptance. It was weird to see how the two woman both had the ability to choose their fate and by Bertha not going against hers, she becomes crazy. It shows how the standard Victorian women are treated and how some of them became crazy because of their treatment. I liked how Jane stood up for herself the article truly stresses how the differences in the two women make them who they are. Overall, the comparison seen throughout the article was very fascinating. I liked to see how Bertha and Jane were foil characters and the article really highlighted both of their differences in character.
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Post by crandallethan on Nov 20, 2015 1:21:31 GMT
You're right the difference between Jane and Bertha is their decisions when faced with conflict as their personality that lead to such decisions. In taking a step back and looking back at the Coming of Age unit as a whole, it's clear that only the dynamic prominent characters surviv, and the characters who don't become dynamic to a certain extent an make a leap in their life journey die. We see this with Bertha,Leper, Phinneas,and the narrator from "The Yellow Wallpaper". Death doesn't always mean physically but sometimes through a loss of identity in the cases of Leper and the narrator..
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Post by rcb1008 on Nov 20, 2015 3:28:50 GMT
"In taking a step back and looking back at the Coming of Age unit as a whole, it's clear that only the dynamic prominent characters survive, and the characters who don't become dynamic to a certain extent an make a leap in their life journey die. We see this with Bertha,Leper, Phinneas,and the narrator from "The Yellow Wallpaper". Death doesn't always mean physically but sometimes through a loss of identity in the cases of Leper and the narrator.." This is a exactly what I was thinking #2pointresponse. I agree that the parallels between the various texts we have read through this unit go to show that in most coming of age stories, loss is employed to bring either maturity to the protagonist or enrich the moral for the reader. Jane experiences the death of Helen and recognizes that the lessons she taught her should never be forgotten. By utilizing these new tools while remaining open to her own viewpoints, Jane is able to survive through to adulthood. |
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Post by maddysmith on Nov 21, 2015 4:47:26 GMT
I think it's really interesting how the woman who didn't challenge the status quo (Bertha) is the one who ends up so oppressed while Jane, who actively worked to stand up for herself, ended up succeeding and overcoming her social barriers. I mean, obviously if Bertha just took what she was dealt without arguing, nothing was going to change for her, but a lot of times people are kind of think that speaking out too much can be harmful to them but in Jane's case, she only succeeded by speaking out. In High school Musical, the students sing "Stick to the Status Quo" when Troy is thinking about auditioning for the musical. In the end, he gets the lead and the rest of the students realize that it's okay to try something different and it can help you. If the novel Jane Eyre was High School Musical, the Victorian patriarchy would be the dismissive student body and Jane would be Troy Bolton (minus the popularity). I guess Bertha could be the nerd who likes to hip hop dance because the nerds were kind of looked down upon in the school like how the British looked down on the Jamaicans (and pretty much all POC) and the students were quick to shut down Martha's hip hop dreams, and the patriarchy is what kept Bertha from living a more fulfilling life. The one difference between Martha and Bertha is that Martha was eventually able to overcome her situation and pursue her passions while Bertha was just locked up and went insane. I think it is not out of line to say that if Martha had not been able to dance because "nerds shouldn't dance" she probably would have gone insane also.
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Post by jordanhilker on Nov 21, 2015 5:31:26 GMT
In High school Musical, the students sing "Stick to the Status Quo" when Troy is thinking about auditioning for the musical. In the end, he gets the lead and the rest of the students realize that it's okay to try something different and it can help you. If the novel Jane Eyre was High School Musical, the Victorian patriarchy would be the dismissive student body and Jane would be Troy Bolton (minus the popularity). I guess Bertha could be the nerd who likes to hip hop dance because the nerds were kind of looked down upon in the school like how the British looked down on the Jamaicans (and pretty much all POC) and the students were quick to shut down Martha's hip hop dreams, and the patriarchy is what kept Bertha from living a more fulfilling life. The one difference between Martha and Bertha is that Martha was eventually able to overcome her situation and pursue her passions while Bertha was just locked up and went insane. I think it is not out of line to say that if Martha had not been able to dance because "nerds shouldn't dance" she probably would have gone insane also. I love how you connected Jane Eyre to High School Musical. I never truly realized how similar the two were until you just mentioned something. The whole movies is about teenagers discovering who they are and finding what they truly love to do and what makes them happy. Jane is also a teenager who is discovering her religious beliefs and finding love and happiness. In High School Musical, Troy finds happiness through singing, but he must first overcome the torment that he gets from his basket ball team. He eventually sings in the talent show and figures out that he loves Gabriella. In Jane Eyre, Jane finds happiness/ love by figuring out who she is and her interpretation on religion and finally marrying Rochester. She must first overcome many conflicts (man vs man, man vs self, man vs society and man vs nature) throughout the book. |
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Post by sydniemarkowitz on Nov 21, 2015 15:39:36 GMT
In High school Musical, the students sing "Stick to the Status Quo" when Troy is thinking about auditioning for the musical. In the end, he gets the lead and the rest of the students realize that it's okay to try something different and it can help you. If the novel Jane Eyre was High School Musical, the Victorian patriarchy would be the dismissive student body and Jane would be Troy Bolton (minus the popularity). I guess Bertha could be the nerd who likes to hip hop dance because the nerds were kind of looked down upon in the school like how the British looked down on the Jamaicans (and pretty much all POC) and the students were quick to shut down Martha's hip hop dreams, and the patriarchy is what kept Bertha from living a more fulfilling life. The one difference between Martha and Bertha is that Martha was eventually able to overcome her situation and pursue her passions while Bertha was just locked up and went insane. I think it is not out of line to say that if Martha had not been able to dance because "nerds shouldn't dance" she probably would have gone insane also. I love how you connected Jane Eyre to High School Musical. I never truly realized how similar the two were until you just mentioned something. The whole movies is about teenagers discovering who they are and finding what they truly love to do and what makes them happy. Jane is also a teenager who is discovering her religious beliefs and finding love and happiness. In High School Musical, Troy finds happiness through singing, but he must first overcome the torment that he gets from his basket ball team. He eventually sings in the talent show and figures out that he loves Gabriella. In Jane Eyre, Jane finds happiness/ love by figuring out who she is and her interpretation on religion and finally marrying Rochester. She must first overcome many conflicts (man vs man, man vs self, man vs society and man vs nature) throughout the book. Hey guys, Sydnie from period 3 there. If we are connecting Jane Eyre to other things, we could also connect this to the Odyssey. Jane is on the journey of life to find herself, just like Odysseus. Both make mistakes and break through barriers. Both use the knowledge they learned to overcome some sort of conflict. Odysseus overcomes the suitors, and Jane overcomes the constraints she has a women back in the Victorian age. Both characters go on a long journey to end up at their respective "homes". I think it is interesting how the Odyssey, a book about a man, can relate so much to Jane Eyre, a book about a woman. This just goes to show that the role of women is always getting stronger and that women and men can go through the same things. |
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