Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte is a 19^th century classic originally written under the pseudonym Currer Bell. The book employs first person narrative and is a bildungsroman of the protagonist, Jane Eyre. Personally, I enjoy novels as such; I like to be able to be inside the head of the protagonist, and furthermore get insight on how the author thinks. Jane’s life does, in fact, mimic some aspects of Charlotte Bronte’s life. For example, Charlotte, like Jane, went to an all girl’s school. Charlotte’s sister died at this school just as Jane’s closest friend Helen Burns did and Jane eventually became a governess like Charlotte. I find the similarities to be interesting. It’s like reading someone’s history, but through the front of a fictional character.

                Throughout the novel there is strong religious theme. Jane faces several hypocritical and cruel Christian figures, however, despite this negative connotation on religion, Jane still finds it important to uphold morals—“I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane and not mad—as I am now.” Also, although the school’s headmaster Mr. Broklehurst and St. John (Sinjin) display religion poorly, there are characters such as Ms. Temple and Helen Burns that act as a foil to them because of their religious benevolence.

                The novel was largely about Jane finding herself and learning to respect herself. Though Mr. Rochester was the love of Jane’s life, she would not marry him because she thought it to be immoral due to the fact that he already had a wife. Furthermore, Jane also wanted to be able to be on equal footing with him before she married him. She did not like the fact that she had no fortune for herself; she did not want to be fully reliant on Rochester. In chapter 27 of Jane Eyre when she first escaped from Thornfield after finding out that Mr. Rochester had a wife she said this, “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.” Jane’s goal was to be independent, which makes sense because her whole entire life she was dependent on someone to feed and clothe her. I liked this about Jane; I liked that she strived for independence, was free-willed, and she was not afraid to say what was on her mind.

                In conclusion, I was surprised by how much I liked Jane Eyre. I enjoy Charlotte Bronte’s writing style just as I enjoyed her sister Emily’s in Wuthering Heights. I was fearful that Jane Eyre was going to merely be a cliché love story, but it turned out to be much more than that. In a way, the novel ended up being a sort of quest for happiness. This makes sense for a novel about life—isn’t nearly everyone’s life a never-ending hunt for happiness? 

Reaction to Paradise Lost Book 1

Paradise Lost by John Milton is a demanding read; it requires great attention, or you’ll easily get lost. The first edition of Paradise Lost was written in the 17^th century; a time when the topic of religion was largely dominant. Thus when I started reading it and saw that it began with the fall man, well, the topic seemed fitting for the time period. Milton discusses how Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil due to the deception of the serpent—Satan. This is basic biblical knowledge from the book of Genesis. The next part of the book is far more interesting in my opinion. The first part is directly from the Bible, but then Milton goes on to give a backstory of Satan after he and the angels had been cast out of heaven. I thought this was really fascinating, because the Bible never speaks of the time period after he was cast into hell.

In Paradise Lost, Satan is written to be viewed tragically. He is not the scary devil with horns and a pitchfork society has made him out to be, or even merely a beast. Rather, Milton creates him in a way that can be sympathized with. Satan and his host of other angels rebelled against God because they found His rules to be unfair and were damned to hell because of it. Satan appears to be rational in this and almost seems brave in his attempts to start a war against God. This perspective Milton uses is a perspective that has been ignored up until Paradise Lost. The first book overall makes Satan seem like a tragic hero, for is it not the hero or protagonist in a story that faces struggle? This poses new questions in the mind about right and wrong, which I think that is what any good piece literature should do; make you question your beliefs. In closing, I found book 1 of Paradise Lost to be a success and I’m actually excited to read the other books.