Today’s Blogger:
(Who is typing today?)
Today’s Facilitator:
(Who is leading the discussion today?)
Important Events:
(List the important events from each chapter of the reading you did for today. Talk about the significance of these events.)
Ch. 24
Ch. 25
Ch. 26
Ch. 27
Important Passages:
(List at least one important passage from the reading you did for today. Talk about the significance of this passage.)
Focus Questions:
(Discuss the questions below. Record your discussion for at least three of the following questions.)
1. Discuss Jane and Rochester’s impending marriage. How does Mrs. Fairfax view the marriage? Why does Jane write to John Eyre? How is Jane different than most brides of romance stories?
2. Discuss the disastrous event on Jane’s wedding day. How does Jane feel when she learns of Bertha’s existence? What does Jane decide to do? What would you do? Jane writes, “Reader, I forgave him at the moment on the spot.” What is your reaction to this? What would you have done?
3. Identify two instances of foreshadowing in chapters 21-27. Discuss the event and what it foreshadowed.
4. Take a few minutes to research divorce laws in Victorian England and discuss your findings. In Victorian England, a man could not divorce his wife if she was insane. Given this fact, was Rochester justified in asking Jane to marry him? Why or why not? What do you think of this law?
5. What do you make of Bertha Rochester? Is she just an obstacle to Rochester’s happiness? Does her character have a more representational role in the story? Is she a symbol of uncontrolled passion or the darker side of Jane’s emotional nature and her need for self-expression? What is her function in the novel?
Extra Time – Discussion Notes:
(Record any additional discussion. What did you find most interesting? Did you disagree about anything? Was something important realized? What literary terms did you discuss? What do you think about the characters and their actions? ETC…)
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Today’s Blogger: Claire
Today’s Facilitator: Tess
Important Events:
Chap. 24- Mrs. Fairfax tells Jane that getting married is a bad idea; Mr. Rochester tells Jane about jewels he will give her, she objects to it because she won’t be herself; Jane worries that Mr. Rochester will get tired of her; She wants Mr. R to talk to Mrs. Fairfax so that Mrs. Fairfax doesn’t have the wrong idea about them; They go shopping to buy Jane new dresses, Mr. R sings to Jane, she doesn’t approve of the song
Chap. 25- A month passes; Mr. Rochester came back very late, Jane waits up for him; They eat together for the first time; Jane has a dream about being in ruins with a baby and seeing Mr. R leaving; Jane wakes up and sees a figure who rips the veil of her wedding dress; Mr. R says that it was probably Grace Poole, and says she should sleep in the nursery
Chap. 26- They go to the church to get married; while the ceremony is going on, two men claim that they can’t be married because Mr. R is already married to Mr. Mason’s sister; Mr. R confirms this; the whole company goes back to Thornfield where they see his wife; Grace Poole is her caretaker; his wife attempts to strangle him, he has to wrestle her off; he explains how he was tricked into marrying her for money; Jane goes to her room.
Chap. 27- Jane tells Mr. R that she needs to leave Thornfield; He tells her more about his marriage, and how it was unhappy; he went through Europe trying to find love, had many mistresses; tries to get Jane not to leave; she doesn’t want to be a mistress
Important Passages: p. 309 “No, by God! I took care that none should hear of it- or of her under that name.” He mused- for ten minutes he held counsel with himself; he formed his resolve and announced it.
Focus Questions:
1. Mrs. Fairfax thinks that the marriage was a bad idea, thinks that Jane is just a mistress. Jane writes to John Eyre to tell him about the marriage and ask about being put into his will. Jane is different because she doesn’t want things to be fancy and rich.
2. It’s revealed that Mr. R is already married, Jane she needs to leave, but forgives him for not telling him. Jane decides to leave Thornfield we agree with her decision. We didn’t think that she should have forgiven him so fast, even though we understand her reasoning.
3. When Mrs. Fairfax talks to Jane about not getting married, and when Bertha rips up her wedding veil
Today’s Blogger: Chase
Today’s Facilitator: Amanda
Important Events:
Ch. 24- Jane tells Mrs. Fairfax that she is going to marry m Mr. Rochester. Jane starts being cold and distant to Mr. Rochester according to Mrs. Fairfax advice.
Ch. 25- Mr. Rochester is gone, so Jane gets worried during a storm and waits for him outside, meanwhile someone goes inside her room and rips apart her wedding veil.
Ch. 26- Jane finds out on her wedding day that Mr. Rochester is already married to a crazy chick. So her wedding is canceled.
Ch. 27- Mr. Rochester explains everything to Jane, but Jane runs away without telling anyone.
Important Passages:
”I was experiencing an ordeal: a hand of fiery iron grasped my vitals. Terrible moment: full of struggle, blackness, burning! Not a human being that ever lived could wish to be loved better than I was loved; and him who thus loved me I absolutely worshipped: and I must renounce love and idol. One drear word comprised my intolerable duty – ‘Depart!’” (335)
Focus Questions:
1. Jane and Rochester are going to marry but it is really weird because Mrs. Fairfax keeps telling her to keep distant because Rochester is just using her because he is old and she is young. Wants to write to her uncle but keeps forgetting to, and he would get the note after she was married. Is weird that he would wait so long to try and find her.
2. That would be really creepy that Rochester is married to Bertha, who is crazy; that goes around setting peoples beds on fire. During the wedding Mr. Mason objects to the wedding because of this. Jane feels disappointed, lost almost, but decides to leave because she doesn’t wish to be Rochester’s mistress. We would have left too, the fact that he lied is intolerable. The fact that Jane also forgave Rochester is crazy, we would not have forgiven him either, because he lied to her, and tried to involve her in a crime, and he almost made her offend god.
5. Bertha Rochester seems to be an obstacle to Rochester’s happiness. She keeps him from being happy, and left Rochester to have hundreds of mistresses, trying to find the one person who would free him from his misery. Bertha represents the problems all couples have, but to an extreme. She is a symbol of uncontrolled passion. Her function in the novel is to be a complication.
Today’s Blogger: EMMA
Today’s Facilitator: KELLY
Important events:
- In the middle of the night, before the wedding, Jane awakes to a crazed figure in her closet. She is very frightened as the figure comes to stand above her bed. Her veil is ripped in half and trampled on by the unexpected visitor.
- They find out that the crazy attic monster was Rochester’s wife. This is discovered while they are at their wedding and Mr. Mason and Mr. Briggs objected to the marriage and told the whole story.
- For a while, Jane doesn’t react and sits in her room freaking out alone. Rochester is surprised that she isn’t really mad.
- Jane decides she doesn’t want to be just another one of his mistresses, and flees Thornfield. :
Important passages:
- “Sir, it removed my veil from its gaunt head, rent it in two parts, and flinging both on the floor, trampled on them.”
Focus Questions:
2. Mr. Mason and Mr. Briggs come to Jane’s wedding and break it up because they say Mr. Rochester is already married. She eventually decides to leave Thornfield because of this. In reference to her forgiving him so quickly, it just becomes more obvious how much she loves him. The group’s general reaction is: We disagree with Rochester’s decision not to tell Jane about his previous marriage, we would definitely not have forgiven him so fast, and we, like Jane, would feel the need to leave after such an act of dishonesty and betrayal.
3. The chestnut tree where Jane and Rochester had sat, which was split in half by lightning, foreshadows the demolition and split of their marriage and general relationship. When the crazy Bertha ripped the veil, the same concept was demonstrated.
5. Bertha is more of a representation of incompatibility. Since Jane and Rochester were not really READY to get married, Bertha is the catalyst which forces Jane to go out and be independent. She represents the difference between what you want to do and the right time for it to be done. She is sometimes viewed as symbolic of the role Jane would play: imprisoned, isolated, etc. She may also be symbolic of Jane’s fears of losing liberties.
Group Post 4 - 12/8
Today’s Blogger:
Yami Simpson-Banda
Today’s Facilitator:
Liza Farr
Important Events:
Ch. 24: Mr. Rochester tries to buy her pretty clothes and jewelry but she doesn’t want that: She convinces Mr. Rochester to let Adele come with them dress shopping: Mr. Rochester sings to her
Ch. 25: She worries when Mr. Rochester is late coming home: She tells him about her dreams: Sees a woman in her room who rips her veil: Spend the night in Adele’s bed
Ch. 26: Goes to get married but Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason come and tell her about Bertha: Bertha bites Mr. Rochester’s neck: Jane decides that she is going to leave Thornfeild.
Ch. 27: She tries to leave but Mr. Rochester stops her and tries to convince her to still marry him: He tells her about his past: She leaves Thornfeild.
Important Passages:
But the answer my mind gave-“leave Thornfield at once”-was so prompt, so dread, that I stopped my ears. I said I could not bear such words now. “That I am not Edward Rochester’s wife is the least part of my woe,” I alleged: “that I have awakened out of most glorious dreams, and found them all void and vain, is horror I could bear and master; but that I must leave him decidedly, instantly entirely, is intolerable. I cannot do it”
Focus Questions:
1. Discuss Jane and Rochester’s impending marriage. How does Mrs. Fairfax view the marriage? Why does Jane write to John Eyre? How is Jane different than most brides of romance stories?
Mrs. Fairfax disapproves of the marriage then she accepts it. Jane wrote to John Eyre because she wanted to see if inheritance from him after his death would allow her to bring something to their marriage. She doesn’t like the glamour of it; she does not want to be a dress up doll.
2. Discuss the disastrous event on Jane’s wedding day. How does Jane feel when she learns of Bertha’s existence? What does Jane decide to do? What would you do? Jane writes, “Reader, I forgave him at the moment on the spot.” What is your reaction to this? What would you have done?
She feels hurt because Mr. Rochester lied to her. She feels like her happiness is over. She decides to leave Thornfield and Mr. Rochester forever. I would leave then I when I die I would haunt him. I would not forgive him, if he would have told her then maybe thing would have been O.K..
3. Identify two instances of foreshadowing in chapters 21-27. Discuss the event and what it foreshadowed.
The dreams foreshadowed her leaving Thornfield and her dreams going in ruins. The ripped wedding veil symbolized the destruction of the wedding.
Group Post 4 - 12/8
Today’s Blogger:
Yami Simpson-Banda
Today’s Facilitator:
Liza Farr
Important Events:
Ch. 24: Mr. Rochester tries to buy her pretty clothes and jewelry but she doesn’t want that: She convinces Mr. Rochester to let Adele come with them dress shopping: Mr. Rochester sings to her
Ch. 25: She worries when Mr. Rochester is late coming home: She tells him about her dreams: Sees a woman in her room who rips her veil: Spend the night in Adele’s bed
Ch. 26: Goes to get married but Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason come and tell her about Bertha: Bertha bites Mr. Rochester’s neck: Jane decides that she is going to leave Thornfeild.
Ch. 27: She tries to leave but Mr. Rochester stops her and tries to convince her to still marry him: He tells her about his past: She leaves Thornfeild.
Important Passages:
But the answer my mind gave-“leave Thornfield at once”-was so prompt, so dread, that I stopped my ears. I said I could not bear such words now. “That I am not Edward Rochester’s wife is the least part of my woe,” I alleged: “that I have awakened out of most glorious dreams, and found them all void and vain, is horror I could bear and master; but that I must leave him decidedly, instantly entirely, is intolerable. I cannot do it”
Focus Questions:
1. Discuss Jane and Rochester’s impending marriage. How does Mrs. Fairfax view the marriage? Why does Jane write to John Eyre? How is Jane different than most brides of romance stories?
Mrs. Fairfax disapproves of the marriage then she accepts it. Jane wrote to John Eyre because she wanted to see if inheritance from him after his death would allow her to bring something to their marriage. She doesn’t like the glamour of it; she does not want to be a dress up doll.
2. Discuss the disastrous event on Jane’s wedding day. How does Jane feel when she learns of Bertha’s existence? What does Jane decide to do? What would you do? Jane writes, “Reader, I forgave him at the moment on the spot.” What is your reaction to this? What would you have done?
She feels hurt because Mr. Rochester lied to her. She feels like her happiness is over. She decides to leave Thornfield and Mr. Rochester forever. I would leave then I when I die I would haunt him. I would not forgive him, if he would have told her then maybe thing would have been O.K..
3. Identify two instances of foreshadowing in chapters 21-27. Discuss the event and what it foreshadowed.
The dreams foreshadowed her leaving Thornfield and her dreams going in ruins. The ripped wedding veil symbolized the destruction of the wedding.
Today’s Blogger:
Kim
Today’s Facilitator:
Elise
Important Events:
Ch. 24 – Jane writes to her uncle announcing the wedding and asking for inheritance.
Ch. 25 – Jane receives the veil
- Bertha Rochester comes into Jane’s room at night and breaks the veil. Jane believes it to be Grace Poole.
Ch. 26 – Wedding day, Jane finds out about Bertha, but forgives Mr. Rochester yet knows she must leave him.
Ch. 27 – Jane decides she must leave him, and heads out.
Important Passages:
”That is my wife.” Mr. Rochester shows his wife to Jane for the first time.
“I must leave Thornfield at once” Jane realizes that although she loves Mr. Rochester it would be against her morals to stay with him in an unlawful love.
Focus Questions:
1. Mrs. Fairfax doesn’t approve of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s impending marriage. Mrs. Fairfax takes time to warn Jane of Mr. Rochester and the type of man he is, but of course, Jane is in love and, although listening to Mrs. Fairfax’s views and taking them into consideration, still agrees to marry him. When the engagement is announced Jane writes to her uncle, John Eyre, to tell him of the proposal, this however, leads to a major event in the book. During the engagement Jane treats Mr. Rochester as she always has; she refuses to be the typical women, swooning over him.
3. The first instance of foreshadowing is the night in which Jane and Mr. Rochester agree to be married. During the night afterwards there is a terrible storm in which the tree at which Mr. Rochester proposed was struck by lightening and split in half. This foreshadows the rough split that Jane and Mr. Rochester experience in chapter 27. The other instance of foreshadowing is in chapter 25 when Jane dreams of a child in which she must care for, but the baby insists upon being troublesome and difficult to handle. Another dream she has is one in which she is following Mr. Rochester, but can never seem to reach him. The baby dream foreshadows the trouble Jane has at keeping Mr. Rochester.
5.Bertha Rochester is a burden upon Mr. Rochester’s happiness that he wishes to be rid of. Bertha represents the choices we make that later affect us negatively, she represents everything that is holding Jane back from being truly happy. Bertha is like the opposite of Jane, Jane is always holding herself back and Bertha is a vision of what Jane might be like on the inside.
Today’s Blogger: Eric
Today’s Facilitator: Katherine
Important Events:
Chapter 24 – The veil
Chapter 25 – The wedding
Chapter 26 – Jane meets Bertha
Chapter 27 – Jane runs away
Important Passages:
The almost-wedding of Jane and Rochester.
Focus Questions:
2.) The existence of Bertha, Rochester’s insane but still-married wife, is revealed on Jane and Rochester’s wedding day. Jane refuses to flee to France as Rochester’s mistress and runs away. We probably would have all had similar reactions.
4.) Rochester was NOT justified in his attempt at bigamy. Though seemingly unreasonable and a little cruel, the laws concerning divorce in Victorian England make some sense. Allowing men to claim insanity in their wives as grounds for divorce would simply become add another excuse to the downtrodden-ness of early-19th-century women.
5.) Bertha Rochester shouldn’t really be interpreted as “the darker side of Jane’s emotional nature and her need for self-expression.” Maybe Freud would find deeper meaning in your husband’s crazy first wife living in the attic, but we think she’s probably just a plot twist with little symbolism.
*Note: Our group lost the original document before we could post it, so here is our finished blog response #4.
Today's Blogger: Cassandra
Today's Facilitaror: Reilly
Important Events: Jane wanders around starving until she comes upon St. John and his sisters take her in. He promises to find her a job so that she can make her own way in the world.
Important Passages:
"Would she give me a roll for this handkerchief?" -Jane to a poor woman
Shows how desperate and hungry she is wandering around.
Focus Questions:
1. Jane is very independent; she was hesitant to marry Rochester because she feared a loss of independence. She does not feel that she can ask for help with out loosing a degree of self-respect.
2. The author also faced a lot of troubles in her own life. She was raised poor and lost siblings to disease. Janes trials reflect emotional struggles that the author faced in her own life.
3. They portray Jane as an individual, different from the others of her time. While prissy girls like Georgina and Liza Reed are content to stay home and stitch, Jane wants more from her life.
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