Charlotte Brontë

Karen Swallow Prior

Frankenstein. Jane Eyre. You're familiar with these pillars of classic literature. You have seen plenty of Frankenstein costumes, watched the film adaptations, and may even be able to rattle off a few quotes, but do you really know how to read these books? Do you know anything about the authors who wrote them, and what the authors were trying to teach readers through their stories? Do you know how to read them as a Christian? Continuing this beautifully designed series, bestselling author, literature professor, and avid reader Karen Swallow Prior will guide you through a selection of classics. She will not only navigate you through the pitfalls that trap readers today, but show you how to read them in light of the gospel, and to the glory of God.

A Guide to Reading and Reflecting

Jane Eyre

Michael Mason

Retells the classic story of an orphaned young woman who accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer.

clara

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.

Kay so Queso

“Where is the use of doing me good in any way, beneficent spirit, when, at some fatal moment, you will again desert me—passing like a shadow, whither and how to me unknown; and for me, remaining afterwards undiscoverable?"

For me, I felt at home in this sort of discourse. I could never rest in communication with strong, discreet, and refined minds, whether male or female, till I had passed passed the outworks of conventional reserve, and crossed the threshold of confidence, and won a place by their heart's very hearthstone.

Reserved people often really need the frank discussion of their sentiments and griefs more than the expansive. The sternest-seeming stoic is human after all; and to "burst" with boldness and good will into "the silent sea" of their souls, is often to confer on them the first of obligations.

Yes; I feel now that I was right when I adhered to principle and law, and scorned and crushed the insane promptings of a frenzied moment. God directed me to a correct choice: I thank His providence for the guidance!

Wow, that is quite a sentiment. Not one I can wholly relate to but one I can significantly relate to being intertwined with

Yet after all, my task was not an easy one; often I would rather have pleased than teased him. My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for his creature of whom I had made an idol.

Feeling without judgment is a washy draught indeed; but judgment untempered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition.

Jane describing how her perceptions of his faults has grown lenient

The sarcasm that had repelled, the harshness that had startled me once, were only like keen condiments in a choice dish: their presence was pungent, but their absence would be felt as comparatively insipid.

They’re dropping some fucking bars in this

“Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you 

 what it is your fate to be required to bear."

Cute, poor little girl; I think this is an endearing way to think about life

Even for me life had its gleams of sunshine.

Vanessa

He made me love him without looking at me. 

Stanislas Dehaene

In this riveting investigation, Stanislas Dehaene provides an accessible account of the brain circuitry of reading and explores what he calls the "reading paradox": Our cortex is the product of millions of years of evolution in a world without writing, so how did it adapt to recognize words?

The New Science of how We Read

Reading in the Brain

Non-phonetic writing systems like Hanzi addressed elsewhere but left out in the argument for the evolution of proto-letters in non-human primates. Can the theory explain these, too, given their much higher visual complexity?

里森

our cortex did not specifically evolve for writing—there was neither the time nor sufficient evolutionary pressure for this to occur. On the contrary, writing evolved to fit the cortex. Our writing systems changed under the constraint that even a primate brain had to find them easy to acquire.

The ability of this cortical region to recognize words and transmit their identity to other areas results from a two-step evolutionary process: The slow emergence of efficient mechanisms of invariant object recognition that have appeared in the course of mammalian evolution. The rapid cultural adaptation of writing systems to fit this cortical niche, in the course of cultural evolution over the past five thousand years.

If reading has thus taken possession of our minds, to such an extent that it now constitutes an essential feature of our literate culture, it is because it has found its natural cerebral niche in the occipito-temporal cortex and its connections.

As stressed by the primatologist David Premack, Homo sapiens is the only primate with a sense of pedagogy. Only humans attend to the knowledge and mental states of others in order to teach them. Not only do we actively transmit the cultural objects we find most useful, but—as is particularly apparent with writing—we intentionally perfect them.

In a much-cited article, François Jacob pictured evolution as a tireless tinkerer who keeps a lot of junk in his backyard and occasionally assembles pieces of it to create a new contraption.

There is thus nothing contradictory in talking about rigid learning mechanisms, or even the “instinct to learn,” to quote Peter Marler.153 The old antagonism between nature and nurture is a myth—all learning rests on rigid innate machinery.

At each stage, the recombination of responses by neurons from the lower level allows new neurons to respond to increasingly complex portions of the image.

The brains of monkeys, like those of humans, contain neurons that are so specialized they appear to be dedicated to a single person, image, or concept. For instance, a neuron that responded exclusively to Hollywood superstar Jennifer Aniston was once recorded in the anterior temporal region of a human epilepsy patient.

the areas that Brodmann labeled 20 and 37 are present in both species and both deal with visual recognition. Crucially, the “letterbox” area, which is activated when we read, falls squarely within Brodmann’s area 37. Thus reading is not handled by a new and uniquely human brain area.

Darwin was the first scientist to draw a systematic comparison between language learning and the acquisition of singing behavior in birds.

Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a deity. More humble and I believe true to consider him created from animals. —CHARLES DARWIN, NOTEBOOKS, 1838

Adam Scharf

'Such a strange book! Imagine a novel with a little swarthy governess for heroine, and a middle-aged ruffian for hero.' Sharpe's London Magazine (June 1855) Jane Eyre is an orphan grown up under the harsh regime first of her aunt and then as a pupil at Lowood Institution. She leaves to become a governess to the daughter of the mysterious Mr Rochester; gradually their relationship deepens, but Jane's passionate nature has yet to endure its deepest blows. In this new edition Sally Shuttleworth explores the power of a narrative that questions the rights of women, the nature of servitude and madness, martyrdom and rebellion in a story whose emotional charge is a strong today as it was more than 150 years ago. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Maureen

"I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever sundered:—and yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him."

***

My second "classic" read after Pride and Prejudice! I'm very happy because it's a book by another woman 🌸 Thank God this was relatively easy on the eyes unlike Austen's. It chronicles Jane Eyre's life from childhood to youth to adulthood. While there were plenty of great quotes, what I loved most about the book was how much volition the heroine possessed. Truly, Miss Eyre is the quintessential strong and independent woman.

Side note, I would say that Mr Rochester has more personality than Mr Darcy.

anjali

My love for this book is endless.

There are in a lifetime only so many books you can read, and out of those fewer are still that make your head their home, that affect you in more ways than one, and that stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

This is one of those books.

This was my first Charlotte Bronte book (who is now one of my favourite authors, and whose work I have since eagerly perused like a kid at a candy store years ago.)

Jane as a character is unbelievable: she just barely manages to contain herself between the covers of the book, at times she threatens to leap out of the paper. That is how splendidly written this book is.

The illustrated Jane Eyre

Patrick Book

It's pretty hard to judge a true literary classic on its merits more than a hundred years after it came out without the context of the times. This is a pretty wide-scope story with a tough as nails lady that has an inexplicable (although again, probably culturally-ingrained) soft spot for some real dicks. Why aren't there any good men? What, does she live in Winnipeg or something?

Manojkumar Seenivasan

Stef Hite

Haven't read this one since high school ... interesting how perspective changes with age. While I would have said it was "amazing" when younger - now I think Rochester was a bit of a selfish prig and Jane too trusting. What saves the book is Jane's becoming her own independent woman and making her own choices in the end. For that I can say this is still one of my favorite classics.

Fireless

Linta

Amelia C 

Jane Eyre (Bantam Classics)

jane had me cracking up at the ripe age of 10 with her witty and opinionated nature, crying during her time experiencing friendship at lowood, laughing at her shouting “Depart!” at mr. rochester at thornfield hall while also fearing for her heart during the many times she tried to make sense of a crush. her time at moor house, morton, and ferndean had me smiling through tears and then her story was over! and i already miss her company!

༺ kat ༻

charlotte brontë your brilliance! 

jane had me cracking up at the ripe age of 10 with her witty and opinionated nature, crying during her time experiencing friendship at lowood, laughing at her shouting “Depart!” at mr. rochester at thornfield hall while also fearing for her heart during the many times she tried to make sense of a crush. her time at moor house, morton, and ferndean had me smiling through tears and then her story was over! and i already miss her company!

arwen

finishing my jane eyre rr on the first day of fall 🧡🍂

I surprisingly enjoyed this book, although the men frequently pissed me off 

Lili

“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and It is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.


Jane Eyre is a realistic depiction of a woman's internal conflicts between her innate desires and societal status. 

It follows Jane, who finds herself faced with oppression, inequality, and hardship. It is a novel where the main character is deemed unconventional at the time it was released because it criticizes everything in the strict social class in Victorian society, especially how they perceive women. In a time where women were expected to be powerless and submissive, Jane Eyre challenges the society’s norms. 

In line with this, Jane speaks and stands up for herself, something that women back then did rarely or did not have the privilege to do so. I believe that the book was truly ahead of its time because of Jane's autonomous nature and the way it tackles issues of feminism, class, sexuality, and religion. It has aspects of societal criticism with a strong sense of Christian morality at its center. 

Jane Eyre is more than a story of finding love — it is also a tale that searches for a sense of belonging and independence amid the patriarchal dominance and gender inequality society.

Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre (1847) dazzled and shocked readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.

envee

"Am I hideous, Jane?"
"Very, sir; you always were, you know"

💀💀💀💀

Sarah Sammis

After blundering through the Thursday Next series which begins with The Eyre Affair, I thought it best to go back and reread the book that inspired the series. I also read it for the Classics Challenge. My initial thoughts on Jane Eyre are: I loved the book, Jasper Fforde's depiction of Jane doesn't do her justice, it ends just like Harry Potter 7.

Jane Eyre for the most part reads like a modern novel. I suppose if Charlotte Brontë were publishing now her book would end up with a line drawing of some shoes and a pink cover and put with the chick lit. The story is told in first person by Jane with full commentary on her thoughts and reactions during scenes but done in an actual humorous and ironic fashion.

She breaks her autobiography into three parts with a short coda to tie up loose ends. Part one covers her childhood and education. Part two covers her employment at Thornfield Hall and her romance with Edward Rochester. The final part covers her disgraceful flight from Thornfield and her finding her family and fortunes. The coda then wraps everything up in a nice happy package with the sacrifices being made by Edward rather than Jane (as would be the case if it were a modern chick lit).

Who should read this book? Anyone and everyone. It's a classic and it's well deserving of its status. It's a damn good story!

This Is Not My Hat

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen won the 2013 Caldecott. It's the sequel to the equally delightful and minimalist, I Want My Hat Back. He also earned an honor for his illustrations in Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett.

While the first book was told from the perspective of the hat-misser (a bear), this one follows the hat (and the stealer of said hat). As the fish explains, the hat doesn't even fit on the owner's head.

Here, then, the excitement is in the chase. If the previous book was a mystery (where is the hat? who stole it?), this one is a thriller. We know who has it and we wonder how and when he'll be caught.

I don't know if there will be any more hat books from Klassen, but I'm in love with his illustrations and somewhat dark sense of humor.

Jane Eyre (Simple English S)

oh to be fifteen and reading jane eyre for the first time again 

trezaa

The Penguin English Library Edition of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 'The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself' Passionate, poetic and revolutionary, Jane Eyreis a novel of naked emotional power. Its story of a defiant, fiercely intelligent woman who refuses to accept her appointed place in society - and instead finds love on her own terms - has become famous as one of the greatest romances ever written, but it is also a brooding Gothic mystery, a profound depiction of character and a transformative work of the imagination. The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

Much to my surprise, this really managed to suck me in. "Jane Eyre" is a fascinating exploration of the female psyhe from childhood through adolescence into adulthood and we have, historically, done it a great disservice by focusing the social and cultural conversation on the romance.

Charlotte Bronte has exercised great literary mastery and both conceiving and executing the novel, playing with imagery and metaphor. All the while, Jane is a character that feels incredibly contemporary and I cannot help but feel she will resonate with many women.

My edition also benefitted from an essay by Elaine Showalter on the novel which I wholeheartedly enjoyed.

Much to my surprise, this really managed to suck me in. "Jane Eyre" is a fascinating exploration of the female psyhe from childhood through adolescence into adulthood and we have, historically, done it a great disservice by focusing the social and cultural conversation on the romance.

Charlotte Bronte has exercised great literary mastery and both conceiving and executing the novel, playing with imagery and metaphor. All the while, Jane is a character that feels incredibly contemporary and I cannot help but feel she will resonate with many women.

My edition also benefitted from an essay by Elaine Showalter on the novel which I wholeheartedly enjoyed.

Claudia Beneyto

for me this was such a wild ride i can’t begin to express what i feel about this book. i must say i didn’t like it at times, and i still feel those feelings are valid. however, i do think, in retrospect, that it might have been influenced by the obligation to finish it, as well as other factors to take into consideration. i might need to revisit it to fully love it — even though i couldn’t get enough of the last fifteen chapters or so.

giulia

"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."

maybe the greatest love of all is truly who the eyes cant see :)

andrea valentina 

Beautifuly, beautifuly written book. The life lessons, advices, and experience of the main character will always be relevant. Jane is a true example of virtue and purity of a human's soul.

Jane Eyre A Guide to Reading and Reflecting

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