Please Skip Erica Jong's Intro!

books:


	• Jane Eyre (Signet Classics) Charlotte Brontë Signet Classics, 1997 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 595 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

None Like It

I consider 'Jane Eyre' to be one of the greatest works of art ever achieved. Certainly better than almost any other work of literature and on a par with Michelangelo's 'David' and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

Please Skip Erica Jong's Intro!

What can I say about this beautiful classic that hasn't already been said?
My only word of caution: DO NOT READ THE INTRODUCTION if you've never read this book before. Ms. Jong feels the need to fill you in (spoil is more I like it) on several key details/events that any hungry reader would rather devour on their own. Skip her.

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Best Book in the World!

Jane Eyre is my favorite book. I love it.
I read it first when I was 10, but it did not appeal to me at all, so I stopped reading it. I tried a year later. It immediately became my favorite book. I have read many other good books too, like Rebecca, but Jane Eyre is #1! I have recommended it to all my friends who love reading. This book is very great for someone my age (12) who is not bored with descriptive writing. (I've read worse.)
You should definitely try this book!

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Touching

Jane Eyre / 0-451-52655-4

Unlike many of the classics, which contain a superb message under vernacular that is sometimes hard for us to read, Jane Eyre still flows easily to our ears and eyes, and the plot is gripping and suspenseful.

While Jane may seem, to our modern sensibilities, to be something of a weak heroine in her jealousy of her master's suitor, her insistence upon actual marriage in spite of the cruelty of the situtation, and her weak acceptance of her missionary suitor's almost vampiric leaching of her spirit (in spite of his own sisters' exhortations to stand up for herself, no less!), Jane is still a strong and modern female in light of the standards of her own day. Her bravery in taking up her post as governess in a strange land, her 'presumptuousness' in courting (or being courted) by her master, her daring in considering to be a missionary's wife, and her final decision to set out again in search of her lost love all point to a strength of will and character which would have made her character - at the time - to be quite 'mannish' indeed! We can admire Jane her strength and will, while marvelling happily at how far things have come, and wonder hopefully at how much farther they may yet go.

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A triumphant classic

Jane Eyre is the story of a young girl who grows up and is forever contrary to her society. The book foreshadows the penalties that society gives for such opposition, but Jane still remains opposed to the role society wants her to have. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses foreshadowing, symbolism, and conflict to show her society how a woman can overcome the conventions of her society to live a happy and full life.
An example of foreshadowing comes during Jane's engagement. First there is the splitting of the chestnut tree (page 226), soon after Rochester and Jane become engaged: "Before I left my bed in the morning, little Adele came running in to tell me that the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away." This event foreshadows how the upcoming wedding between Jane and Rochester will divide the two, sending one away, because they are not ready for marriage. It is not until Jane and Rochester both overcome the conventions of their society that they can have a happy marriage.
The most dramatic example of foreshadowing comes right after Jane's dreams. After waking from her disturbing dreams, Jane sees a light in her room and finds a grotesque female figure standing over her (250). The figure is Bertha Mason, who came to terrify Jane out of marriage. After rending Jane's veil in two, Bertha leaves and Jane collapses. The rending of the veil foreshadows the obstacle still in front of Jane's upcoming marriage, and it is not until this obstacle is dealt with that Jane can marry.
Aside from foreshadowing, Charlotte Bronte uses symbolism, mostly of birds, to show how Jane's society confines her. For example, Jane's surname comes from the word for a bird's nest, aerie. Rochester gives an additional example of the bird symbolism on page 232 when he says "Jane, be still, don't struggle so, like a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its desperation." Rochester says this when he is trying to convince Jane that they can be married. At this time Jane is struggling with the barriers that her society places on their union. Jane is the bird that society traps in a cage, keeping her away from the man she wants to marry. Eventually, Jane does find a way to overcome her cage and obtain happiness with Rochester.
Bronte also uses people to symbolize certain aspects of her society. Mr. Brocklehurst, for example, is the epitome of hypocrisy, as shown during his inspection of Lowood. While surveying the girls in the school, Mr. Brocklehurst condemns one for having naturally curly hair, a vanity of the world in his opinion, and yet Brocklehurst goes so far as to buy curled wigs for his wife and daughters. In addition to this, Brocklehurst manages the funds of Lowood and never allocates enough money to keep the girls sufficiently warm or well fed. Instead of teaching the girls to live pious and frugal lives, he leaves them weakened in front of the onslaught of winter illnesses. These characteristics of Mr. Brocklehurst make him a symbol of the typical man from Jane's society. Jane's ability to overcome the wrongs he does to her shows her society how to rise above society and obtain a happy life.
Throughout this book, Jane clashes with the conventions of her society until she rises above them. The greatest example of Jane's opposition to her society is in her successful marriage to Rochester. "Reader, I married him," Jane says on page 397. Jane does not say that they were married, or that Rochester proposed to her again. Instead, she states that she took the active role and married Rochester. Such assertion from a woman went against the standard role of women in Bronte's time. Jane opposes the role that society has established for her and rises above it, obtaining the thing that truly made her happy.
Charlotte Bronte focuses on overcoming the conventions of her society by having Jane Eyre oppose and surmount them. Foreshadowing shows how society will react to such opposition, such as when Jane and Rochester are initially engaged. Symbolism also helps to illustrate the confines of convention; they cage Jane just like a bird. And the various clashes between Jane and other characters, even her society, further illustrated the limitations of conventionality. But opposing and overcoming the conventionality of society can lead to true and lasting happiness.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Cambridge Literature is a series of literary texts edited for study by students aged 14-18 in English-speaking classrooms. It will include novels, poetry, short stories, essays, travel-writing and other non-fiction. The series will be extensive and open-ended and will provide school students with a range of edited texts taken from a wide geographical spread. It will include writing in English from various genres and differing times. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is edited by Susan Cockcroft of Mackworth College, Derby.

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