Jane Eyre - The Book VS The Film

                One cannot deny that in any literature, when they are made into a film, they tell the story from different perspective and include or eliminate some elements compared to the original novel. It is the same for Jane Eyre; the film revolves around the life of Jane, however, it is told from a very different way from Bronte’s style in the novel. Although the film followed the novel very well, perhaps trying to abridge the almost-450 pages masterpiece by Bronte was challenging. Personally, I thought that the movie was very shallow compared to the original piece.

                First, the film eliminated the entire relationship between Jane and Bessie. Although it may not be the biggest bond in the novel, I felt as if her existence was crucial to Jane’s childhood. It shows how her life was not always shunned from light, and that someone cared for her, despite the adversities she needed to handle during her residence in Gateshead Hall. Bessie was the person who brought Jane up, and showed her what “love” was.

                Second, the image of St. John that I had acquired from the novel contradicted the one from the movie. From the novel, I understood that he was rather a taciturn man with cruel and hard personality – slightly going against the stereotypical image of a religious missionary man.  Bronte describes him as follows.

“Mr. St. John — sitting as still as one of the dusty pictures on the walls, keeping his eyes fixed on the page he perused, and his lips mutely sealed — was easy enough to examine. Had he been a statue instead of a man, he could not have been easier. He was young — perhaps from twenty- eight to thirty — tall, slender; his face riveted the eye; it was like a Greek face, very pure in outline: quite a straight, classic nose; quite an Athenian mouth and chin. It is seldom, indeed, an English face comes so near the antique models as did his. He might well be a little shocked at the irregularity of my lineaments, his own being so harmonious. His eyes were large and blue, with brown lashes; his high forehead, colourless as ivory, was partially streaked over by careless locks of fair hair.” (Jane Eyre)

However, in the movie, he did not appear to be as cold as the novel emphasized. It could be seen that St. John was not as friendly as his sisters from the way Jane Eyre drew him in the movie, but that scene was rather pushed; she illustrated him as intense, but it was right after he rescued her from brink of death – unlike the novel where Jane described his alienation thoroughly, the sudden portrayal of St. John as such intense figure was rather ironic.

                Lastly, the movie’s illustration of Jane and Rochester seemed very unrealistic to what I would have imagined to be their relationship. They were very close in the film; knowing that the story is based in Victorian Era, the intimacy between the two seemed unrealistic. Furthermore, the chestnut tree in the novel is significant in portraying their relationship, but in the movie, its value was not exactly signified. For example, the quote below shows how the tree foreshadows the disastrous conflict that awaits them ahead.

"The cloven halves were not broken from each other, for the firm base and strong roots kept them unsundered below; though community of vitality was destroyed -the sap could flow no more" (Jane Eyre)

Despite the occasional differences, the film was very accurate in many parts. They utilized many significant quotes from the novel in a natural manner unlike the movie based on Shakespeare’s Paradise Lost. Additionally, the portrayal of each character was very accurate. Rochester fit my image of the character, which was passionate, attractive, and free from any “chains” that binds people in society.

Jane Eyre Religion

                Unlike the past two books we’ve read in the class, Paradise Lost and Inferno, Jane Eyre posed us with a break from the deeply religious world. Charlotte Bronte’s book still has the religious aspect; however, it is not as strong of a theme as the others, and also, it portrays the corrupt side of religious beliefs of her time, contrary to other books that portray figures obediently following the bible and common-beliefs. Overall, Christianity and God affect Jane’s life differently from many other protagonists have been influenced in past readings.

Jane Eyre encounters two religious figures that represent Bronte’s distrust in Christian system; Mr. Brocklehurst and St. John. The master of Lowood School, Mr. Brocklehurst, symbolizes the hypocrisy and corruption of a religious individual. Charlotte Bronte casts a sense of irony as he tells Jane how she “has [have] a wicked heart; and you must pray to God to change it: to give you a new and clean one: to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Bronte 32) It is ironic because he is the one who is accused of maltreatment of the Lowood girls and his luxurious living is revealed in Chapter 10.

St. John appears later in the novel as one of the Rivers siblings. He is a minister at Morton who is cold, reserved, and often controlling in his interactions with others. Unlike Mr. Brocklehurst, St. John is very faithful to God, and does not commit any horrible wrongdoings. Throughout the later chapters, he shows his abstinence from emotions and self-desires, which makes him “a statue instead of a man” (Bronte 322-323). Bronte’s portrayal of St. John is unique for a man who is following the bible as it reads. Though he is faithful to the church, and is a respectable minister, he is unhappy. Through the portrayal of St. John, Charlotte Bronte conveys how satisfaction cannot be achieved only through the obedience of religious outlines.

In fact, this idea is backed up by Jane Eyre herself. Although Jane does not appear too religious, she often refers and speaks of the God, such as when she says “there is not a future state worse than this present one – let me break away, and go home to God!” (Bronte 288) as she grieves over the fact that Mr. Rochester had fooled her over his first wife, Bertha Mason. However, her faith in God compared to the other two characters is very different. She follows Christianity and its beliefs; but moreover, she follows her own morale and trusts her own decisions. In Chapter 34, when St. John proposes to Jane, she turns down the offer, even though he mentioned how “it is the cause of God I advocate: it is under His standard I enlist you,” meaning how the marriage would follow the intent of God. Upon hearing this, Jane Eyre rejects marrying him, and she decides to return by Mr. Rochester, who is her true love.

Overall, in Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte illustrated Christianity from many viewpoints. Throughout the long quest, Jane figures out that neither sinning like Mr. Brocklehurst, or taking religion to the extreme, like St. John, produces happiness, but in the end it comes down to his/ her own decision, and their own will to follow their own central beliefs.

Paradise Lost Book I

First thing to say about Paradise Lost is that it overturns common sense and knowledge of Satan. I am not a strong religious person, but even I know, that the bible does not contain biographical information about the fallen angel, Lucifer. While he is usually referred as the evil one, as he contributes solely in negative aspects of a person’s life, Milton’s novel portrays how his downfall from heaven was a failure to reach his goal – which was to be stronger and more significant than what the God had assigned him to be.

Honestly, the book blew my mind. Milton spun the readers’ minds as he conveyed that Lucifer was not full of atrocity. He had a reasonable excuse that made him unsatisfied with the position in Heaven; he could not stand working underneath the God’s son. This envious emotion is what led him to the rebellious war. As I read the book, it almost made me feel as if God, who most society believes to be the flawless, wonderful figure, was the main contributor of turning Lucifer into an evil symbol of Hell. After all, without considering Lucifer’s feelings at all and sticking to the idea of what we call is “monarchy”, the God used his overwhelming power to break Lucifer’s ambitions.

Now the book poses a question. Were Lucifer’s rebellion and the formation of Hell a bad thing? From my point of view, and reading the text, I think Heaven and Hell must coexist. It is like the idea of binary opposition that appears in post-structuralism. Additionally, Lucifer’s will to break the repetitive lives and work for a higher position in Heaven was a very understandable excuse. Now, I’m not saying that war was the best solution in order to solve this problem, but I think the action he took was so much more efficient than sitting as one of the many angels in Heaven, simply obeying what the God says. Otherwise, Heaven would be a Marxist state – very close to the ideas introduced in Brave New World Revisited – loss of self-identification, manipulations by stronger powers, etc.

As I read the book, I figured a strong connection between Paradise Lost and Grendel from Beowulf.  The author wrote the story from a new perspective that is usually ignored – thus through this, the readers can judge for themselves, whether Lucifer was the criminal or actually a victim.

 

The Tempest

ANTONIO (ACT 2 SCENE 1)

Ay, sir. Where lies that? If ’twere a kibe,

'Twould put me to my slipper. But I feel not

This deity in my bosom. Twenty consciences,

That stand ’twixt me and Milan, candied be they

And melt ere they molest! Here lies your brother,

No better than the earth he lies upon,

If he were that which now he’s like—that’s dead—

Whom I, with this obedient steel, three inches of it,

Can lay to bed for ever; whiles you, doing thus,

To the perpetual wink for aye might put

This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence, who

 Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest,

They’ll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.

They’ll tell the clock to any business that

We say befits the hour.

 

                The above passage is drawn out from the famous last work by Shakespeare, The Tempest. The story revolves around Prospero’s retaliation against Antonio and others who had usurped his throne as a king of Milan twelve years ago. While everyone is sound asleep on the island, Antonio and Sebastian stay awake, as they have their own secret talk. Antonio suggests Sebastian to kill his brother, King Alonso of Naples, in order to attain the position of a king. Sebastian appears to be uneasy about the plan, and inquires Antonio whether he feels the guilt from stealing his brother’s throne, when he answers as above.

 

                In one of the first lines, Antonio states  

“If ’twere a kibe,

'Twould put me to my slipper. But I feel not

This deity in my bosom.”

With this, Antonio compares the act of usurping a throne to an ordinary conduct of putting a slipper on. By making the comparison, Antonio successfully acquires the other’s attention and eliminates the sense of guilt that was residing inside Sebastian, as he explains how he was simply acting for a better future of Milan. Additionally, in the following sentence, Antonio compares Alonso to dirt, and skillfully convinces Sebastian to murder his own brother. This phrase portrays Antonio’s lack of respect for the current King of Naples, as he describes Alonso as “no better than the earth he lies upon.”

 

                 Furthermore, the readers can see how Antonio thinks lightly of the other members from the last two sentences.

For all the rest,

They’ll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.

They’ll tell the clock to any business that

We say befits the hour.

Antonio applies simile as he compares the watches to a cat, an obedient animal, and as he does so, he tells Sebastian the simplicity of convincing the others. The contrast between the two conveys how the others are rather brainless – that they will take the two’s words without question.

                Through the passage, Antonio efficiently convinces Sebastian into killing his own brother to steal the position as a king. The comparisons that he makes prove his cunningness, and lack of respect for others, as he would go to any lengths to attain his objective.

Bressler's Chapter Five Response

                Chapter Five in Bressler’s Literary Criticism was very long, and at the same time complex. Structuralism and Post-Structuralism both resemble New Criticism in a way, for they focus on the text and text alone in order to comprehend the messages conveyed by the author. However, unlike New Criticism, the first two approaches may lead to other critical approaches, which created this whole new perception. Aldous Huxley’s popular novel, Brave New World, may also be approached with this method as it involves Derrida’s idea of binary opposition and also the narrative functions that Propp proposes.

            The novel opens with Huxley introducing numerous binary opposites of the story. One of such is the caste system; how humans are separated into Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Though there are five groups instead of two, the basic idea is the same, for they portray the contrast between the privileged to underprivileged. Above all, the main comparison shown in the story is the civilized and uncivilized. According to the society in the book, there is a distinct line between those who are artificially decanted and others who still remain viviparous. The first group of people, living in more scientifically advanced community, stands as the superior population. The other, such as John the Savage, who was born and lived in the Reservations exist as minorities. By illustrating the binary opposites, Huxley conveys how the two groups cannot coexist; that they need to be separated by a strong force. The existence of binary opposites and its significance in the story shows how the novel revolves around deconstructionism.

            Additionally, phonocentrism may be spotted everywhere in the Brave New Worldian society. As infants, Delta populations are trained using hypnopaedia and are taught to hate books. As a result, in their society, written leisure and materials do not exist, they live mainly through conversing. Bressler defines phonocentrism as privileging speech over writing, and the idea can be seen in the conditioning center in London. Furthermore, this point is proved as none of the people living in civilized society are willing to read or write. Instead of reading, they choose to doze off using soma; when they get spare time, they would rather go to experience feelies. In the end, only minorities are ones who are willing to read and write. Helmholtz stands as one of the irregular individual in the Brave New World as he enjoys working with literature.

            The past two points proved how the novel orbited around the idea of Deconstructionism. The idea of narratology that is available in the story proves how Brave New World may also be considered a Structuralism novel. Although the novel does not follow Propp’s thirty-one points every one after another, it still vaguely pursues the points. John the Savage lacks multiple things when he first appears in the story. He desires Lenina’s love and wishes to see the society in which his mother had grown. In order to fulfill his goals, he abandons the Reservation life, and commits to leave and join the community. He successfully joins the community, however, it turns out that his idea of society and reality does not match, leading to another missing component in his life. If Propp’s method is directly followed, John is to overcome the quest, prove Mustapha Mond’s idea of totalitarian state wrong, convince the others, and continue living.  On the other hand, John is unable to enforce his beliefs, and commits suicide. When viewing only the first section of John’s life, Propp’s thirty-one points are directly followed. It is what happens after that leads to him death.

            Though leaning slightly towards the Deconstructionism ideas, Brave New World may also be viewed from Structuralist’s point of view. Binary oppositions exists, some of them are even the direct factors that the conflicts roots from. Chapter Five was very difficult to understand, however, viewing my favorite book from a new perspective was fun and inspiring.

Brave New World Revisited

        Huxley presented Brave New World to the society as he invented an organized society where everything was systematic, artificial, and fake. The novel is extremely thematic; the plot and scenario enhances the significance of individuality in society and how the central government may easily manipulate its citizens. In Brave New Word Revisited, Aldous Huxley reenters the futuristic world where people live under the totalitarian rule of the Fordship. However, this time, he approaches this fictional world in a realistic way. He reveals where the ideas in the novel rooted from and proposes how freedom is menaced over time.

            One force that is definitely driving the current world into communist society, as mentioned by Huxley himself, is the issue involving over-population. Over-population leads to economic instability and social unrest. This problem appears due to limited natural resources that are available. As the author mentions, although advances in technology may save more lives, because there are not enough resources to feed and supply everyone with their needs, he/ she will end up miserable as slow death by outright starvation threatens their lives. To cover up such defects in society, central government must perform more power amongst its society. The forceful power forms the crowd to become mass-like, resulting in the loss of self-identity. The strengthened power leads to a government ruling in a dictatorial fashion. Huxley clearly demonstrates the chain reaction that appears when the human population exceeds the certain limit.

            Additionally, Huxley presents numerous effective methods that dictators use when manipulating “isolated individuals”. Brainwashing is one of the techniques that the author introduces. Using sources and examples to prove his points, Huxley concludes that to control a person, the dictator needs to practice skillful psychological manipulation. Although it is extremely doubtful whether a person can actually control others by such method, through his examples, the technique is proven effective. The section where Huxley talks about propaganda and how it manipulates citizens is the most relative to the lives today. The media does have a significant role in people’s minds. Even though it may not wholly control their thoughts, society does get many ideas influenced by what is on the TV or newspaper.

Through Huxley’s non-fictional approach to the dystopian novel, Brave New World, it can be concluded that our society is heading towards, slowly, but steadily, towards the Brave New World. The author himself mentions in the end, that these forces are too strong to be resisted for long. However, it is always important to do whatever is necessary to prevent society without any freedom.

             

Flannery O'Connor

            Flannery O’Connor’s writing style is very unique and distinctive. She starts off the story in an ordinary setting. It is so normal that the narrative may seem rather mundane at first. She starts off the story in an ordinary setting. It is so normal, that the narrative may seem rather mundane at first. However, she proves the idea wrong as she continues on to her climax and ending, which both turn out to be suspenseful and also tragic.

            Through the stories in the Norton (A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Good Country People, and Everything That Rises Must Converge), the readers can see that the author’s main thought focuses on the two ideas; human wit and impudence. Although the ideas are very contrary, they are interconnected. In O’Connor’s works, she depicts how foolishness of mankind are twisted and turned into a disaster by the witty ones. To be more direct, O’Connor portrays how people with big egos are the ones who get tricked most easily.

            In A Good Man is Hard to Find, the grandmother is selfish and pretentious. At first, she strongly objects to visiting Florida, but when it is decided that they are not going to Tennessee and that there is a possibility for her to be left behind, she was “the first one on the car, ready to go.” The way she pretends to be an expert on the Misfit yet gets her family and herself killed, also shows how she had overestimated her intelligence while underestimating the others’. Moreover, when she remembered how the house of the Misfit was in Tennessee instead of Georgia, she decided not to announce the subject. This illustrates how her egotism is so strong that she does not even want to admit her own flaws.

            Second, in Good Country People, Joy (Hulga) looks down on other characters, as if they are not smart enough for her. She does not show any respect for her own mother, even though she is much more amiable and caring than herself. At first, Joy acts as if she is the one who has the control over the situation; she is proud of having many degrees and thus, believes that others are less civilized than she is. However, as soon as she begins to trust Pointer (and this is not even his real name), she becomes more lenient on what the boy says. In the end, Joy is outwitted by Pointer as he simply stole her artificial leg, and did not have any interest in loving her as who she was. This story shows how people who think they are smart are ones who are the actual fools.

            Overall, O’Connor’s stories revolve around deep moral teachings. It highly censures human egotism and depicts how it can easily be turned over. Also most of her works begins dull and rather ordinary, but they all have a turning point where the story becomes full of thrill and suspense.