Feminism
Charlotte Bronte; Jane Eyre
Image via WikipediaCharlotte Bronte is a famous novelist who has written so many novels and most of her novels are related to the lives of women and the problems, which the women have to face. Jane Eyre is a famous novel by her and in this novel she has also described the position of the protagonist who is women and she has also described that what status the heroine has and how it affects on her life?
Cover of True WomenWomen are the considered the inferior creature of the society and there are some rules and regulations which the women have to face and with out fulfilling these values she cannot be considered a true women. Charlotte has tried to explain this stereotypical thinking by the society in the beginning of the novel. The novel shows the ways in which the women are forced to comprehend the proper definition of a feminist behavior and then to accept them with out any objection. It is thought that it is natural to behave in this way so it is their duty to follow these rules.
In this novel, there is a variety of the characters who participate in this process of imposing an artificial standard against the women. These roles are played by several persons for example by the family, by the servants and even by the Jane herself who is the major characters in the novel. The novel also introduces a number of ideas about and all of these ideas of reading can be related to the ways in which the women learn two types of attitudes:
How to identify these rules and follow these?
Image via WikipediaHow to oppose the definitions and positions, which they are
offered?
They are trained from the first day of their life that these are their values and it should be in their nature to fulfill these values. But in this novel, Bronte has tried to explain this that women have not only been made to obey always but they have also this right to disobey which they think is not in her favor.
The novel plays the role of a x-ray machine through which the moral, psychological and spiritual growth of the protagonist can be revealed.
The novel indicates the process in which the forces act upon and in all this traumatic process, the individual female subject identifies the positions and meanings, which she has been given. There is no difference that these positions are restrictive and even some times these become oppressive. However, there is also a ray of hope that these positions can be challenged.
In the early part of the novel the narrators describes the days of her childhood, which she experiences at her aunts house at Gates head. The reader has been told in a pathetic way the condition of Jane there. She was positioned as an inferior and low member of the household. This role was assigned to her by several members of the family. She struggled a lot, tried to understand this position, and thought that she should challenge it. on the opening page of the novel, reed family has been described with Jane’s cousins sitting around their mother and she has been restricted by her aunt to join them. The mother is the central figure in this entire incident. The important point is that she herself a woman. Certain standards of behavior have been presented before the Jane has been guided that until she does not follow these rules, she will not be allowed to join their company. In this way, Jane must endeavor to face a disposition. This is not important for Mrs. Reed and according to her it is a natural behavior of a child to behave in this way. However, we should think this that is it possible for a child to be happy or contented if she is separated from the other family members.
Mrs. Reed demands that Jane should fulfill the standard of behavior, which is correct according to her. She herself describes that this ideal is not easy to achieve but in the next words, she explains that it is not impossible for Jane to achieve this standard. This behavior influences Jane’s personality deeply that even she has a perfect personality but she starts to consider herself physically inferior to her cousins. Her social position brings many flaws in her character. Her melancholy, which angers Mrs. Reed, is the psychological product of her social position and not the result of her inner weaknesses. Through out the novel Jane encounters several characters who have different understanding of female behavior derived from culturally produced views which are considered completely true. When Jane rebels against this behavior, she is condemned not only by the men but also by the women.
Jane’s behavior is being observed by Mrs. Reed who is her guardian but it seems as she is not her guardian but of the social values. She appoints Bessie to inform her that how Jane behaves and in what way? Mrs. Reed is a privileged woman who believes in specific definitions of behavior instructs another woman, Bessie, to investigate about the behavior of a female child who is unable to conform to those definitions. This incident is the clear proof against the way in which women often support and maintain a system, consciously or unconsciously, against the women exactly like them.
There is another proof of this behavior in the start of chapter 2 when Jane is restricted by two female servants with a garter. Here we should that why rebellious Jane decides to confirm voluntarily, offering to hold herself down. The end of the novel is also significant when financially independent Jane decides to get marry. Some feminists have criticized Jane’s final action as a culmination of a movement but we should also keep the period in mind in which this novel was written. The novel was written in 1847 and it was not possible in that period to reject the patriarchal values completely. However, Jane Eyre provides the material to the readers to think about and criticize.
There is another proof of this behavior in the start of chapter 2 when Jane is restricted by two female servants with a garter. Here we should that why rebellious Jane decides to confirm voluntarily, offering to hold herself down. The end of the novel is also significant when financially independent Jane decides to get marry. Some feminists have criticized Jane’s final action as a culmination of a movement but we should also keep the period in mind in which this novel was written. The novel was written in 1847 and it was not possible in that period to reject the patriarchal values completely. However, Jane Eyre provides the material to the readers to think about and criticize.
Here are few of the ways in which in opening of the novel may do so. The family of Mrs. Reed is patriarchal family and the behavioral of individual is governed by social and cultural values not by their personal interests. The head of the family is Mrs. Reed. Jane is living in this family but she is not treated in a well manner and she is excluded from the family because it is thought that she does not know the rules, which women should follow. That is why when she questions her aunt, she is rebuked and is threatened. The reason is that, it is thought that women should not question so much. Jane takes refuge in an adjoining room and chooses a secluded place on a curtained window seat. She starts to read and reading allows Jane not merely to escape, temporarily, from the misery of her real surrounding but introduces her narratives of different situations and lives which she can compare with her own and with the passage of time this reading activity enables her to read her own condition.
In the novel, we have also been told about the behavior of the men. At the very moment when Jane is busy in reading, her cousin enters the room and he calls her as “Madame Mope” and “bad animal”. He demands that she should call him as “master reed” and consider him as her superior. He also says that she should stand before him when he sits. By calling her names and telling her, where to stand the male character is claiming is claiming the right to define the female identity. Jane is fearful of his habit of threatening her. There is no body to stop him and it proves that Jane is not only the victim of an individual but of a system, which allows him to, as “master” to show his strength over her. John is confident that he is the strong member of the family and there is no one to challenge him. There is no body to challenge him and he has the surety that he will get the complete household and he is supported by the female members of the family even to threat another female member of the family, to tease her and to violate her identity. If we see this situation critically, we can say that he needs the strong support by these members and with out assistance he can do nothing. If they do not help him, he will not be able to do this.
When he enters the room, he is unable to see the Jane first but again another female member of the family who is his sister identifies that where Jane is. This shows the way in which a patriarchal system works through the collusion of women. Here in the novel the patriarchal system has allotted the two children two very different fortunes, literally and culturally.
John believes that he has a right to command others while Jane thinks that she has been made only for obedience.
John has a permanent opportunity to be the head of the family whether Jane will have to struggle to achieve this position and to make her acceptable.
Another incident is also very significant. When john sees Jane reading the book, he snatches the book and uses it as a weapon. With this book, he injures Jane. At this moment, Jane’s terror gives way to anger and a sense of injustice. She is able to fight back at this point. However, Jane’s identification of her own position through and the position of her cousin does not enable her to escape her subordinate position completely. When she is punished, she strongly resists john reed and in the coming part of the novel, she stands again the other male characters such as Mr. Brocklehurst. Her struggle to find a position in the society will involve difficulties not only by the individuals but also from
a complete, which is present in the society for millions of years. The end of the novel may disappoint some feminist reader but this novel may still provide material for the analysis of the social values, which spoil the rights of the women.
Recovery
Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White, 3G Works Globally - Latest Generation
The Heir
Live At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]
Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally – Latest Generation
Image via WikipediaCharlotte Bronte is a famous novelist who has written so many novels and most of her novels are related to the lives of women and the problems, which the women have to face. Jane Eyre is a famous novel by her and in this novel she has also described the position of the protagonist who is women and she has also described that what status the heroine has and how it affects on her life?Cover of True WomenWomen are the considered the inferior creature of the society and there are some rules and regulations which the women have to face and with out fulfilling these values she cannot be considered a true women. Charlotte has tried to explain this stereotypical thinking by the society in the beginning of the novel. The novel shows the ways in which the women are forced to comprehend the proper definition of a feminist behavior and then to accept them with out any objection. It is thought that it is natural to behave in this way so it is their duty to follow these rules. In this novel, there is a variety of the characters who participate in this process of imposing an artificial standard against the women. These roles are played by several persons for example by the family, by the servants and even by the Jane herself who is the major characters in the novel. The novel also introduces a number of ideas about and all of these ideas of reading can be related to the ways in which the women learn two types of attitudes:
How to identify these rules and follow these?
Image via WikipediaHow to oppose the definitions and positions, which they are offered?
They are trained from the first day of their life that these are their values and it should be in their nature to fulfill these values. But in this novel, Bronte has tried to explain this that women have not only been made to obey always but they have also this right to disobey which they think is not in her favor.
The novel plays the role of a x-ray machine through which the moral, psychological and spiritual growth of the protagonist can be revealed.
The novel indicates the process in which the forces act upon and in all this traumatic process, the individual female subject identifies the positions and meanings, which she has been given. There is no difference that these positions are restrictive and even some times these become oppressive. However, there is also a ray of hope that these positions can be challenged.
In the early part of the novel the narrators describes the days of her childhood, which she experiences at her aunts house at Gates head. The reader has been told in a pathetic way the condition of Jane there. She was positioned as an inferior and low member of the household. This role was assigned to her by several members of the family. She struggled a lot, tried to understand this position, and thought that she should challenge it. on the opening page of the novel, reed family has been described with Jane’s cousins sitting around their mother and she has been restricted by her aunt to join them. The mother is the central figure in this entire incident. The important point is that she herself a woman. Certain standards of behavior have been presented before the Jane has been guided that until she does not follow these rules, she will not be allowed to join their company. In this way, Jane must endeavor to face a disposition. This is not important for Mrs. Reed and according to her it is a natural behavior of a child to behave in this way. However, we should think this that is it possible for a child to be happy or contented if she is separated from the other family members.
Mrs. Reed demands that Jane should fulfill the standard of behavior, which is correct according to her. She herself describes that this ideal is not easy to achieve but in the next words, she explains that it is not impossible for Jane to achieve this standard. This behavior influences Jane’s personality deeply that even she has a perfect personality but she starts to consider herself physically inferior to her cousins. Her social position brings many flaws in her character. Her melancholy, which angers Mrs. Reed, is the psychological product of her social position and not the result of her inner weaknesses. Through out the novel Jane encounters several characters who have different understanding of female behavior derived from culturally produced views which are considered completely true. When Jane rebels against this behavior, she is condemned not only by the men but also by the women.
Jane’s behavior is being observed by Mrs. Reed who is her guardian but it seems as she is not her guardian but of the social values. She appoints Bessie to inform her that how Jane behaves and in what way? Mrs. Reed is a privileged woman who believes in specific definitions of behavior instructs another woman, Bessie, to investigate about the behavior of a female child who is unable to conform to those definitions. This incident is the clear proof against the way in which women often support and maintain a system, consciously or unconsciously, against the women exactly like them.
There is another proof of this behavior in the start of chapter 2 when Jane is restricted by two female servants with a garter. Here we should that why rebellious Jane decides to confirm voluntarily, offering to hold herself down. The end of the novel is also significant when financially independent Jane decides to get marry. Some feminists have criticized Jane’s final action as a culmination of a movement but we should also keep the period in mind in which this novel was written. The novel was written in 1847 and it was not possible in that period to reject the patriarchal values completely. However, Jane Eyre provides the material to the readers to think about and criticize.
There is another proof of this behavior in the start of chapter 2 when Jane is restricted by two female servants with a garter. Here we should that why rebellious Jane decides to confirm voluntarily, offering to hold herself down. The end of the novel is also significant when financially independent Jane decides to get marry. Some feminists have criticized Jane’s final action as a culmination of a movement but we should also keep the period in mind in which this novel was written. The novel was written in 1847 and it was not possible in that period to reject the patriarchal values completely. However, Jane Eyre provides the material to the readers to think about and criticize.
Here are few of the ways in which in opening of the novel may do so. The family of Mrs. Reed is patriarchal family and the behavioral of individual is governed by social and cultural values not by their personal interests. The head of the family is Mrs. Reed. Jane is living in this family but she is not treated in a well manner and she is excluded from the family because it is thought that she does not know the rules, which women should follow. That is why when she questions her aunt, she is rebuked and is threatened. The reason is that, it is thought that women should not question so much. Jane takes refuge in an adjoining room and chooses a secluded place on a curtained window seat. She starts to read and reading allows Jane not merely to escape, temporarily, from the misery of her real surrounding but introduces her narratives of different situations and lives which she can compare with her own and with the passage of time this reading activity enables her to read her own condition.
In the novel, we have also been told about the behavior of the men. At the very moment when Jane is busy in reading, her cousin enters the room and he calls her as “Madame Mope” and “bad animal”. He demands that she should call him as “master reed” and consider him as her superior. He also says that she should stand before him when he sits. By calling her names and telling her, where to stand the male character is claiming is claiming the right to define the female identity. Jane is fearful of his habit of threatening her. There is no body to stop him and it proves that Jane is not only the victim of an individual but of a system, which allows him to, as “master” to show his strength over her. John is confident that he is the strong member of the family and there is no one to challenge him. There is no body to challenge him and he has the surety that he will get the complete household and he is supported by the female members of the family even to threat another female member of the family, to tease her and to violate her identity. If we see this situation critically, we can say that he needs the strong support by these members and with out assistance he can do nothing. If they do not help him, he will not be able to do this.
When he enters the room, he is unable to see the Jane first but again another female member of the family who is his sister identifies that where Jane is. This shows the way in which a patriarchal system works through the collusion of women. Here in the novel the patriarchal system has allotted the two children two very different fortunes, literally and culturally.
John believes that he has a right to command others while Jane thinks that she has been made only for obedience.
John has a permanent opportunity to be the head of the family whether Jane will have to struggle to achieve this position and to make her acceptable.
Another incident is also very significant. When john sees Jane reading the book, he snatches the book and uses it as a weapon. With this book, he injures Jane. At this moment, Jane’s terror gives way to anger and a sense of injustice. She is able to fight back at this point. However, Jane’s identification of her own position through and the position of her cousin does not enable her to escape her subordinate position completely. When she is punished, she strongly resists john reed and in the coming part of the novel, she stands again the other male characters such as Mr. Brocklehurst. Her struggle to find a position in the society will involve difficulties not only by the individuals but also from
a complete, which is present in the society for millions of years. The end of the novel may disappoint some feminist reader but this novel may still provide material for the analysis of the social values, which spoil the rights of the women.Recovery
Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White, 3G Works Globally - Latest GenerationThe HeirLive At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally – Latest Generation
Comments
Post a Comment