Sunday, October 5, 2014

Jane Eyre is a alien? Question 6 response

In the excerpt I read of the novel Jane Eyre, the character Jane is alienated from the rest of the girls in her school. This is done to prevent the from catching her immorality, as she is viewed as being wildly immoral. The headmaster of the school claims that she is a liar, and this is seen as a horrible and wicked thing. The society around her refuses to believe that she is not a liar, as she has already been called such, and any attempts to disprove it would be seen as more lies. This alienation by the headmaster is shown to be religious in nature, as the school is meant to educate girls in becoming upstanding members of society. It is fully accepted that the headmaster's word is the law, even though this has been shown to be false earlier in the passage. He was shown to be a liar and a hypocrite when his family entered the inspection, decked out in fancy clothes and hair styles that he had earlier called immoral.
The contrast between the reception of Jane Eyre and the infallibility of Mr. Brocklehurst shows obvious truths about the Victorian society Jane Eyre was written in. It shows that, like in most societies, adults are seen as more reliable than children or teens, and often viewed as infallible. The society demonstrated in the excerpt places a large importance on male authority figures, and they are seen as being in control and more important. They cannot do anything wrong in the eyes of the people in the reform school, and even if they did nobody would complain out of fear.

1 comment:

  1. Good analysis (I appreciated that you looked at social and historical context), but I do wish you had examined language as part of your support for your argument. Also, don't forget about citing textual evidence whenever possible.

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