Chapters 1-3: Leader Mehul

 Hello classmates! It’s Mehul, and I am both honored and excited to kick off our discussions for Jane Eyre. I hope y’all had a relaxing weekend and are hyped to start analyzing the deeper and darker meanings within. 

At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to very brutal, uncomfortable, and cold imagery of nature. For reference, I am talking about Jane’s descriptions of the cold winter (9), the rainy weather outside the red room (10), and the illustrations within Bewick’s History of British Birds (10-11). What do these descriptions suggest about the upcoming tone of the novel? What do these descriptions foreshadow?

Jane draws a connection between the “the half comprehended notions that float dim through children’s brains” and books giving “significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray” (11). Does this paragraph suggest anything about the power of literature? Are books a guiding tool for Jane?

(12) John Reed depicted as “large and stout,” “dingy and unwholesome,” “heavy limbs and large extremities.” He is also shown to be a bully when he punishes Jane for reading “his” books. Do John’s physical features and behavior complement each other? If so, what does this correlation suggest about the relationship between Jane Eyre and John Reed?

Building off the previous question. John Reed is referred to as “young master,” “young gentleman” where as Jane is referred to as “a mad cat.” What makes Jane and John Reed different and why?

After the fight with John, Jane is sent to the “red-room,” On page 17, there are many descriptions of the color red. Also, before fighting John, Jane is shown to be reading a book in the small-breakfast room with “scarlet drapery” (10). Why does the color red keep re-appearing and what does it mean?

(18) Jane speaks in a series of rhetorical questions “Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever, condemned?...” What does Jane’s diction reveal about her state of mind and intellectual maturity? 

Jane details how John Reed called his mother “old girl” due to her “dark skin.” How does this scene portray racism within old English culture?

I thought this section of the reading (top of 29) was interesting.

‘Nonsense! And is it that makes you so miserable? Are you afraid now in daylight?’

‘No: but night will come again before long: and besides,—I am unhappy,—very unhappy, for other things.’ 

‘What other things? Can you tell me some of them?’

How much I wished to reply fully to this question! How difficult it was to frame any answer! Children can feel, but they cannot analyse their feelings; and if the analysis is partially effected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words. Fearful, however, of losing this first and only opportunity of relieving my grief by imparting it, I, after a disturbed pause, contrived to frame a meagre, though, as far as it went, true response.

‘For one thing, I have no father or mother, brothers or sisters.’

‘You have a kind aunt and cousins.’

Again I paused; then bunglingly enounced—

‘But John Reed knocked me down, and my aunt shut me up in the red-room.’

The highlighted portion of this passage seems to evoke a different tone, an almost more mature and grown up version of Jane. What insights does this interjection add to the dialogue between Jane and Mr. Lloyd? How does this shift in perspective add depth to our understanding of Jane’s character?

Within these chapters, Georgiana’s physical appearance is continually brought up and praised. Characters in the novel often reference her “golden curls” and “pink cheeks.” In contrast, The dialogue on pages 31-32 also draw attention to Georgiana’s beauty, describing how Jane is “a little toad” and therefore, is less likeable. What does this comparison reveal about the value of female beauty?