# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 34-38

Sight is arguably the most important sense of the human body, and not only that, but it is the perfect vessel for symbolism and metaphors in literature. As we previously learned, an alteration to one of the five senses (sight, smell, touch, and sound) often indicates a substantial change to the characters internal monologue or personality. Some of the most prominent dilemmas that have troubled Jane are the difference in social class between her and Rochester and their opposing gender expectations.

As seen back in Chapter 19, Rochester is unable to have a genuine conversation with Jane in the body of a white, wealthy, male who is her employer. So he chooses to dress up as a woman and talk to her anonymously. On the other hand, Jane continues to conform to oppressive expectations surrounding Victorian womanhood despite her unorthodox, passionate desire for equality and independence. Initially, both Jane and Rochester fall short of the quota for a fulfilling relationship.

However, upon her return, Jane finds herself "useful" to Rochester, as he is no longer able to see. The loss of Rochester's sight is a symbol for feminism and rebellion against the patriarchy.  Rochester's blindness seems to me to be a clear comment on the pair's power dynamics. Jane Eyre seizes from Rochester the influence he had previously exercised socially by asserting her individuality and independent moral rectitude after the first wedding scene.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Blindness in literature - Your EYEBALLS - EYNTK 👁️💉😳💊🔊💯✅

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 34-38

The marriage proposal from St. John feels cold and passionless, quite different from the complex relationship that bind together Jane and Rochester. As a serious clergyman with ambitions to be a missionary in India, St. John's proposal to Jane seems almost tactical. I decided to look into St. John and Jane's relationship as I internally weighed the costs and benefits of marrying either man.

Rev. St. John Rivers is looking for a helpmeet for his missionary work, and practicality and purity dictate that Jane should come as his wife, not just as his assistant. He even commands,

"God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife. It is not personal, but mental endowments they have given you: you are formed for labour, not love. A missionary’s wife you must – shall be. You shall be mine: I claim you – not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign’s service."

He represents the Gospel's supreme ideal, and Jane, he claims, is to serve him as he serves Christ in a foreign country. His coercive and lofty rhetoric is meant to compel her to submit to his will, not to charm her. He uses his peculiar sense of closeness to God to convince her to submit to him. Jane, on the other hand, is not easily bent to a man's will, which is one of her most endearing qualities. She has a persuasive and rational sense of herself and her inner life. She flatly refuses his offer, stating that she could travel as a fellow-worker but not as a wife.

We are able to see St. John for who he is in the light of the text. He is guided by a desire to serve God, but he lacks any understanding of human behavior. He always proclaims God's authority, but he is willing to share in some of it. He can't love in any way.

It's simply not Jane's time to join forces with such a force. While her true love, Rochester, is obviously not right for her at this point – he is still married to his wife and has much to atone for in his history before he can belong to Jane – she is unable to choose St. John Rivers.

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 20-26

A persisting theme in the novel so far has been the significance of religion, and as Jane gets the chance to grow her experience log, she seems to challenge those religious beliefs a little bit. For example, Jane finds herself nearly worshipping Rochester, despite her concerns about their relationship and their predictably problematic marriage. In Chapter 22, Jane observes that she views Rochester as her home, emphasizing this kinship she feels with him. With Rochester no longer married, Jane is free to come home.

But upon closer inspection, Jane does not appear too fond of the idea of being tied to Rochester through marriage. Jane’s anxiety surfaces when Rochester tries to dress her in feminine finery. She reacts with revulsion, noting that she feels like a toy doll. Jane fears that Rochester may be trying to objectify her, that he sees her not as a human being with her own thoughts and feelings but as a plaything designed to cater to his fantasies and whims. Jane also worries about her financial inferiority: she hates the thought of marrying “above her station,” as she does not want to feel that she somehow “owes” Rochester something for the fact that he has “deigned” to love her, as it were. She hates the thought that his love might be a “favor” to her.

As a result, Jane's feelings and wishes for Rochester are inextricably related to her feelings about her social condition (her job status and experiences of economic dependency) and her position as a woman. She is acutely aware of the power dynamics and hierarchy inherent in marriage, and despite her declaration that she is compelled to "yield" to her feelings for Rochester, she does not crave the utter surrender that romance novel heroines undergo. The fairy-tale wedding to which these chapters seem to be leading does not seem likely, as Jane would only be able to fulfill the role of wife on her own, quite unorthodox, terms.

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 27-33

What drove Jane to leave Thornfield? Was it because she found out about Rcoherster's marriage to Bertha and felt dirty residing with a man as long as his wife was alive? Or was this unplanned departure driven by passion?

Jane's character is generally characterized by her realistic disposition, despite her occasional acts of rebellion. Jane is constantly restrained by her feelings in the book, choosing to behave with caution rather than passion. When describing Jane, Mr. Rochester asserts, “The forehead declares, ‘Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms…judgment shall have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision’” (Bronte 233). Jane's hasty departure from Thornfield bolsters Rochester's argument. Jane realizes she can't pursue her heart after realizing Rochester is already married; their relationship will be doomed as long as Bertha lives. She ignores her inner voice, which begs her to “…soothe him; save him; love him” (Bronte 365). She ultimately takes the sensible decision to abandon Thornfield. Jane's evaluation of her desperate condition is unquestionably pragmatic, yet the manner in which she flees is mainly motivated by emotion.

In the past, Jane escaped unhappy situations in a reasonable manner. For example, when Miss Temple left Lowood, and Jane decided that she wished to follow suit, she devised a plan, putting out an advertisement, and only left her current situation when a new one was guaranteed. Thus, Jane’s middle-of-the-night departure from Thornfield seems wholly out of character. Her plans for departure were insufficient due to her haste to flee Rochester; despite the fact that she only had twenty shillings and no particular destination in mind, she was not delayed.

Furthermore, Jane herself acknowledges that passion, not reason, guides her escape, explaining, "As to my own will or conscience, impassioned grief had trampled one and stifled the other” (Bronte 370). Jane's initial decision to escape was driven by reason, but desire in the form of anguish led her the rest of the way. She did not, at the time, exemplify practicality. Rather, as a heroine with a broken heart, she lost her calm, rational exterior and became exponentially more realistic.

# data[].attributes.headline
March 15, 2021: Will Someone Please Check the Attic?

# data[].attributes.subject
March 15, 2021: Will Someone Please Check the Attic?

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 27-33

Ah yes, the manic wife locked up in the attic. There has got to be more to this. The relentlessly animalistic descriptions of Bertha led me to think: is Bertha genuinely insane?

In a time like the Victorian Era, where the concept of mental health was nearly a myth, any form of abnormality could be categorized as mania. Bertha's character is too unique to leave unquestioned, so I looked into her interactions, or lack thereof, with the other characters.

Bertha Mason is portrayed as Rochester's violent and psychotic ex-wife, but she is not allowed to tell us about her craziness. Everything we know about Bertha is from Rochester's explanation of her madness or Jane's skewed view of her (because she is the leading lady and in love with Rochester). Despite her importance to the story's plot, Bertha does not have a single line of dialogue in her role. Jane goes to great lengths to convince the reader to believe Bertha is insane. However, the curious thing is that there aren't enough examples to back it up. The book has not been able to provide compelling arguments of Bertha's insanity. In an effort to persuade the readers of a flesh-eating animal presence in the home, a skewed account of Jane only associates Bertha with a "hysterical" and "demonic" laughter. Jane identifies Bertha as a "savage" and also compares her to a "German vampire" when she sees her in the middle of the night. Bertha may have been influenced by years of confinement and isolation, which may explain her conduct. Even though there is no definitive evidence, all of these explanations create a bestial picture of Bertha.

Even in death, Bertha is still seeking emancipation, which has been taken away from her by locking her up in the attic. She leaps from the house, declaring her identity for the last time. Her suicide expresses her dissatisfaction with the confinement she had been subjected to. She longs for liberation, which she can only accomplish through death, which she accepts, inverting all previous scenes of imprisonment, reasserting her life in a public spectacle, and refusing Rochester's charity.

Bertha's death is crucial for Jane's love to reach its climax and the plot to move forward. Bertha's death only adds to the mystery. She dies without ever telling the readers about her story.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Helen Briggs
BBC News

Author Sarah Wise was watching the play Gas Light when she came up with the idea for her book, Inconvenient People.

She was intrigued by the fact the audience immediately "got" the plot of a conniving husband trying to push his wife to the brink of insanity.

His tricks include dimming the gaslight outside their flat in foggy London to try to make her doubt her own perceptions.

The play, by Patrick Hamilton, dates back to 1938 but has been staged many times since then.

"It must be an archetypal fairy-tale sort of story," says Wise, who has written three books on Victorian England.

"I thought, I'm going to write a book about that."

It is now one of six books shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize, which celebrates the topics of health and medicine in literature.

She carried out detailed research, sifting through memoirs, letters, archives and local records to uncover 12 dark stories of men and women who had to fight for their liberty after being labelled insane.

Some were genuinely ill, others were eccentric, but all shared a common theme of being an "inconvenient person", who ended up in an asylum, often for the financial gain of friends or family.

"What they're really all about is a grab for finance," says Wise. "When someone's got wealth, where there's something to be gained that's really tangible, and if they're annoying and unpleasant, all the better."

The book has echoes of issues that persist today in mental health.

But people deemed mentally ill in Victorian England had very limited options for treatment, with those considered incurable given little therapy beyond being kept warm and fed.

Doctors treating the mentally ill were not called psychiatrists but were known as alienists, based on the belief that the self had become alienated from itself.

The term mad-doctor was also used irreverently.

Among others, the book tells the story of John Perceval, the son of a prime minister, who spent three years in an asylum.

His father, Spencer, was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons, which probably contributed to his mental breakdown.

Although John Perceval was treated in one of the most expensive hospitals of the time, he spent most of the day strapped on to a wooden chair alongside other patients.

After his recovery, he campaigned for reform of lunacy laws and published two books about his experiences.

Inconvenient People - Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-doctors in Victorian England - is shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize.

The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Creation, by Adam Rutherford

Far from the Tree, by Andrew Solomon

Hallucinations, by Oliver Sachs.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inconvenient people: A Victorian view of mental-health treatment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Helen Briggs BBC News Author Sarah Wise was watching the play Gas Light when she came up with the idea for her book, Inconvenient People. She was intrigued by the fact the audience immediately "got" the plot of a conniving husband trying to push his wife to the brink of insanity.

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 20-26

In this week's reading, we see Jane get ENGAGED to Rochester, despite his plethora of unaddressed issues that he continues to keep from her. Who could have imagined?? This ordeal unravels in a garden, so my first thought was, "Aww how romantic! All of the flowers and shrubbery must be so lovely for this occasion". Naturally, I looked into the significance of gardens in gothic literature only to realize that this occasion was not romantic, nor did it seem to foster new growth. In fact, it seems like Jane has just gotten herself into a hot mess...

I couldn't help but find a pretty stark connection between Jane's garden engagement ordeal and one of the items in the beloved video game: Minecraft. This specific item is called a wither rose, and the story behind its creation (Yes, I said creation. These do not bloom naturally) is pretty interesting.

Essentially, there is a boss that the player can summon, appropriately named The Wither, using three wither skeleton skulls and four blocks of soul sand. Once this beast is summoned, the player's objective is to defeat it and obtain the Nether Star form its remains. Simple right? Wrong! The Wither casts an effect that leeches roughly one health point per second from its victim when it lands one of its explosive projectiles. This being said, when an animal/living being withers away from this effect, a wither rose appears over the spot where it perished. This rose temporarily casts the wither effect on any entity who treads upon it, in remembrance of the beast who gave it life.

This sickly beauty fits both the toxicity of the relationship between Jane and Rochester, and the disapproval of the relationship from the universe. It even matches the goth aesthetic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Wither Rose

Stackable

(64)

Obey Physics

Flammable

Luminous

Transparent

Renewable

A Wither Rose is a unique flower with negative properties. Any player or mob that touches it will be granted the wither effect, a status effect similar to poison. This is the same status effect inflicted by Wither skeletons and Withers. They are good in traps as the wither effect helps in killing enemies and allies alike. They are also used in many auto-killer farms.

Wither Roses cannot be obtained when playing on the peaceful difficulty in Survival. They can only be obtained either from the Creative inventory or when the Wither kills a mob (depending on the location the mob was when it was killed by the Wither). As long as cheats are enabled, it can be obtained via commands using /give [playername] wither_rose [quantity of item].

Wither Roses can be used to create black dye. It can also be used as an ingredient in creating suspicious stew, but it will give the stew the wither effect when consumed. It can also be used as a defense if placed strategically. It can be also used in Magma Cube farms to kill the Magma cubes.

Wither Roses can be used as traps, as they can be placed on any solid block (with a few exceptions). The wither rose can also be placed around a player's base as a defense against other players and unwelcome mobs, and also can be used as a prank against enemy players.

Wither Roses may possibly be used as a semi-automatic mob farm, since entities take damage when walking through the Roses. Oddly enough, these Roses can still be pollinated and bred to bees. While feeding the bees, the flower itself will not have any effect, but they will still get damaged from the Rose when pollinating it.

Black Dye
(Shapeless recipe)

None

None

None

None

Wither Rose
None

None

None

None

Template:Blocks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A Wither Rose is a unique flower with negative properties. Any player or mob that touches it will be grantedthe wither effect, a status effect similar to poison. This is the same status effect inflicted by Wither skeletons and Withers. They are good in traps as the wither effect helps in killing enemies and allies alike.

# data[].attributes.headline
February 22, 2021: Did You Hear That Too?

# data[].attributes.subject
February 22, 2021: Did You Hear That Too?

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 11-19

Another sound from upstairs? That's okay, you might be crazy! Blame it on Grace Poole, lock your door just in case, and sleep tightly. The abundance of supernatural descriptions and occurrences that riddles these chapters sparked my investigation of the supernatural in gothic literature.

It appears that one of the supernatural features that Brontë incorporates most frequently is the reference to ghosts and hauntings. To begin, there is the allusion to "Gytrash", a spirit creature, sometimes a horse and sometimes a dog, that pursues travelers at night. Jane's recollection of this tale occurs on her journey to carry a letter to the post in the evening that she encounters Rochester for the first time.

“It was very near, but not yet in sight; when, in addition to the tramp, tramp, I heard a rush under the hedge, and close down by the hazel stems glided a great dog, whose black and white colour made him a distinct object against the trees.  It was exactly one form of Bessie’s Gytrash— a lion-like creature with long hair and a huge head: it passed me, however, quietly enough; not staying to look up, with strange pretercanine eyes, in my face, as I half expected it would.  The horse followed,—a tall steed, and on its back a rider.  The man, the human being, broke the spell at once.  Nothing ever rode the Gytrash: it was always alone; and goblins, to my notions, though they might tenant the dumb carcasses of beasts, could scarce covet shelter in the commonplace human form.  No Gytrash was this,—only a traveler taking the short cut to Millcote.” (Brontë 116)

In gothic literature, there are two ways in which the use of the supernatural can be classified: the accepted supernatural and the explained supernatural. The accepted supernatural refers to when the characters simply accept abnormalities as a part of daily life. On the other hand, explained supernatural refers to gothic elements that are "resolved" or at least reasoned in the text. As of now, I still refuse to believe that everything at Thornfield is happening in a reasoned fashion.

# data[].attributes.headline
February 22, 2021: But You're... Respected

# data[].attributes.subject
February 22, 2021: But You're... Respected

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 11-19

It appears that our main character Jane developed a little crush. It's a little bit strange to see her feel this emotion for the first time, but I feel it's a little bit refreshing after all she's been through. But does she muster up the courage to tell Rochester how she feels? Well, I spent quite some time dwelling on the limitations that Jane put on herself because of her social status. Unlike Rochester, who is part of the wealthy upper class, Jane was a laborer. This difference continuously interferes with their relationship, making me wonder, "Is it really that big of a deal?".

Though I am well aware of the importance of one's social standing in the Victorian Era, I was still eager to learn a little bit more to aid my understanding of the relationship between Jane and Rochester. I was able to come across an article that very clearly divided the social classes and their respective occupations and duties. Rochester's wealth and high status allowed hime to keep his hands supple and enjoy an easy, labor-less life, while Jane had quite the contrary. This master-laborer complex is what keeps Jane from being treated like a normal human being when she converses with Rochester.  Unlike the way he treats his rich "love interest", Blanche, Rochester does not hesitate to order Jane around.

However, Jane and Rochester do seem to genuinely like each other (or at least Jane does). After all, Rochester does want to keep Jane around when he has his little get-togethers with his guests, and he seeks her out when she scurries away. But does he treat her like an equal? Not quite. This isn't a love story where the rich man breaks societal norms and gets with the poor girl who tutors at his family mansion, and Jane doesn't seem too hopeful that her attraction will break those norms either, judging by the two pictures she drew after the curtain fire incident (one a self portrait and the other a romantic depiction fo Blanche). Alas, Jane is merely another stepping stone in Rochester's attempt to clear up his messy past.

# data[].attributes.headline
February 11, 2021: Girl boss? Not in THIS Era

# data[].attributes.subject
February 11, 2021: Girl boss? Not in THIS Era

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 1-10

Orphaned at a young age, Jane spends her first crucial developing years oppressed and dependent. Not to mention, her low social class just adds salt to the wound. But even when she had lost everything, Jane's mindset is a little bit different than what you'd expect from the traditional ideals of 19th century England.

To begin, I reviewed the ideals of a Victorian woman. In his book Victorian People and Ideas: A companion for the modern reader of Victorian Literature, Richard D. Altick features a very particular chapter titled "The Weaker Sex". This is where he describes the type of Victorian woman that appealed to society. While working my way through this chapter, I couldn't help but get caught up on the schooling "curriculum" that was fed to young, upper or upper-middle class girls. Because the patriarchy ruled, and still does to this day, women were speculated to have an inherently inferior brain. That being said, the idea of a woman with independent thoughts was ridiculous, comical even.

Well, though Jane is definitely not a pert of the upper or middle-upper class, she stayed with her rich aunt who expected nothing but submissiveness and compliance. So when Jane did not act as a servant, not only was she punished by being locked in the red-room, but her independence and ability to think freely eventually got her sent off to a charity "school".

Perhaps this wasn't such a bad thing. Sure it was unpleasant to be there, and disease riddled the school, and the girls starved, but Jane makes her first familial connections. Eventually when she leaves the school, however, Jane's natural instinct toward submission makes an appearance when she describes her new-found independence as a time to "seek servitude".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Literature in the Victorian Era | A Historical Overview

# data[].attributes.headline
February 11, 2021: Fly Little Birdie, Fly...

# data[].attributes.subject
February 11, 2021: Fly Little Birdie, Fly...

# data[].attributes.body
Chapters 1-10

The abundance of references to other books right off the bat seems to be Jane's form of escapism. A sad opening to the story introduces Jane Eyre with her nose in a copy of the History of British Birds by Thomas Bewick. She is not at all shy with the amount of time she spends marveling the pictures, cooking up mysterious stories, and imagining the arctic scenes. She nearly lost me in her imagination! But after giving this particular book some thought, it's oddly appropriate for Jane's introduction to feature birds. Of everything she could have read, why an informational report on birds? Well, as we all know, most birds possess an ability that other large animals on earth could only dream of: flight. Birds dominate the sky, flying through canyons, over the plain lands, and across the ocean. They have been gifted this innate freedom that make them so distinctly opposite from Jane's physical isolation.

But then again, could the birds represent Jane's independence? She may be physically trapped, but that seems to have allowed her mind to travel to the arctic on its own. Young Jane, when prohibited by her aunt from playing with her cousins, chooses to pick up a book as opposed to moping. This girl's mind is on the move! This foreshadows the unwillingness to tolerate abuse and mistreatment that she exhibits at Lowood school.

"The fiend pinning down the thief's pack behind him, I passed over quickly: it was an object of terror." (Brontë 15)