My Featured Novel

Jane Eyre

I. About the Novel

    Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Bronte. It was published on 16 October 1847, by Smith Elder and Co. of London, England, under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York.

   Primarily of the Bildungsroman genre, Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester, the Byronic master of fictitious Thornfield Hall. In its internalisation of the action—the focus is on the gradual unfolding of Jane's moral and spiritual sensibility, and all the events are coloured by a heightened intensity that was previously the domain of poetry—Jane Eyre revolutionised the art of fiction. Charlotte Brontë has been called the 'first historian of the private consciousness' and the literary ancestor of writers like Joyce and Proust. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel's exploration of classism, sexuality, religion, and proto-feminism.

Works Cited （参考文献）

"Jane Eyre." Jane Eyre. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre>.

II. Versions of the Novel in the Mass Media

There have been many versions of Jane Eyre in the mass media, including the following.

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1943 Jane Eyre (movie)

1983 Jane Eyre (TV mini-series)

1996 Jane Eyre (movie)

1997 Jane Eyre (TV movie)

2006 Jane Eyre (movie)

2011 Jane Eyre (movie)

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Works Cited （参考文献）

"Jane Eyre." IMDb. IMDb, n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. <http://www.imdb.com/list/ls003653027/>.

Jane Eyre Movie 2006. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biMmZ_7ZX4I>.

III. About the Author

   Born on April 21, 1816, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Charlotte Bronte worked as a teacher and governess before collaborating on a book of poetry with her two sisters, Emily and Anne, who were writers as well. In 1847, Bronte published the semi-autobiographical novel Jane Eyre, which was a hit and would become a literary classic. Her other novels included Shirley and Villette. She died on March 31, 1855, in Haworth, Yorkshire, England.

Early Life

   Writer Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England. Said to be the most dominant and ambitious of the Brontes, Charlotte was raised in a strict Anglican home by her clergyman father and a religious aunt after her mother and two eldest siblings died. She and her sister Emily attended the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge, but were largely educated at home. Though she tried to earn a living as both a governess and a teacher, Bronte missed her sisters and eventually returned home.

'Jane Eyre'

   A writer all her life, Bronte published her first novel, Jane Eyre, in 1847 under the manly pseudonym Currer Bell. Though controversial in its criticism of society's treatment of impoverished women, the book was an immediate hit. She followed the success with Shirley in 1848 and Villette in 1853.

Death and Legacy

   The deaths of the Bronte siblings are almost as notable as their literary legacy. Her brother, Branwell, and Emily died in 1848, and Anne died the following year.

In 1854, Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, but died the following year during her pregnancy, on March 31, 1855, in Haworth, Yorkshire, England. The first novel she ever wrote, The Professor, was published posthumously in 1857.

Works Cited （参考文献）

"Charlotte Bronte." Charlotte Bronte. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB>.

Charlotte Bronte. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2016. 

<http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-bront-11919959>.

IV. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - setting 設定　背景　場所

• 定義   In writing novel must indicate "Where is this place?", "When is this era?", "What is this historical background?" and "What is environment?". And novel will need era's atmosphere. Therefore, setting is important and necessary when reader imagine and read a novel. 

• 例    This novel setting is boarding school. Jane was orphan. This school's environment was dirty and used unhygienic food. So, typhus was prevalent in this school. Jane became tutor of Sorn Field maison. Jane and Mr.Rochester fell in love. But Rochester had wife.This historical background was Cristian doctrine. Bigamy was felony.　

• 略   I think this novel is well appear the situation and historical background at that time. 

B. Reaction Point - appeal 魅力、引き付ける

• 定義   What is appeal? Answer is reader attract by story, heroine or hero, and deployment of novel.

• 例 This novel is a first person narrative in write. First person narrative can feel with the heroine of a story. So, reader will feeling appeal.

• 略 I felt at the beginning, Jane childhood was unreasonable. And the story development that can draw you in. Because of I think this novel is first person narrative in write.

C. Reaction Point - cartharsis 感情の開放

• 定義 　Cartharsis is something that describes the psychology of human behavior. And cartharsis similar to appeal. Is the first person or the second person or the third person...？ And, in writing the novel must indicate a character "What was feeling?", "What a character want do?", and "What was thinking?" Accordingly,　the sentence can full of flavor.
  

• 例 This sentence is Jane's feeling.

"I felt cold and sad. I remembered my love for

Mr Rochester and the way he always spoke to me. 

St John was different. 

He wanted me to marry him, but not to marry him. He was a 

good man, but I did not love him."

• 略 I think this sentence is appeared Jane feeling.

D. My General Opinion

   I think this novel is classical and good love story. Jane Eyre isn't capture from property and social standing. So, I think she did freedom love. I like last scene. Mr.Rochester have lost his one hand and blindness. But Jane was married him. She indicated not even in failure in love. I think Jane is upright at heart and this novel is terrific love story...