Literary Analysis Part Two: Jane Eyre

CHARACTERIZATION

1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

• The authors uses both approaches to let the author understand the change within the novel. I was able to understand how Jane thought as an individual and as a character in her life. She was expressed as an intelligent young lady, and the author was able to understand that through her actions.
• Examples of direct characterization:
  •  "John had not much affection for his mother and sisters, and an antipathy to me." (Ch. 1)
  • "John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old; four years older than I, for I was but ten" (Ch. 1)

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?

• The author's diction does change when she focuses on people like Bertha and Mr. Rochester. When introducing Bertha, Mr. Rochester's insane wife, the author hints out her presence by using Grace Poole as the cover up. She uses simple diction, but at the same time it gets you thinking. Her syntax leaves the author wondering about who the insane woman is, and if she exists as a person or monster. When the author introduces Mr. Rochester, the diction gets complex. Since he's represented as a wealthy man, the way he's talked about is intellectual and serious. She uses his character to represent the higher class and their dialect. 

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.

• Jane Eyre is the protagonist and I feel she's a dynamic character. She changes from this shy abused girl to a strong independent young lady.
  • "While arranging my hair, I looked at my face in the glass, and felt it was no longer plain: there was hope in its aspect and life in its color; and my eyes seems as if they had beheld the fount of fruition, and borrowed beams from the lustrous ripple." (Chapter 24)
• Jane Eyre is a round character because she changed personalities within the novel. She overcame the hardships at Gateshead Hall, Lowood and Thornfield by herself. She faced abandonment, neglection and imprisonment her entire life, but faced her problems and learned from her experiences. 

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

• It felt like I met Jane Eyre because of the problems she encountered. They were real situations involving the mistreatment within a family. Coming from a home that neglected her, Jane Eyre became a strong individual. She kept with her schooling and was successful with her career. Jane Eyre was belittled and mentally abused everywhere she went. Jane's motivation was discovered through the misery of her childhood, and the people who didn't believe in her only helped out her desire to be free.
  • "How dare I, Mrs. Reed? How dare I? Because it is the TRUTH. You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity. I shall remember how you thrust me back--roughly and violently thrust me back--into the red-room, and locked me up there, to my dying day; though I was in agony; though I cried out, while suffocating with distress, 'Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed!' And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me--knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who asks me questions, this exact tale. People think you a good woman, but you are bad, hard- hearted. YOU are deceitful!" (Ch. 4)
• Jane Eyre finally had enough of her Aunt Reed's cruelty. She was given the chance to stand up to her aunt and she took it. Like most, announcing she was threw with letting someone walk all over her was victorious then at the same time scary. 
  • "I was left there alone--winner of the field. It was the hardest battle I had fought, and the first victory I had gained: I stood awhile on the rug, where Mr. Brocklehurst had stood, and I enjoyed my conqueror's solitude. First, I smiled to myself and felt elated; but this fierce pleasure subsided in me as fast as did the accelerated throb of my pulses. A child cannot quarrel with its elders, as I had done; cannot give its furious feelings uncontrolled play, as I had given mine, without experiencing afterwards the pang of remorse and the chill of reaction." (Ch. 4)