Over time there have been many fictional books written that have affected history and still have an effect on today’s world: Harriett Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. These are just a few of the many books that have made a historic effect on the world according to Daniel S. Burt’s book The Literary 100 a ranking of the most influential novelist and play writes of all time. Another book that can be added on to this list is, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Bronte has been referred to as “the first historian of the private consciousness” (Burt, 224). Written in 1847, Jane Eyre, has been made into multiple movies, a musical, and even a short TV series. After all this
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In her novel, Bronte shows aspects of the reader response theory, different historicism & cultural studies, and traits of feminism.
Jane Eyre can be analyzed using reader response theory. Which suggest that the meaning behind a book is decided by the reader themselves rather than the writer of the book. In other words, the reader’s past experiences and what they are doing as they read can affect greatly how they read and how they find meaning in the reading (Alton, Reader Resp., 1). There are three different types of readers in reader response theory: the informed reader, who has some type of background, the implied reader, who has some type of awareness of the text, and the ideal reader, who has both background and awareness of the text (Alton, Reader Resp., 1). Before reading Jane Eyre, the reader could look and apply these three terms, and the reader response theory to the text. For example, knowing that the setting of Jane Eyre is a form of an implied reader. Throughout the book Jane travels to many places on the north side of England, places such as Derbyshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Also being familiar with the different classes of people …show more content…
Back in the mid-18 women had a few of the rights that white men had; however, they were still treated with little or no respect. “Women were considered physically weaker, yet morally superior to men” (Hughes, 2). This was clearly shown in Jane Eyre. Throughout her whole life, Jane struggled to find her place in the world, from living in a home where nobody wanted her, to a school where she was an outcast, Jane really struggled at the start of her life as a child. All her life Jane wanted to be treated equal, and as she grew older this feeling only grew greater and started to become a need, “I am no bird; no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will” (Bronte, 293). When she meets Mr. Rochester and falls in love with him, she does not let his class status and his wealth affect her feelings for him, they just happen, “I have told you, reader, that I had learnt to love Mr. Rochester: I could not unlove him now” (Bronte, 215). Most under or middle class women this time would take one look at Mr. Rochester and know that he is out of reach and just move on, not Jane, she did not care how high Mr. Rochester was, she loved him and she did not care what society thought she was going to marry him. Also the way that Jane saw herself could be a feminist outlook, “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the
In her novel, Bronte shows aspects of the reader response theory, different historicism & cultural studies, and traits of feminism.
Jane Eyre can be analyzed using reader response theory. Which suggest that the meaning behind a book is decided by the reader themselves rather than the writer of the book. In other words, the reader’s past experiences and what they are doing as they read can affect greatly how they read and how they find meaning in the reading (Alton, Reader Resp., 1). There are three different types of readers in reader response theory: the informed reader, who has some type of background, the implied reader, who has some type of awareness of the text, and the ideal reader, who has both background and awareness of the text (Alton, Reader Resp., 1). Before reading Jane Eyre, the reader could look and apply these three terms, and the reader response theory to the text. For example, knowing that the setting of Jane Eyre is a form of an implied reader. Throughout the book Jane travels to many places on the north side of England, places such as Derbyshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Also being familiar with the different classes of people …show more content…
Back in the mid-18 women had a few of the rights that white men had; however, they were still treated with little or no respect. “Women were considered physically weaker, yet morally superior to men” (Hughes, 2). This was clearly shown in Jane Eyre. Throughout her whole life, Jane struggled to find her place in the world, from living in a home where nobody wanted her, to a school where she was an outcast, Jane really struggled at the start of her life as a child. All her life Jane wanted to be treated equal, and as she grew older this feeling only grew greater and started to become a need, “I am no bird; no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will” (Bronte, 293). When she meets Mr. Rochester and falls in love with him, she does not let his class status and his wealth affect her feelings for him, they just happen, “I have told you, reader, that I had learnt to love Mr. Rochester: I could not unlove him now” (Bronte, 215). Most under or middle class women this time would take one look at Mr. Rochester and know that he is out of reach and just move on, not Jane, she did not care how high Mr. Rochester was, she loved him and she did not care what society thought she was going to marry him. Also the way that Jane saw herself could be a feminist outlook, “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the