Jane Eyre Blogging

Here are links to last year's Jane Eyre blog comments. I think you'll find it helpful to take a look. I invite you to respond explicitly to points made by last year's class. (Make sure you give credit where credit is due.)

Jane Eyre chapters 1-16
Jane Eyre chapters 17-26
Jane Eyre chapters 27-38

& here you'll find commentary by my friend Mr. Gallagher's Malden High AP students about the end of Jane Eyre. (You'll notice we talked about many of the same issues today in class. Notice how many of them have taken ideas and have developed them.)

The student-led and teacher-led in class discussions provide opportunities for you to display your knowledge of the particulars of the text (what is written and how it is written) and to speculate about what it means and why that meaning is significant. In other words, offer assertive, insightful interpretations of what you have read and support your interpretations with evidence from the text. That's what AP lit is all about.

I then evaluate whether you've met expectations by showing a reasonable, plausible understanding of the text, have exceeded expectations by showing a convincingly thorough and thoroughly convincing understanding of the text, have fallen short of expectations by offering a limited or partial understanding of the text, or have show little to no understanding of the text.

As I've started to look over my discussion notes many of you have offered limited understanding or no understanding during class discussion. Blog!

Jane Eyre 36-38 (conclusion)

What do you make of the end? Much has been written. Much has been said in response to the novel's tidy but unsettling conclusion. Let's look closely. Like chapter 26 the final several chapters reshape how we make sense of what we have already read. Earlier there is a turning away; here there is a turning toward. What do we make of it in terms of what the end says about passion, morality, the social order (& the natural order for that matter), fulfillment of the self, etc.?

Jane Eyre 27-36

We must discuss the relationship of these Moor House chapters with the preceding chapters. How do these chapters comment indirectly on previous characters and events? We should pay particular attention to what these chapters suggest about passion, morality, social context, and the self. More broadly let's see if we can puzzle out how these chapters are necessary for the novel as a whole.

Jane Eyre 26

We discussed chapter 26 as a turning point in the novel. We looked back upon the earlier Thornfield chapters through 26 and investigated how the events of 26 change (and in many cases confirm) what we thought about characters, events, and themes. We also thought about what might happen next, keeping in mind that Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman: where might Jane's identity development and relationship with the social order be headed in the subsequent chapters?

Jane Eyre 17-25

We've discussed characterization, narration, plot structure, and imagery in these chapters.

Jane Eyre 11-16

How is the way Charlotte Bronte introduces Rochester significant?
How is the way Charlotte Bronte introduces Grace Poole significant?

Respond to one prompt in class (timed AP-style passage analysis essay) on Friday, September 11, 2009. Due 9/11/09 2:07.

Respond to the other prompt at home. Post below 9/14/09 11:59.

Focus on how the choices Bronte makes and the techniques Bronte uses, while introducing these characters, are significant. This is a low-stakes assignment we are practicing this sort of AP-style writing while also learning about literary techniques and author's purpose.

Jane Eyre 1-10

Gateshead and Lowood.

Focus on narration, characterization, plot logic and patterns, and suggestive & symbolic imagery.

Student-led discussion Tuesday 9/8.
Follow-up discussion Wednesday 9/9.