Mr. Brocklehurst is a Mouth Breather
In Jane Eyre, the narrator is presented as being isolated from the rest of her peers both physically and mentally. When she is caught "lying" by Mr. Brocklehurst, she is told to stand on a stool for half an hour, alienating her from the rest of the students. Other than Helen (due to sneakiness), she is forced to receive no other contact from any of her peers. This punishment comments on how disobeying an adult can be seen as villainous, rather than in today's society, disobeying an adult demonstrates a lack of maturity. This shows how much power adults had over children, and how structured this society was, where even mistakes can be seen as antagonistic.
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| Mr. Brocklehurst is in fact a mouth-breather. Also, I freaking love Stranger Things. |
Mr. Brocklehurst calling her out in front of her entire class and then forcing her to stand at the front of the class, demonstrates how alienation can be a punishment in itself. The narrator comments that she felt like a "slave or a victim" when she was placed in front of the room due to the looks she was receiving. This shows how much people relied on others' approval in their society. This could be said about today's society as well, with the popularization of social media, where someone's relevance and popularity is statistically shown to the entire world on everyone's profiles.
Other than the narrator, there was one other character being alienated, and that was the curly red-haired student. Mr. Brocklehurst called her out in front of the whole class due to the attention her hair was attracting (by the way, I do not tolerate bullying gingers). He then ordered that a barber come to the school and have her hair be cut so that it is less eye-catching. At first, I thought that this reflected on the modesty of society as a whole, until Mr. Brocklehurst's family enters the classroom wearing "velvets, silks, and furs." I think that modesty is still enforced upon society, especially upon women, but wealth is also praised in society. Basically, if it concerns money, the ideology is: "If you've got it, flaunt it!"
Overall, the alienation presented in this chapter of Jane Eyre captures the amount of authority adults have over children, how much others' acceptance matters to the individual, and how modesty is enforced upon middle and lower class individuals.
HE IS FOR SURE A MOUTH BREATHER!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI really loved your analysis of this story because you not only talked about who was being alienated but you related it to todays society in a really interesting way (the social media part). When you discussed the part about Julia and how she was alienated from everyone else I really liked how you incorporated the part about Mr. Bocklehurst family and how wealth was praised (I didn't catch on to this in my analysis). I agree with it completely especially how they are in a school for the orphaned and they walk in wearing clothing no one else could buy and they so happen to be the supervisors children. Your last paragraph was also well done. In todays society kids are suppose to look up to their elders and do as they tell them and I think this story portrays that perfectly. GOOD JOB!!!!!
I liked your comment about how disobeying an adult was seen as villainous in the story, but in modern society it is more seen as immature. I never really thought about it like that but I agree. I think you could have analyzed this concept a little bit more just to show the contrast of the literature to real life. I'm a little confused about how she relied on others' approval; was it because of the reaction she got from other students while she was standing on the chair? I also agree with your analysis of wealth playing a big part in how the kids are treated. They were supposed to dress modestly and not call any attention to their looks, yet Mr. Brocklehursts' family came dressed very fancily. Also, I haven't seen Stranger Things so I feel left out of the joke :/
ReplyDeleteOlivia this is great!!! like stated above the comment you made about how being disobedient in the story and in real life was interesting and something we could all relate to and understand. The author chooses to give an excess amount of power to the adults in this story even though they are in the wrong leaving the children alone with no where to turn to :'( SO sad, all in all your analysis was great you touched on a lot of aspects and ideas that nobody really mentioned throughout their blog posts, really enjoyed reading your thoughts and I totally agree he is a mouth breather.
ReplyDeleteGood Job! I liked how you compared the action of disobeying an adult in the writing to in modern times. I thought that showed an interesting difference in societies, but I think it is important to note that just being looked at as immature may just be American culture; the punishment for this action may change around the world. You did a really good job though of making your claim of how alienation was shown and its effect. It was very easy to follow, and you used good evidence.
ReplyDeleteOkay first of all, I LOVE the Stranger Things reference. Bonus points for that. Second, I'm curious as to why "lying" is in quotes. I used a freebie so I could probably read but it's still intriguing. I like how you connected or compared everything to today's society as well. The idea of a child's disobedience being villainous is so strange because sometimes they don't know any better, hence why disobedience is now regarded more as a lack of maturity. That was some food for thought for me. As was the idea of being alienated for uncontrollable things, like hair, but not for flaunting wealth, and I like how you interpreted that as forcing modesty on lower classes. I can tell from this that Mr. Brocklehurst is a total mouth breather...
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