Notes on Jane Eyre, Chapters 1-5 In this section, we first meet Jane at the age of ten. She is in a classic Cinderella / Harry Potter situation, an orphan mistreated by the relatives she lives with. During this section, the decision is made to send her to school, and Chapter 5 is her first day at school. Other notes may be found at http://n-foster.tripod.com/index_files/page0088.htm Chapter 1 Leafless shrubbery – a shrub is a small tree or bush, with no leaves because it is winter. Watch for leafless scenes in the rest of the book (9). “Cavillers or questioners” – A good example of a place where you can see what a word means from context. You can see that these words must mean close to the same thing, and you know what a questioner would be—so when reading a novel, pass on. Don’t worry about the exact meaning until the second reading, if you come to it (9). “window seat” (9): http://www.evekushner.com/img/post/4NewWindowseat.jpg 1
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Notes on Jane Eyre, Chapters 1-5
In this section, we first meet Jane at the age of ten. She is in a classic Cinderella / Harry Potter situation, an orphan mistreated by the relatives she lives with. During this section, the decision is made to send her to school, and Chapter 5 is her first day at school. Other notes may be found at http://n-foster.tripod.com/index_files/page0088.htm Chapter 1 Leafless shrubbery – a shrub is a small tree or bush, with no leaves because it is winter. Watch for leafless scenes in the rest of the book (9). “Cavillers or questioners” – A good example of a place where you can see what a word means from context. You can see that these words must mean close to the same thing, and you know what a questioner would be—so when reading a novel, pass on. Don’t worry about the exact meaning until the second reading, if you come to it (9). “window seat” (9):
www.istockphoto.com “Bewick’s History of British Birds”: A real book (1797-1804; p.10).
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ornithology/exh
ibit/exhibit3a.htmbibbild.abo.fi See http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/charweb/BEWICKSB.htm for a short essay on the signficance of this book in this novel.
Lapland, Siberia… Places in the far north, westward almost to Canada, and eastward almost to Alaska (10). Fiend: Devil. There are many devils, demons and fiends in this book (10). Pamela: A novel by Samuel Richardson (1740). Still famous (11). Henry, Earl of Moreland: The Fool of Quality, or the History of Henry, Earl of Moreland, a novel by Henry Brooke (1765-70). Not famous any more (11). Bilious: Full of bile, that bitter yellowish liquid in your stomach. By the ideas of the time, a person could have “too much bile” and this would affect both temperament and appearance. That is why he is sallow, or yellowish in his skin (11). Antipathy: A feeling of dislike. Compare “apathy,” “sympathy,” “empathy” (12). “The Roman emperors”: Certain Roman emperors were famously cruel, especially Nero and Caligula. Reputedly, Nero tried to drown his mother, failed, and then ordered his guards to club her to death (13). Goldsmith: Another eighteenth-century writer, still famous now. No one reads the History of Roman Emperors much, though (13). The books available to Jane seem to be rather old-fashioned for the time. Chapter 2 “Go to the poorhouse”: A poorhouse was a house where people with no money could live. These places were made intentionally unpleasant, because they then thought that lazy people would live without working unless the poorhouse were truly terrible (14). “God will punish her”: This is not the only time Jane is threatened with God’s punishment, and the use of religion to control the behaviour of a small girl is a significant topic here (15). “Something bad might be permitted to come down the chimney”: People thought demons were always trying to do harm, and that if God was angry, he might allow a demon to act as his agent of punishment. “and fetch you away,” that is, to Hell (15). Ottoman:
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www.newportleather.com “Ottoman” also refers to the Turkish empire (Look this up in Wikipedia). There are many references to Turks and Arabs in this book (16). “Revolted slave”: This continues the idea of the Roman Empire (where there were slaves and slave revolts), and looks forward to many references to modern slavery later in the book (16). Discord: In music, a combination of notes that doesn’t go together. There is a metaphor of music that continues in the idea of harmony (17). Scapegoat: In the Old Testament, a goat that ceremoniously receives all the sins of the people and is driven away (Leviticus 16). In common speech, a scapegoat is a person who is unjustly blamed for something (17). “That certainly was a crime.” In traditional Christianity, it is a sin to kill yourself, and if you do, you go straight to hell. Many churches still will not give a religious funeral to a suicide. Jane thinks it is a crime even to think about it (18). Artifice: Trickery (19). Species: Not the biological meaning we use today, but just “sort” or “kind” (20). Chapter 3 Ere: Before (21). Apothecary: A seller of drugs, less qualified than the physician or doctor who is called when one of the family is ill (21). “I wonder if she saw anything”: Bessie wonders whether she saw a real ghost (22). “A shock, on which I feel the reverberation to this day”: A metaphor. If one thing strikes another, there is a shock, and the sound of it may continue to echo after the shock is over. She says that this was such a great shock that the echoes have still not died for her (22). Unwonted: Unaccustomed, unusual (22). Wont appears in the same sense on the next page. Vain: Empty, useless (23). Gulliver’s Travels: Yet another eighteenth century book, Johnathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1735) is a political and social satire. Book One relates Gulliver’s arrival in Lilliput, where people are very small, and Book Two is the reverse, where people are very large. Jane, just like children today, ignores the political satire and just enjoys the images, like those below. Books Three and Four have other characters that Jane does not discuss.
Gulliver in Lilliput. An old book illustration. www.orwelltoday.com
Gulliver in Brobingnag (from a TV version) http://www.kate-maberly.com/gullivers_travles.html
“A pinch of snuff” Snuff is tobacco ground to a fine powder, which people breathe in through their noses. They keep their snuff in a decorated box (25). “Smile and frown at the same time”: Mr. Lloyd the apothecary represents a scientific world view. He thinks of ghosts as just stupid superstition (25). Bungle: To mess things up, do things wrong (26). Caste: A reference to the social system of India, where people are born into a caste or a class of people, who consider themselves higher or lower because of it. Traditionally, high-caste people will not touch people without caste, or even allow them to clean their house or make their food.
www.shalfleet.net/eastwight/brading.htm Accomplishments: Young ladies were expected to learn to draw, play music, speak French and sew (27). Guy Fawkes: In Shakespeare’s lifetime, a group of Catholics under the leadership of Guy Fawkes plotted to blow up the Parliament and King James with it. They were caught, and the explosion never happened, but the events are remembered. November 5th every year is Guy Fawkes Day, and people burn a cloth and paper “Guy.”
“Stirred my corruption.” Does Jane really think she’s corrupt, or is she using the word ironically? Or is there a split: the younger Jane who experiences these things believes she is corrupt, but the older Jane who writes these words doesn’t thinks so? (29) “Graven image”: One of many allusions to the Bible. A “graven image” is an image worshipped as a god, and this is a sin in Christian religion. Jane is suggesting lightly that she worshipped her doll as if it were a god, or at least she imagined that the lifeless thing were alive. The image of a ten-year-old girl as a hardened sinner is a strong one (31). Indifferent: Not especially good (31). Frost-flowers: Most of you have never seen this, but in cold weather, the ice makes patterns on windows that look like flowers (32):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Window-frost.jpg/800px-Window-frost.jpg Petrified: Turned to stone (32). Robin:
Sable-clad: Sable is a very expensive black fur. Here, it just means “black,” but the overtone of wealth is there (33) Orthodox: i.e. she is just saying what everyone says (34) “I must keep in good health, and not die.” Is this a straight answer, or is she saying something on purpose that is certain to annoy Mr. Brocklehurst? (34) Benefactress: “Bringer of good” in a feminine form (35). Revelations .. Daniel … Genesis … Samuel … Exodus … Kings … Chronicles … Job … Jonah. Books of the Bible. She seems to know it well, because she names here eleven of the fifty-two (there are two each of Kings and Chronicles). These are colourful parts of the Bible on the whole, with strong images like a man in the belly of a whale:
http://www.howardism.org/thoughts/images/JonahWhale.jpg All are in the Old Testament except Revelations, which is very colourful but very obscure. “Two nuts in recompense for his infant piety.” Clearly, the boy knows how to get two ginger nuts (cookies) in place of one. How is it that Mr. Brocklehurst does not see what the boy is doing? He tells the story as teaching how pious a child can be, but we see a child learning hypocrisy. This is a form of irony (35). “Humility is a Christian grace, and one peculiarly appropriate to the pupils of Lowood.” Mr. Brocklehurst is right that humility is a Christian principle, but the corruption here is in selectivity. He thinks he pupils of Lowood need to be humble, because they are poor, where he himself need not be humble, because he’s not poor (36).
“As if they had never seen a silk gown before.” Once again, we see through Mr. Brocklehurst’s words to a reality he does not see. If plain clothes are good for building good Christianity, how is it his own wife and daughters have silk gowns? Election: Equivalent here to “selection” (37). Ruth: Pity, sympathy. Now more common in the negative: “ruthless” (37). Tenantry: i.e. the people who paid her rent for the land that they farmed (37). “I will never call you aunt again as long as I live.” She will break this promise (38). Sotto voce: An Italian expression, fairly common in English writing: “In a low voice” (39). Vengeance. Revenge, which is a sin to many Christians (40). “I would fain” I would have liked (40). “onding on snaw” Apparently Scottish dialect for “tending toward snow,” but I don’t know why our author chooses this form in this place (40). Chapter 5 “It wanted but a few minutes of six” i.e. it was a few minutes before six (43). “Miss Miller’s bed-fellow.” People most often shared beds. This is not particularly a sign of poverty (46). Rush-light: A rush is a sort of plant that grows in swamps. Poor people burned them for light instead of candles, because they were free.
www.peatbog.co.uk/species/rushes/rushallies.htm Famine: In this context, just means “hunger.” Normally, a famine is a large-scale
food shortage, in which people die of hunger (48). Tucker: A detachable lacy bit at the top of a woman’s dress (49). “A highlander’s purse”: A sporran.
http://www.sportkilt.com/descimages/sporran.jpg “A considerable organ of veneration”: A way of speaking that derives from phrenology, the study of the shape of people’s heads to determine what their characteristics are. The brain, phrenologists thought, was where the personality is, and different parts of the personality or “faculties” live in different parts of the brain, or “organs” by analogy to the body. They thought you could tell which were most important by studying the bumps on the skull. Similar language appears throughout the novel (49).
http://finance.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/922917FE-7DAB-4FEA-BB0C-513C70A6457F/41310/480x640_verandaUoL.JPG “Mullioned and latticed windows”:
eyres.home.texas.net/NorthLees/NorthLees.htmYou can see the “church-like aspect” (51). “A connexion between the first words and the verse of Scripture.” The verse of the Bible seems to boast about the good work Naomi Brocklehurst has done in rebuilding this part of the school. Rasselas: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, a famous book by Samuel
Johnson (1759). Its topic is a failed search for happiness by a fictional prince of Ethiopia. Extracts from it are still included in standard anthologies of English literature (51). Genii: Genies, those magical spirits who come out of lamps and give you three wishes. Jane mentions reading “Arabian tales” on p. 40 (52).
