Jane Eyre seminar

Chapters 1-7

• How are Jane and the monster in Frankenstein alike? 
• How is the red room an emblem? (An emblem is a symbolic place or scene.)
• Jane is physically and emotionally abused. What social commentary is the novel making by presenting a world where children can be treated thus?
• How is Jane a romantic hero?
• Men and women fulfill traditional roles in the story, but sometimes they take on roles commonly associated with the other gender. Give examples, then consider the significance of these role reversals.
• The novel portrays a world of rigid class structure. What is the novel's opinion of that structure?

Chapters 8-15

• Analyze Helen Burns as a character and analyze her role in the novel.
• What unanswered questions and mysteries surround Mr. Rochester? 
• Celine Varens is another orphan girl in the story. Compare her to Jane Eyre as a child.
• Analyze the metaphorical values of being burned in one's bed. 
• As the narrator, Jane Eyre addresses the reader several times. What is the effect of this narrative device? (By the way, Dante does this several times as well.)

Chapters 16-30

• What elements of the Gothic are present in the novel?
• Jane continually dreams of a child. Interpret the dream. 
• Feminist literary criticism postulates that women are "marginalized" and "objectified" by a culture dominated by men. How does this idea apply to the novel? Pay as much attention to Bertha as to Jane. 
• Jane continually asserts her identity-- her sense of self, her integrity, her "self-esteem"-- throughout the novel. What challenges to her sense of self does she face?
• It is ironic that...

Chapters 31-end

• Compare Rochester and St. John. Their similarities are as striking as their differences. 
  
• Jane as narrator challenges the reader to evaluate the miraculous connection between Rochester and her. How does that evaluation affect your understanding of the novel?
• Some critics have questioned the ending of the novel. They assert that Jane has submitted to the patriarchy by marrying Rochester. Do you agree with this assessment?
• Why does St. John get the last word of the novel?