Connecting+Jane+Eyre+to+the+REAL+World

//Section 1 (pgs. 1-52) #maanniego // "Isolation" by Vincent DiLeo is a painting from the real world that connects to the first section of Jane Eyre. The painting is of a tree reaching for the sky. It is surrounded by red grass and a trim of blue grass. Like Jane Eyre, the tree is isolated, standing alone in a sea of red, which for Jane Eyre is a sea of problems. The red grass could also represent the red room that she gets trapped in. The blue grass, on the other hand, represents Jane's silver lining in her life, which is when she finally gets to attend school and escape her problems at "home" with Mrs. Reed.

//Section 2 (pgs. 53-142) #RachelR981 // media type="custom" key="18608314" align="center" "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry is a recent song that describes the part of when Helen dies. The song talks about how if they did in fact die young, she would be content with it and how no one should be sad for her. Helen tells Jane how she's okay with dying, for she has nowhere to go after neither school nor any future in store for herself. Jane is still very sad, because she has developed a close friendship with Helen, and it's very sad to see her go.

//Section 3 (pgs. 143-234) #lindsiel96 // media type="custom" key="17394240" align="center" The first verse and chorus of "Survive" by Gabrielle is a song that can be tied to Jane's emotions towards Mr. Rochester. In this part of the song, the girl is singing about how she's in love but will try to hide it, and she misses him and needs him to be with her. Jane is falling in love with Mr. Rochester, but she tries not to show it because she doesn't think he could ever love her in the same way, and every time he goes away, she finds herself missing him more and more.

//Section 4 (pgs. 234-333) #giulid// media type="youtube" key="Nv4w9lgSP2g?rel=0" height="315" width="420" align="center" In the movie //Flowers in the Attic //, the mother locked her kids away in the attic of her parent’s house. She had to win back her father’s love, but he could never know about her children. So, she and her mother had a secret in the attic, just like Mr. Rochester has a secret in his attic. Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester’s wife who went crazy, was locked away and cared for in the attic. When the mother won her father’s love back and was put into the will, she was engaged to be married to Bart Winslow. However, the will said that if the mother had any children from her previous marriage, she would inherit nothing, so she started to poison her children so they would die and no one would know. Her children later found a way out of the attic and read the will. They showed up at her wedding and revealed her lies. Similarly in //Jane Eyre //, at Jane and Mr. Rochester’s wedding, Bertha’s brother showed up and revealed Mr. Rochester’s lies about a previous marriage which caused the wedding to be cancelled.

//Section 5 (pgs. 333-433) #Bonnie // The "madwoman in the attic" is one of the most famous incidents in Jane Eyre and has brought about many different interpretations. For example, Bertha Mason could represent that horrible and suppressive nature of Victorian marriage. Although Rochester claims to have imprisoned her because she is mad, it is very easy to imagine an opposite cause and effect, in which years of isolation and imprisonment drove her to insanity. Thus, this madwoman in the attic could represent the repressive acts of Victorian wifehood, that the lack of autonomy and freedom in marriage suffocates women, threatening their mental and emotional health. A physical example of this in the book would be when Bertha tears Jane's wedding veil, representing her revolt against the institution of marriage.