My Featured Novel

 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I. About the Novel

Written in 1847, this novel remains a favorite, especially among younger readers and listeners who continue to be entranced by the young Jane and her mysterious Mr. Rochester. The story of an unhappy orphan and her life as a governess at Thornfield is filled with difficulty, including a shocking revelation on her wedding day. The happy ending finally arrives, though, and Jane and Rochester are united forever. Long criticized as being melodramatic and contrived, Jane Eyrehas nonetheless become a romantic classic and is often the book that introduces students to serious literature.

 The plot of Jane Eyre follows the form of a Bildungsroman, which is a novel that tells the story of a child’s maturation and focuses on the emotions and experiences that accompany and incite his or her growth to adulthood. In Jane Eyre, there are five distinct stages of development, each linked to a particular place: Jane’s childhood at Gateshead, her education at the Lowood School, her time as Adèle’s governess at Thornfield, her time with the Rivers family at Morton and at Marsh End (also called Moor House), and her reunion with and marriage to Rochester at Ferndean. From these experiences, Jane becomes the mature woman who narrates the novel retrospectively.

Works Cited （参考文献）

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jane-eyre-charlotte-bronte/1116670758?ean=9780141441146

"JANE EYRE." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

II. Versions of the Novel in the Mass Media

・Movie Version
　Jane Eyre (2011)
Jane Eyre is a 2011 British romantic drama film directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. The screenplay is written by Moira Buffini based on the 1847 novel of the same name by Charlotte Brontë. The film was released on 11 March 2011 in the United States and 9 September in Great Britain and Ireland.

Mia Wasikowska starred as the title character and Michael Fassbender as Edward Rochester. Fukunaga and the producers wanted an actress close to Jane Eyre's age in the novel, in contrast to many previous versions. Fukunaga liked Wasikowska's "sense of observation in her eyes" and that "[she] could communicate [Jane's inner turmoil] in a way that didn't feel theatrical".  He felt her looks could be played down as required for the role. On casting Rochester, the director stated that while there were actors closer in appearance, he felt Fassbender had the spirit of the character.

Works Cited （参考文献）

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre_(2011_film)

III. About the Author

Charlotte Brontë (April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855) was an English novelist, the eldest sister of the remarkable Brontë family, which also included the novelists Anne and Emily Brontë. Along with her sisters, Charlotte Brontë was one of the foremost Romantic novelists to write in English. While the realism of Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert was still developing, English writers continued writing in the vein laid down by such fanciful and melodramatic authors as Charles Dickens and Walter Scott. The presence of the supernatural and the melodramatic in Brontë's novels most owe their debt to this tradition as opposed to those of her close contemporary Jane Austen, who attempted to stay as far from sentiment as possible. But she is, in many ways, a much more fascinating author than many of those same Romantic novelists from whom she learned her craft. Charlotte Brontë is, like her sisters but unlike most other authors of early nineteenth-century England, acutely aware of the limitations of Romantic thought and her novels attempt again and again to place her characters in situations of extremity in order to expose all the problems and paradoxes of the society in which they exist. Her most famous character, the eponymous Jane Eyre, does not fit the heroine mold. "Plain" Jane is not a striking beauty, but has a strength of spirit that may be unparalleled in its time, save for some of Austen's characters. Charlotte's characters in this regard are remarkably similar to Jane Austen's despite their sharp differences in tone and style. Like Austen, Brontë is one of the most important and most powerfully insightful authors of the early nineteenth century.


http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB

IV. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - Setting(設定、背景、場所）

• Setting is the time, place and / or situation in which a story take place.
• The time of story is early 19th century. The place is mainly Thornfield. The situation is a love story between Jane and Mr. Rochester.
• I think Thornfield is mysterious atmosphere, so it match this story.

B. Reaction Point - protagonist（メインキャラクター）

• Protagonist is main character.
• This story's main character is Jane Eyre. She is young orphen because she was kicked out by her cruel, wealthy aunt. Afterthat, she work as a governess at Thornfield. And she fall in love with Mr.Rochester there.
• I think she haven't loved someone because of her painful experience. But by meeting Mr. Rochester, her life changed and she could love him.

C. Reaction Point - Theme（主旨、主題）

• Theme is the central message or moral of a story.
• This story's theme is new image for women. There was a difference of rank or property, but they were able to marry.  This free marraige is epochal thing in literature of Victoria dynasty.
• I think Jane Eyre who is main character is the admiration of women of the day.

D. My General Opinion
I think this story has both tragic and comic factors. For example, the tragic factor is that Helen Burns who is Jane's best friend in Lowood Institution died of tuberculosis. This model is the author's older sister. And comic factor is that Jane and Mr. Rochester married. In this way, a part of this story based on the author's experience, particularly, there are in tragic factors. So, Charlotte Bronte wanted to make happy ending. I think this story is the best love story.