My second extra blog is about Mr. Edward Rochester, from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Mr. Rochester was the man that Jane fell in love with and eventually married. He was not the most stunning man in the world, and certainly no prince charming, but he captured Jane’s heart nonetheless. He is a rough looking and stern, but Jane falls for him due to his promise to love her and give her a home. Mr. Rochester was married, even after meeting and falling for Jane, but due to the fact that his wife has gone crazy, he no longer thinks of her as a wife. He even keeps her locked up in a room in his house! How rude! He constantly flirts with Blanche Ingram, even while being “in a relationship” with Jane, but he only does it to make Jane jealous. He eventually does propose and on the day of their wedding, his secret is let out that he is already married. Because he kept this secret, Jane gets very angry with him and leaves, heartbroken. When Mr. Rochester grows sick, Jane returns to him, and forgives him for what he did. The two get married and grow old, living happily ever after.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Extra Blog #2 - Jane Eyre's Mr. Rochester
Extra Blog #1 - Jane Eyre's Mrs. Reed
I wanted to use one of the remaining blogs to talk about Jane Eyre’s very own Mrs. Reed specifically. Mrs. Reed is Jane’s mean and cruel aunt. She is not biologically related to Jane, but she is Mrs. Reed’s husband’s sister’s daughter, so therefore, her aunt. The reason that she hates Jane so much is because she was forced by her husband’s death wish that she always take care of Jane. She also does not like Jane because Mr. Reed loved her more than their own children. She spoiled her own children and hated on Jane, treating her like garbage. She never thought of Jane as one of her own, she hardly thought of her as a child at all. She sent Jane away to school partially because that seemed to be what Jane wanted, not that she really cared, and that way she wouldn’t have to deal with her. Mrs. Reed never realized what horrible, rude children she had until John tried to use all of her money to gamble. After she said no and he killed himself, she realized how horrible she was to Jane and wanted to try and make up for it. She couldn’t make up for it, and she died shortly after.
Italo Calvino's "Why Read the Classics?" - Question #8
My reaction to Italo Calvino’s essay was definitely an emotional one. I understand now that it is very important to have classics in your life, and that we should reread them over and over to fully understand them. “Why Read the Classics?” was written in a casual enough way that it could be read aloud and seem as if it was just coming from the mouth of a man who really knows his classics. Which, Calvino really does! It seemed as if he was just having a conversation with us. At the end, Calvino even confessed to messing up, and considered rewriting the essay because of it. “Now I ought to rewrite the whole article making it quite clear that the classics help us understand who we are and the point we have reached-.” As I read that, I remember actually laughing for a second. I really enjoyed how the essay was organized, because I am a list kind of person. Since this essay was written largely in the form of a list, I was able to follow it nicely and I actually enjoyed it. He had amazing explanations that were not hard to follow, and the definitions he was explaining made sense also. I enjoyed this essay a lot and I slightly want to go read a classic now.
Italo Calvino's "Why Read the Classics?" - Question #7
I believe that Italo Calvino has a lot of authority in his essay, “Why Read the Classics?”. This is partially because he is the author of the essay, so technically he is in control of anything and everything he writes in it. Within the essay, he still does seem to have a lot of authority. He has the authority to persuade us to read the classics because he knows so much about them. I believe that anyone who devotes that much of their life to reading, studying, and understanding the classics of ancient times to more present times deserves to have all the authority when it comes to that topic. Going back to how the essay was organized, Calvino had a lot of expertise on his subject of classics (giving him authority when that subject is involved), so he was able to arrange his essay in the way that he did. His authority and expertise over the subject of classics caused him to be able to speak in a casual way, as if he was talking to you in person, or giving a speech without needing to read from a paper. “Put up your hand anyone who has read the whole of Herodotus and Thucydides.” (Calvino 3). It really seems as if this essay was meant to be read allowed to some sort of a conference or other large group of people. He is able to do this only because of his authority over the subject.
Italo Calvino's "Why Read the Classics?" - Question #6
Calvino Italo did not have a true introduction paragraph like most essays do, but the beginning of his essay started with him saying, “Let us begin by putting forward some definitions.” (Calvino 3). His way of introducing his essay was by putting a different definition for every section of it. He would put a definition for classics, then take his time explaining it so the readers would understand it, and then once he was done, he would put another definition and repeat the cycle.
The way that Calvino concludes his essay is by summarizing his entire essay’s meaning. He takes from the explanations of each of his definitions and merges them together for easy understanding. He even went out there and told us casually that we must read the classics instead of not reading them. “The only reason that can be adduced in their favour is that reading the classics is always better than not reading them.” (Calvino 9). If that is not summarizing, then I do not know what is. After wards he concluded his entire essay with a quote, “While the hemlock was being prepared, Socrates was learning a melody on the flute. ‘What use will that be to you?’, he was asked, “At least I will learn this melody before I die.’” (Calvino 9) I really love it when authors end or start their works with a quote. I am not exactly sure why, but it is always a nice touch.
Calvino, Italo. "Why Read the Classics?" Why Read the Classics? London: Vintage, 2000. 3-9. Print.
Italo Calvino's "Why Read the Classics?" - Question #5
Calvino’s “Why Read the Classics?” was organized unlike most essays that we would normally read. Essays usually start out with an introduction and then their body paragraphs build up according to importance, and then they have the conclusion. This essay was different. It was organized as if it was a list, which it was. He used the fourteen definitions of ‘classics’ and scattered them about his essay, but gave each one an explanation. A few times during the essay, the definitions only had one-sentence explanations instead of a few paragraphs explaining it, but besides that difference, the essay’s organization is pretty much repetitive. Definition. Explanation. Definition. Explanation. For the climax of the essay, Italo Calvino uses a mixture of the fourteen definitions to summarize the points of the entire essay. His points ended up merging into the overall point that classics are important to have in your life because they can greatly affect the way you understand life. Like I said earlier, this essay was organized not with a typical introduction and conclusion with paragraphs in-between, but as a giant list with explanations for each definition that all built together the climax. I enjoyed this essay also because of its different style of organization.
Italo Calvino's "Why Read the Classics?" - Question #4
I enjoyed Italo Calvino’s “Why Read the Classics?” a lot, because I could easily understand what he was trying to explain throughout it. I loved how he had an explanation for each of the fourteen definitions he had for the word classics. My favorite of the definitions was the first one, “The classics are those books about which you usually hear people saying: ‘I’m rereading…’, never ‘I’m reading…’” (Calvino 3). In that one definition I can see that it is a lot better to reread classics instead of tossing them aside after one time. Also, “A classic is a book which has never exhausted all it has to say to its readers,” is a great definition that I found appealing. It is a very true statement because classics, as stated by him, are different each time we read them. “Reading a classic must also surprise us, when we compare it to the image we previously had of it.” (Calvino 5). Every time we read a classic, whether it’s the second, third, or fourth, etc. time, we come at it knowing what it will be about. After reading it, we will find new things about it that we never noticed before that will affect our lives. Those were only two of the many things I found appealing about this essay.
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