Dan+&+Jane

Characters: - Jane Eyre: Governess, orphan - Rochester: Wealthy older man, married to Bertha, Jane’s employer, owner of Thornfield - Bertha: Insane, neglected, married to Rochester - Ms. Fairfax: Elderly housekeeper for Rochester - Grace Poole: a servant for Rochester - St. John Rivers: gives Jane good and shelter, Jane’s cousin - Mary and Diana: Jane’s cousins, St. John’s sisters - Blanche Ingram: contrast to Jane, beautiful and wealthy - The Reeds (Mrs. Reed, Eliza, John, Georgina): takes Jane in, treats her cruelly - Bessie: housekeeper for the Reeds, treats Jane kindly - Uncle John: gives Jane his money when he dies, ties her with the Rivers - Helen: Helen’s first friend, changes Jane’s outlook on life.
 * Jane Eyre (Jane)**

Summary: Jane is living at Gateshead with the Reeds, her relatives. Jane is reading when her cousin, John comes in and steals her book. Jane is blamed for their argument and put into the red room as her punishment. As Jane sits in the red room she sees a ghost, who she thinks is her Uncle Reed since he died in the red room. Jane begs and screams to be released but no one wants to help her. Mr. Lloyd, a doctor, suggests Jane should be sent to a school. Jane is interviewed by Mr. Brocklehurst; when he asks her about her religious views, Jane replies it is boring. Mrs. Reed is angry with her reply and Mr. Brocklehurst takes note of Jane’s opinions to inform the people at school. Jane reacts angrily towards Mrs. Reed, telling her she is not a liar. Bessie and Jane then have a conversation, where Bessie sings Jane songs and admits she likes Jane more than the other children. Jane arrives at her new school, Lowood on a rainy day. She spends her first day exploring the school and meets a friend, Helen Burns. Helen tells Jane Lowood is a school for orphaned children and gives her the gossip on the teachers. Jane and Helen become great friends; Jane admires the way Helen views herself and life although she is mistreated at Lowood. Mr. Brocklehurst comes back and Jane drops her slate from being nervous and is punished. Jane is made a fool at school and Helen is the only person who talks to her. Miss Temple also helps her get out of the punishment because she writes a letter to Mr. Brocklehurst and Jane is back in school. Lowood is very cold and there is a lack of food causing the students to be prone to disease. Many students get sick especially Helen. Jane and Helen have their last conversation; Helen says she is happy that the suffering will stop and as they are sleeping Helen dies. Jane picks up her story eight years later and has an investigation at the school about typhus, a disease. Mr. Brocklehurst is humiliated and loses his position at Lowood. Jane attends Lowood for another six years and teaches for two. Jane decides to leave Lowood and becomes a governess at Thornfield for a little French girl, Adele. Before she leaves for Thornfield, she receives news about the Reeds’ and how badly they turned out. She also finds out about her father’s brother, John Eyre has been looking for her. Jane arrives at Thornfield she meets Ms. Fairfax, the housekeeper, her new student Adele, and finds out about Rochester the owner of Thornfield. One day while she was venturing outside, a man riding a horse fell and Jane helped him, not knowing he was Rochester. Rochester started to bring people over to Thornfield, destroying the silence that took over the place. Jane and Rochester have tea; he interrogates her about her life and thinks she is average. Jane learns about Rochester from Ms. Fairfax who tells her Rochester inherited Thornfield when his brother died. Jane and Rochester begin to talk more often and he confines in her his secrets. Rochester explains he was in love with Adele’s mother and could possibly be Adele’s father although they do not look anything alike. While Jane is sleeping that night, she hears a loud laugh and sees smoke coming out of Rochester’s room. Jane throws water on his bed, waking him up. Rochester asks Jane not to tell anyone about the incident, blaming the accident on Grace Poole and says he must go up to the third floor. The next morning, she sees Grace cleaning his room and declares Rochester must have slept with his candle lit. Jane is confused because Grace does not seem to show any remorse for what she did and wonders why she didn’t get fired for it. Rochester is gone for several days and when he arrives, he brings Blanche Ingram. Jane is jealous since she is very plain and Blanche is beautiful. Jane’s feelings for Rochester become more intense. When Blanche is at Thornfield again Jane becomes depressed. Rochester sees that she’s upset and wonders why. Rochester sees tears in her eyes and makes her visit him in the drawing room every night. Rochester and Blanche are spending more time together and they seem to be a happy couple. Jane believes Rochester wants her for her beauty and she wants him for his money. Mr. Mason, a friend of Rochester, is staying at Thornfield and Jane doesn’t like him. At the party there is a gypsy woman who reads Blanche’s fortune; Jane is also forced to go. The gypsy reads that there will be good things in her future. The gypsy turns out to be Rochester. Later that night, Jane hears a scream and Rochester claims it was a servant but Jane doesn’t believe him. She follows Rochester to the third floor where Mr. Mason’s bleeding. Rochester and Jane take care of him and calls a surgeon. After Mr. Mason leaves Thornfield, Jane and Rochester talk a walk through the gardens and have a conversation about his marriage to Blanche then leaves. Ever since Mason left, Jane has been having dreams about having children and remembers Bessie telling her that it’s a sign of trouble. She has another dream about children the day she found out her cousin John died; Mrs. Reed had a stroke and is now asking for Jane. Jane goes back to Gateshead, her old home, to talk to Mrs. Reed. While Jane’s there she offers to draw her cousins, Eliza and Georgiana, pictures; this brings a conversation between them. Mrs. Reed gives Jane a letter from her Uncle John that was written three years ago stating he wanted to adopt Jane and leave her his fortune. Mrs. Reed didn’t give it to her when she received it because she hated Jane so much; Mrs. Reed dies that night. Jane stays at Gateshead for a month and helps her cousins before they leave. While Jane is at the Reeds Ms. Fairfax writes Jane a letter stating Rochester is in London buying a carriage for his wedding with Blanche. When Jane returns to Thornfield, she sees Rochester and he tells Jane she needs to leave Thornfield once he marries Blanche. Jane reveals her love for him and he asks her to marry him; Jane says yes. It starts to rain and lightning scares them and they go inside. Ms. Fairfax sees them together outside and is confused at what she sees. The next morning the tree in the garden is split in two. Jane is so happy and can’t believe that she’s going to be married to Rochester. Ms. Fairfax thinks their marriage isn’t going to work because of the differences in their age and social classes. Rochester brings Jane jewels and fancy things to dress her up in. Jane feels uncomfortable and writes a letter to her Uncle John regarding her inheritance so she can put forth money in her relationship with Rochester. That night Jane has a nightmare about children and how her veil was ruined by a beast; she wakes up the next morning to realize it wasn’t a dream because her veil is ripped and ruined lying on her floor. Rochester blames this incident on Grace Poole and promises to explain everything after they are married. On their wedding day Mr. Mason comes to stop the wedding, stating that Rochester is still married. Rochester takes Jane up to a secret room on the third floor and shows her Bertha and explains he only married her for her money since his dad left all his money to his brother. Jane realizes she can never be with Rochester because she is only his mistress and becomes depressed. That night she leaves Thornfield and arrives in Whitcross with no money and no where to stay. After a few nights of wandering around, she sees a house; it belongs to the Rivers family. They take her in and she helps out around the house and gets along with Mary and Diana Rivers. Later Jane gets a job running a school for poor girls in Morton. St. John Rivers tells his sisters their Uncle John died and left his fortune to them and another relative. Jane moved into the school’s cottage and feels proud of her work with the kids. After having endless dreams about Rochester, she wonders if she made the right decision in leaving Thornfield. St. John comes to talk to Jane while she draws and he rips off the edge of her paper and later declares he knows her true identity. St. John says they are cousins because his full name is St. John Eyre Rivers. Jane splits her inheritance with the three of them. One day when Jane is sick, St. John asks Jane to come to India with him to fulfill his dream and asks her to marry him describing the marriage as practical. Jane finally agrees to marry him. During one night she hears Rochester calling for her and feels she can break away from St. John and leaves the next day for Thornfield. She arrives at Thornfield to find that it is burned and ruined. She finds out that Bertha set it on fire last year and Rochester while saving all his servants especially Bertha lost his sight and one of his hands; he now lives in Ferndean with his servants. Jane rushes over to where he is and they are reunited. Jane tells him about her adventures; he tells her he’s sorry and that he called her name a few nights ago and thought he heard an answer. Jane and Rochester finally get married and he regains his sight after two years making him able to see his new born son.

Themes/ Motifs: - Duty vs. Passion: Jane is torn between her job and her feelings for Rochester - Love overcomes all: Jane and Rochester cannot be kept apart. - The supernatural: ghosts, hearing voices - Racism: Bertha’s kept in the attic. - Byronic hero: Rochester is a Byronic hero. He is dark, passionate, and mysterious.

Essay Questions: - Jane does not seem to be related to any social class. What are Jane’s opinions on the different social classes? - Does Jane make the right choice in choosing Rochester over St. John? Was it responsible to follow her heart? - There are a lot of drastic weather changes and descriptions in the novel, what is the significance of weather in Jane Eyre? - Does the supernatural exist or was it really love that brought Jane back to Rochester?

Characters
 * Wuthering Heights (Dan)**

__Heathcliff__ – adopted son of Mr. Earnshaw, sister to Catherine Earnshaw and Hindley Earnshaw. Marries Isabella Linton, raises Hareton Earnshaw. Hates both Hindley Earnshaw and Edgar Linton, makes it his life goal to get revenge on both of them.

__Catherine Earnshaw__ –Daughter of Mr. Linton, sister to Hindley and Heathcliff. Marries Edgar Linton, and gives birth to Catherine Linton.

__Mr. Earnshaw__ – Adopts Heathcliff, father to Catherine and Hindley, leaves his fortune to Hindley but it eventually winds up in Heathcliff’s hands.

__Hindley Earnshaw__ – Brother of Catherine and Heathcliff, son of Mr. Earnshaw. He gets married and has a son named Hareton Earnshaw. Hates Heathcliff and mistreats him when Mr. Earnshaw dies.

__Edgar Linton__ – Lives in Thrushcross Grange, brother to Isabella Linton, marries Catherine Earnshaw.

__Isabella Linton__ – Sister of Edgar Linton, she falls in love with Heathcliff, and they elope. Eventually she grows to hate him, and she leaves him while pregnant. She raises the child, Linton Heathcliff, away from Wuthering Heights.

__Linton Heathcliff__ – Son of Heathcliff and Isabella, he is very sickly and only lives with Heathcliff after Catherine dies. He is forced to marry Catherine Linton, and dies soon after. Used as a pawn by Heathcliff.

__Catherine Linton__ – Daughter of Edgar Linton and Catherine Earnshaw. She is tricked into marrying Linton Heathcliff, and is held captive at Wuthering Heights by Heathcliff when Linton dies. She falls in love with Hareton Earnshaw in the end.

__Hareton Earnshaw__ - Son of Hindley Earnshaw, he is raised by Heathcliff for the most part, and subjected to the same treatment that Heathcliff received from Hindley as revenge. He grows to be like Heathcliff, but he eventually falls in love with Catherine Linton and they marry.

__Mr. Lockwood__ – one of the narrators of the story, he is a tenant at Thrushcross Grange while Heathcliff is the owner of both after Edgar Linton dies. He tells things in the present, and relies on another narrator, Nelly Dean, to explain the events of the past to him.

__Nelly Dean__ – A housekeeper for both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange at different pints, she is the witness to the past events between Heathcliff and everyone else. She tells Lockwood of these occurrences during his stay at Thrushcross Grange.

Summary

Set in England between 1760 and 1810, this book takes place mostly in a country area in estates called Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. To start the story, Mr. Lockwood is a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange in 1801, and he stays at Wuthering Heights his first night with Heathcliff because Heathcliff does not want to go over to the Grange at the late hour. During that first night, Lockwood stays in Catherine Earnshaw’s old bedroom, and while there he sees a child’s ghost beckoning him to let her in. She begs him and he is frightened, so he breaks the window and rubs her arm on the broken glass to make the horrifying vision go away. Rightfully disturbed, when Lockwood goes to Thrushcross Grange the next day, he asks the maid there, Nelly Dean, to tell him of what has happened in that house. She tells Lockwood the story of Wuthering Heights during his stay at the Grange.

Heathcliff was adopted at a young age by Mr. Earnshaw, much to the chagrin of his son Hindley. Heathcliff was a very bright boy, and he was a great friend with Catherine Earnshaw. They stay close throughout Heathcliff’s childhood. However, he develops a love for her that is not just as a friend, and he begins to resent the fact that she is being courted by a young man over at Thrushcross Grange named Edgar Linton. At this same time, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Heathcliff’s favorable living conditions suddenly disappear because Hindley hates him. He is treated as a farmhand by Hindley, and becomes gradually more disgruntled and brooding. He accidentally overhears Catherine one day talking to Nelly Dean, and she says that she could never marry Heathcliff. He is offended and flees Wuthering Heights, not staying to hear Catherine say that it is because she loves him so much as a brother and friend. This devastates Catherine, but she eventually marries Edgar.

Three years later, Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights, suddenly very rich. He finds that Hindley is a drunk since the passing of his wife and birth of his son, Hareton, and that Catherine has married Edgar. He decides to focus his entire life to revenge on Hindley and Edgar. He takes advantage of Hindley’s constantly drunken state and tricks him into letting him have Wuthering Heights, and begins to visit Catherine at the Grange. Edgar can really do nothing to stop it, and during the course of his visits to the Grange, Edgar’s sister Isabella falls in love with Heathcliff. Heathcliff is not especially interested in Isabella, but he marries her and takes her to Wuthering Heights to live with him, where she quickly realizes that she has married a madman intent on ruining everyone around him. She communicates with Nelly Dean through a letter, and soon after Heathcliff visits Catherine at the Grange. Heathcliff and Catherine fight, and Catherine seems to be driven mad by the struggle between Edgar and Heathcliff for her love and affection. Soon after, she gives birth to Catherine Linton, and she dies in the process.

Driven to even more volatile behavior by Catherine’s death, Heathcliff becomes even more abusive toward Isabella. She leaves while pregnant, and gives birth to a son, Linton Heathcliff, after she leaves. Hindley dies soon after and Heathcliff becomes the sole owner of Wuthering Heights, left to brood for twelve years by himself until he finds out that Isabella has died and that Linton is living with Edgar over at the Grange. He takes Linton back to Wuthering Heights, and forces him to live there despite the fact that the boy is sickly and hates it there. He arranges for Linton and Catherine Linton to meet for “playdates” and he tries to persuade her to marry Linton. He does this so that he can have possession of Thrushcross Grange as well as Wuthering Heights. Catherine refuses, so Heathcliff kidnaps her and forces the marriage. Edgar Linton is devastated and dies soon after, followed by the frail Linton Heathcliff. Catherine is miserable and she is alone, living with Heathcliff and Hareton, who is just like Heathcliff. Hareton was raised by Heathcliff the way that Hindley treated Heathcliff, again strictly because Heathcliff is hell bent on revenge.

However, while Catherine stays at Wuthering Heights, she gradually falls for her cousin Hareton. The two grow close, much like Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw did, and they get married. Heathcliff locks himself in his room for a few days, and then he comes down in a good mood, and dies soon after, having come to terms with the marriage. Only Hareton mourns Heathcliff, and his body is buried nest to Catherine Earnshaw.

Themes Motifs

Unrequited Love Names of characters Revenge Repetition Desperation Nature and Setting Class and Race Conflicts