Wild sargasso sea - section one

In part one of Wild Sargasso Sea, we are told the story of Antoinette up untill the age of 17. She lives in Spanish town in the West Indies. Throughout Antoinettes childhood, she and her family suffer constant discrimination from the local people as she belongs to the family of an old slave owner. Eventually the local people force Antoinette and her family to flee from the town, by setting their house alight. Antoinette awakens in a school ran by nuns where she stays untill she is 17. Her mother is decending into madness.

From section one alone it is clear that there are distinct similarities between the characters Antoinette and Jane's childhoods. Firstly, the narrative voice in wide sargasso sea is Antoinette, so we are told every thought that Antoinette experiences, much alike Jane Eyre. The novel also starts off quite negative and there is a strong theme of isolation. It is clear that Antoinette and her family are very seperate to the rest of the towns people. Antoinette is often pushed away by her mother which is similar to Janes relationship with her aunt.

I found wild sargasso sea alot easier to read than Jane Eyre. The very long descriptions of setting and emotion Bronte uses gets quite tedious and in my opinion slows the story too much. I like how the novel progresses faster in wild sargasso sea, while still getting a good insight into Antoinettes thoughts and emotions.

Reading Journal 27-38

Jane wakes up to realise she must leave Thornfield. Mr Rochester catches her and tries to persuade Jane not to leave, and we learn abit more of Rochesters past. Jane is very sure that she must leave and so she does, despite her love for Rochester. Jane then finds herself alone wandering through the woods, when she comes across a small cottage, the Rivers house. She meets the Rivers, St John and his two sisters. Jane begins to start a new life with the Rivers and soon starts to forget about Mr Rochester, and gets on with her life. She is happy again. St John declares that he loves Jane, but Jane does not believe this as he barely knows her. Jane begins to work at a charity school and Rosamond Oliver provides Jane with her own cottage to live in. However Jane no longer enjoys teaching and discusses with St John, how it may be the wrong career path. Rosamond asks Jane to draw her her portrait and while doing so Jane talks to St John. She boldly suggests that he should marry Rosamond. John agrees he does like her, but would not be a suitable wife for a missionary. Something then catches St Johns eye on the corner of the paper, he tears a piece off and hurrys out of the room. One night St John meets Jane and tells her the story of a young governess, living at Thornfield. Who fled. Up to this point Jane had not revealed herself to the Rivers and had given a false second name. But St John was not fooled and knew it was her, he told Jane that the reason she was being looked for was because her uncle had died and left her the sum of 20,000 pounds. Jane gives in and admits to her name, and at this St John explained how he is in fact Janes cousin. Jane is overjoyed to know she has finally found true family members and decides to divide her inheritance equally amongst her new family. St John becomes colder in character as he finds out that Rosamond is engaged to another man, at this he asks Jane to come to India with him, become a missionary and marry him, she agrees to all except the marriage as she does not love him. For the next week St John persists on asking Jane to marry him. One night at dinner John says a prayer for Jane and Jane feels almost compelled to marry him, however she hears Mr Rochester calling from a great distance, she fears something terrible has happened.

23-26

Jane stays at Gateshead a month to accompany her cousin Georgina, who did not want to stay alone with Eliza whom she did not get along with. Eventually Jane returns to Thornfield where she meets Mr Rochester again and explains to him how she feels so at home whehn she is around him. Upon arrival at Thornfield Jane is greeted very warmly by Mr Fairfax and Adele. Jane feels at home. Two weeks go by and Jane accidently bumps into Mr Rochester in the gardens where they sit and talk. Mr Rochester explains how he does not actually love Blanche and infact loves Jane. He had been trying to make Jane jealous, or to see if she would react, to see if she did return Rochesters love. After a very unconventional proposal from Mr Rochester, Jane accepts and agrees to marry Mr Rochester.

Reading journal chapters 17-22

Summary
Jane hears that Rochester is to move away from Thornfield for around a year, when Rochester turns up at Thornfield with a number of guests. Blanche Ingram and her mother are amongst the guests and treat Jane cruely. Jane is forced to sit with them when she nearly bursts into tears and Rochester lets her leave. The guests stay at Thornfield a while and Jane decides that Rochester and Ingram are not in love. Mr Mason arrives at the house and Jane dislikes him for his slowness, but learns a little more about Mr Rochester and how he had lived in the west indies. A gypsie woman visits Thornfield one evening and tells the guests futures, Blanche is dissapointed. Jane then goes to get her fortune told, she learns she is very close to happiness, but soon finds out that the gypsie is in fact Mr Rochester in disguise. When Mr Rochester learns that Mr Mason had come he seems worried. That same night Jane is awoken by Mr Rochester running in the hallway, Jane goes out to find out what had happened and she is told to tend to Mr Mason who had been stabbed in the arm. Rochester tries to cover up the commotion by saying a servant had simply had a nightmare. Later that day Rochester tells Jane a story of a man who made an error in a foreign country and lives to redeem himself. Obviously telling the story of his own life he asks jane if marrying Blanche would make him happy. He hurries off before she can answer. Jane is having many dreams of young children and has learmed it is a bad omen, she then finds out that her cousin, John Reed has commited suicide and Mrs Reed is close to death. At this she goes back to gateshead and meet Bessie, her Aunt and her two cousins Eliza and Georgina. Jane tries to patch things up with her Aunt but she refuses. Jane learns that Mrs Reed had kept a letter from Janes uncle from her. The letter stated that Jane was to inherited a large sum of money. Jane made a last effort to make up with her aunt which was denied, and at midnight, Mrs Reed died.

I think that a theme of mystery comes up alot during these chapters. First we meet Mr Mason and wonder who he is, and why Mr Rochester acts so worried when he learns that he had arrived. We also want to know who the Gypsie is and what he had told Blanche. And finally we want to know what had happened to Mr Mason, that night he had been stabbed and why Jane was ordered not to talk to him.

Jane Eyre reading journal 10-16

Summary
Jane, after the event of Helens death, fastforwards eight years of her life and we learn that she has become a teacher at Lowood school. Conditions at the school have improved alot and Jane is enjoying herself alot more. However she decides she wants more in life and wishes to explore more of the world and decides to advertise for a new job in the paper. She obtains a new job at Thornfield and sets off. On arrival she meets Mrs Fairfax. Jane asks her many questions about Thornfield and about Mr Rochester. After a few weeks at Thornfield, Jane is sent on a errand where she bumps into Mr Rochester for the first time. At this point she does not know it is him. She helps Mr Rochester recover from slipping off of his horse. The next day Jane is called to dinner with Mr Rochester where he interrogates Jane on her background and education. He looks at her art portfolio. The way he speaks to Jane is very blunt and quite rude. After a busier time at Thornfield Jane is again called to dinner and we learn that Mr Rochester does infact enjoy Janes company. We learn abit more about Rochesters background and the background of Adele. We learn about his relationship with Celine Varens and how she had cheated on him, and now he were unsure whether Adele was his own. Later that evening Jane heres an evil laugh from outside her room, and when she feels it safe she has a look to find Mr Rochesters room set on fire. Jane saves Mr Rochesters life. It is presumed that it was the act of Grace Pool.

I think there is a strong theme of hope at the beginning of these chapters as Jane is staring out of her window at lowood, just thinking of the world and then decides to leave Lowood. She seems like she seeks adventure or more excitement in life. The description of Thornfield suggest Jane is going to like it there. Later we can how Jane can be naieve when handling matters in the outside world. "I had hardly ever seen a handsome youth..." This shows how little of the world she had seen.

She opens alot of the earlier chapters by talking directly to the reader. "And when I draw up the curtain this time reader- you must fancy you see a room in the George Inn at Millcote..." She addresses the reader directly as 'reader' for the first time in the novel and uses a more chatty tone.