Critical Lens Essay-Jane Eyre and Catcher in the Rye.

It was in this tale that Odysseus is trapped in a cave by a menacing cyclops, known as Polyphemus. In an attempt to escape the young hero feeds the cyclops wine till he becomes drunk and finally passes out. Of that moment Odysseus takes his chance and stabs the giant in the eye. Preceding events then occur allowing for the hero to escape. Jane in this moment is on guard, not wishing people to discover wither her past or her true identity. She originally seemed perfectly content to tell them almost nothing. It isn’t until St. John says that he must know her history or else he cannot help her and that he will aid her to the utmost of his power that she finally obliges. This allusion stresses the fear she has of being found out and foreshadows that her telling this story or becoming close to this family will result in a blow. It is ironic, however, that unlike Polyphemus, Jane is rewarded for putting her guard down. In telling her story to her saviors, St. John is able to conclude her true identity and she collects freedom and happiness in her new found fortune and familial

“Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, or creed.

In the novel, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, setting is used throughout the novel to illustrate the development in the character. The novel is revolved around five separate locations, ; the Reed family's home at Gateshead, the wretched Lowood School, Rochester's manor, Thornfield, the Rivers family's home at Moor House, and Rochester's rural retreat at Ferndean, these settings all play a very important part in Jane’s life as they all represent the development of Jane’s character and the different period’s of her eventful life.

Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.

Everyone has to grow up at some point in life, but one must face different challenges and obstacles to get there, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger shows this idea. The novel takes place around the 1950s and is written in the perspective of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who struggles with moving into the adult world after the death of his younger brother Allie. He faces difficulties trying get there when he is kicked out of his fourth boarding school after failing four out of five classes, but he is not scheduled to come home to Manhattan until 3 days later. Holden soon decides that he has had enough of Pencey Prep and will go to Manhattan early, without the knowledge of his parents, leaving him to face New York on his own. The Curious

On page 83, Mr. Rochester has a “massive head”, “granite-hewn features” , “great dark eyes” and fine eyes too”. The reader is supposed to think of him as someone who is a predator towards Jane because of his mean looking and dark features and because of Jane’s past experience with men in power. Readers are supposed to be wary of Mister Rochester.

Through a close reading of the selected passage of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, a reader can see that Jane attempts to separate herself from her decisions by personifying her emotions and giving them a specific voice, which strongly reflects the societal views of the time. At this point in the story, Jane has discovered, on her wedding day, that Mr. Rochester is still married to a woman named Bertha, and that woman still lives in his house. Distraught, Jane locks herself in her room and tries to decide what she should do. When she wakes up the next day, she is again confronted with what she needs to do in the wake of her discovery.

Based on the ideas of Karl Marx, this theoretical approach asks us to consider how a literary work reflects the socioeconomic conditions of the time in which it was written. What does the text tell us about contemporary social classes and how does it reflect classism? Jane Eyre depicts the strict, hierarchical class system in England that required everyone to maintain carefully circumscribed class positions. Primarily through the character of Jane, it also accents the cracks in this system, the places where class differences were melding in Victorian England. For example, the novel questions the role of the governess: Should she be considered upper class, based on her superior education, or lower class,

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë depicts the rigid social structure and clear division between the upper and lower classes of Victorian society, in which wealth and status determined one’s beliefs, career, and treatment from those surrounding them. Those of the upper class did not typically converse or involve themselves with those viewed as beneath them; however, Jane Eyre fights the separation between the classes to which she has fallen victim at both Gateshead and Lowood school. Her refusal to conform to the hierarchy eventually leads to the meddling between the Victorian-era elite and peasant class, as seen through Jane Eyre’s romantic relationship with Edward Rochester, an upperclassman and

Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre embraces many feminist views in opposition to the Victorian feminine ideal. Charlotte Bronte herself was among the first feminist writers of her time, and wrote this book in order to send the message of feminism to a Victorian-Age Society in which women were looked upon as inferior and repressed by the society in which they lived. This novel embodies the ideology of equality between a man and woman in marriage, as well as in society at large. As a feminist writer, Charlotte Bronte created this novel to support and spread the idea of an independent woman who works for herself, thinks for herself, and acts of her own accord.

Brontë, Charlotte, Fritz Eichenberg, and Bruce Rogers. Jane Eyre. New York: Random House, 1943. Print.

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is presented in the Victorian Period of England. It is a novel which tells the story of a child's maturation into adulthood. Jane's developing personality has been shaped by her rough childhood. She has been influenced by many people and experiences. As a woman of her time, Jane has had to deal with the strain of physical appearance. This has a great effect on her mental thinking and decision making. Jane Eyre's cognitive and physical attributes have been affected by her environment throughout her life.

The major criticisms of the novel in question to be the melodrama used by the author and the wickedness of character shown in Jane and Mr. Rochester. While most critics admired the style of writing and truth of character portrayal, they did not admire the improbability of circumstances or the characters portrayed.

“Little Girls with dreams become women with vision” (unknown). This quote expresses Jane’s entire life in the novel Jane Eyre written by the author Charlotte Brontë. The main character that is discussed in this book is Jane Eyre and she is trying to find herself despite being recognized as less than everyone else solely based on her gender and her poor place in nineteenth-century’s social class. Gender inequality is world wide problem with no end, dating back to the civil rights period to the present day. Mrs. Reed, John Reed, Mr Brocklehurst and Ms. Blanche Ingram, as well as many others are a prime example for this issue. For the reason being that they allow others’ mainly her son to not only treat her with disrespect but also torment Jane as well.

A feminist is a person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism (belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes). Jane Eyre is clearly a critique of assumptions about both gender and social class. It contains a strong feminist stance; it speaks to deep, timeless human urges and fears, using the principles of literature to chart the mind?s recesses. Thus, Jane Eyre is an epitome of femininity - a young independent individual steadfast in her morals and has strong Christian virtues, dominant, assertive and principled. That itself is no small feat.