The word ‘white’ can be defined as ‘color at its most complete and pure, the color of perfection’ or ‘purity, innocence, wholeness and completion’ according to Empower Yourself With Color. In literature, white can be used as a symbol for purity and innocence. As Jane grows older, the word ‘white’ appears more often in the story to emphasize her personal growth as a woman and highlight her innocence. Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, can be encompassed by the word “white” as demonstrated through Jane’s time at Lowood, her arrival at Thornfield, and her time with St. John. The use of ‘white’ is representing the purity of the beginning of the story and Jane’s innocence before life events depleted the amount of that quality. …show more content…
She meets Miss Temple, her teacher who turns into one of her first true friends. Jane describes how she feels around her teacher as, “...I derived a child’s pleasure from the contemplation of her face, her dress, her one or two ornaments, her white forehead, her clustered and shining curls, and beaming dark eyes… (Bronte 133)” Jane emphasizes the color of Miss Temple’s forehead to show that she is innocent too. She also does not know much about the world, but yet she is teaching children what they need to know to be educated for their adult lives. Having a role model figure like Miss Temple allows Jane to look up to a woman who has managed to achieve her goals and maintain her innocence. In addition to this, the use of white also highlights this first friendship as a beginning for Jane and the theme of innocence. A new chapter of life starts as Jane meets people who will treat her as she deserves to be treated. However, Jane still longs for the good parts of life before Lowood, “That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings… (Bronte 109).” Jane does not want to go back to Gateshead, but desires the …show more content…
Rochester takes a turn for the worst, she finds refuge with St. John and his family. However, in the end she returns to Thornfield to continue her life with Mr. Rochester after feeling as if something has gone wrong in his life. This is convenient for Jane because St. John would do anything for her to marry him right now, even when she explicitly denies his request. In one of these instances, white is used to highlight the effects of each of their choices, “‘Formerly,’ I answered, ‘because you did not love me; now, I reply, because you almost hate me. If I were to marry you, you would kill me. You are killing me now.’ His lips and cheeks turned white quite white, (Bronte 791).” The fact that Jane will not accept his wedding proposal has taken him back so much that he looks ill. Bronte specifically uses white to describe his appearance to show that because Jane has denied his request, both of them will still maintain their innocence. Jane stays true to herself throughout this ordeal by not marrying someone she does not love, which displays maturity. This is not the first time that St. John appears this way. Earlier in this portion of the novel, Bronte describes him as, “...his tall figure all white as a glacier, (Bronte 721).” This is an introduction to this particular innocent portrayal of St. John. Although he is masculine, he is still pure and unaware of the worst the world can offer. Jane can see him in this way because she can
We first encounter this relationship between Jane and Rochester during their first dramatic meeting. She encounters him when he falls off his horse and she is required to give him assistance. Jane’s first impression of his face is that ‘He had a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow’. This may portray the dimness in his face awaiting to be enlightened by a woman which, in this case Jane. Further on in this chapter, unaware of who he is, on her return home, Jane is amazed to discover that the gentleman she assisted in the road was her employer, Mr. Edward Rochester. Jane’s future relationship with Rochester is most clearly set out in their first meeting. Although without any money, reserved and socially dependent, Jane is not
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses white to portray innocence and class. This color is used several times while talking about Daisy. “She dressed in white and had a little white roadster” (Fitzgerald 4.74). This quote is used to convey Daisy during the innocence of her youth. The color white is pure and conveys her innocence.
In general, the color white symbolizes innocence, purity, and cleanliness. In the novel, the color white is closely associated with Daisy. “White, even after one excludes near-synonyms such as silver, makes more appearances in the novel than any other single color, and something like three of every four are applied to East Egg or characters from East Egg, especially to Daisy” (Elmore 428). This quote proves that the color white contributes to a major theme in the novel. Daisy wears white to show her innocence. The first time Nick sees Daisy and Jordan, they are both wearing white. Nick describes seeing the women in the quote, “They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (Fitzgerald 8). It was the women, so magical and light, like birds or butterflies that flew around the house. They could fly, but they didn't fly far, only around the house which they got blown back into. These women don't have much ambition or power on their own. They are housebound, even though they can fly. In the beginning of the novel, the reader believes Daisy is innocent. Even her name Daisy is a kind of white flower. When introduced to her for the first time, people feel that she is pure, flawless, and noble. This is one of the reasons Gatsby is infatuated with her throughout his life and regards her as a pure beauty. The
Daisy’s car, clothes, and rooms were white. Though most of the adjectives used to describe Daisy included “white” (for example, “white girlhood”, “white neck”, and “high in a white palace”), she was not always pure, especially towards the end of the novel. This could be symbolic of the fact that even the most virtuous characters in The Great Gatsby were depraved. Examples of white included “They were both in white” (pg. 13), “Our white childhood was passed together there. Our beautiful white.” (pg. 24), and "On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight, and I erased it" (p.
When we break down the color white, the main quality it represents is purity. The color white was used everywhere in the book, but there was a little twist to it. It wasn't always what it seemed, just like the American Dream. “They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown in after a short flight around the house,”(8). This quote has the character Daisy in it. When we heard Daisy we think of the flower. So delicate and innocent and full of purity, like the white petals, but once you reach the yellow middle, all she cares about is her picture perfect image. Daisy isn't what she seems “Fitzgerald carefully builds Daisy's character with associations of light, purity, and innocence, when all's said and done, she is the opposite from what she presents herself to be,”(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Once we get to know Daisy better and better, we start to realize that she is in fact the opposite. Daisy craves for people to look at her the way they look at Gatsby and think to themselves, “wow she has it all”. Daisy goes to extreme limits to make her life look as perfect as possible, even if she is completely miserable, she will keep hiding her sadness and try and live her fake life. The color white represents the American Dream because even though this idea of a perfect life is so desirable, no one really fully accomplished the goal, just like how the color white was used as innocence, when broken down, we see that it symbolizes the exact
White symbolizes purity, and Fitzgerald clearly wants to emphasize the ironic difference between the perceived purity of Daisy and Jordan and their true corruption. But
Though Jane is well educated and possesses the etiquette and training of a person in upper class society, social prejudices limit her because she is simply a paid servant, in their eyes. While at Thornfield, Jane falls desperately in love with the owner of Thornfield Hall, Mr. Rochester. Jane is Mr. Rochester’s intellectual contemporary, but her social status prevents her from being his true equal. In the novel, Jane proclaims, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you,—and full as much heart!” (Bronte 637). After Mr. Rochester finally proposes, Jane is hesitant to marry him because she feels as if he would be lowering himself to marry her. This feeling greatly increases after Jane discovers he is married to Bertha Mason, and that he keeps her locked away in Thornfield’s attic due to her insanity. Mr. Rochester proposes that Jane becomes his mistress, which, according to Victorian society, would be more fitting since Jane is a plain governess. Jane realizes that she can never compromise her morals that way and leaves Thornfield. While on her own, Jane still strives to gain independence, discovers new kin, and learns she has a wealthy uncle who has left her a large inheritance. After her loneliness and longing for Mr. Rochester becomes too great, she returns to Thornfield. Jane is
“They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blow back in after a short flight around the house (p12). Daisy is often surrounded by white or is wearing white, which would indicate that she pure, but in fact, she is not innocent at all. Jordan Baker who is also characterized with the color white is portrayed as being angelic childlike, when she really was very dishonest.
Especially black and white, colors were consistently represented throughout the novel. For example, the paint factory dialogue and description included many turn-of-phrases involving the colors black and white. During the scene involving the narrator being shown around the factory, the narrator says of doing a task, “But when I looked into the white graduate I hesitated; the liquid inside was dead black. Was he trying to kid me?” (154).
The color white is associated with purity and innocence. Gatsby and Nick, the main male characters in the story, can be affiliated with this
Following this dramatic scene, there are many situations in which her individualism can again be sensed. During her stay at Lowood Jane is emotionally subdued and her personality is in many ways suppressed. It is not until after Miss Temple, the person that seemed to shine light on the school, leaves that Jane realizes the restrictions that she is under. It is at his point that she has the sudden urge to leave the confinements of the school, seek a job as a governess, and experience the “varied fields of hopes and fears,
When Jane is sent to Lowood (an all girl's school), she finds the first true love shown by an adult. Miss Temple, the school's superintendent) treats all of the girls with extreme kindness and gentleness. When the girl's breakfast is burned, she arranges for them to have the luxury of white bread and cheese to make up for it. Also, even while some of the other teachers like Miss Scatcherd and even the school's headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst, are mean to the girls, she is always there for them with a hug and a smile. When Helen falls deathly ill, Jane sees how motherly and unfaltering Miss Temple is towards Helen. Another character who shows Jane love at Lowood is Helen herself. She is the first person Jane's age who is nice to her. Jane grew up with the Reed children's spiteful actions and attitudes toward her and never experienced a peer's kindness until she met Helen.
Also, even though Rochester and Jane were of different classes, Charlotte Bronte presents him as an intelligent person. Both Edward and Jane enjoy conversations with each other. However, Jane does not express her feelings as clearly as Rochester does. So he dresses up as a gypsy and tries to find out what she thinks of the marriage, which everyone assumes that he will with Blanche. Although, both Jane Eyre and Rochester have are fond of each other, Edward was deceitful to Jane. For example, when Jane found out about Mr Rochester’s first wife, he first says that they can run away as ‘brother and sister’. However Jane refuses. Rochester tries another tactic and asks her to be his mistress. But Jane was too virtuous to accept the offer and had no other alternative but to leave Thornfield.
Jane Eyre is a story of a quest to be loved. Jane searches, not just for romantic love, but also for a sense of being valued and belonging. However, this search is constantly hindered by her need for independence. She starts of as an unloved orphan who is desperate to find love and a purpose. For example, Jane says to Helen, “to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest”. However, over the course of the novel, Jane learns to gain love without harming herself in the process. Although she is despised by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, she finds parental figures throughout the book. Miss Temple and Bessie care for Jane and give her love and guidance. However, Jane does not feel as though she has found
Rochester. At first Jane sees him as rude and disrespectful due to his cold and gruesome remarks, but it is her fight and how Jane stands up for herself that leads to one of the most known relationships in literature. Eventually Rochester asks Jane for her hand in marriage but at the scene of the wedding, we come to learn, that Rochester is already married to an insane woman, living in his attic, named Bertha. With this Rochester asks Jane to run away with her to Europe, this is exactly where Jane is faced with a very hard decision between following her heart as everyone wants to do, or keeping her respect and dignity. We can see the respect Jane now has from Rochester when he says to her, “I was wrong to attempt to deceive you; but I feared a stubbornness that exists in your character” (Bronte 354). This shows that Jane has gained Rochester’s respect and the ‘stubbornness’ in Jane’s character is the best thing for her, for without this trait Jane could never gain respect from others, especially men, in his novel. Knowing that Jane has decided to leave her, Rochester begins to persuade Jane to stay with him. He says, “Oh, Jane, this is bitter! This – this is wicked. It would not be wicked to love me” (Bronte 355). Jane replies, “It would to obey you” (Bronte 355), showing that she will not give into his pleading, regardless of how much she loves him because to obey him would lead to the loss