Interpersonal Relationship

It is apparent that they both have some form of mental illness that they develop over their respective stories, due to them being completely sane during the introductions of both. What led to Jane’s mental instability was being placed on bedrest due to her being diagnosed with hysteria, which at the time was given to women under immense stress. This “cure” did not actually cure anything. It in fact made these women often go crazy from the isolation they had to endure. Even the author herself was diagnosed with hysteria and put on the bedrest cure. Which is one reason why she wanted to add this aspect into the game. This cure was extremely prominent during the period the story takes place

James life, causes him to struggle with his self-actualization because he does not know who he is or his true identity. However, because he knows so little about his own life, he is led to ask questions and find out answers. “Yet I myself had no idea who I was. I loved my mother yet I looked nothing like her. Neither did I look like the role-models in my life” (91). The only way he figures out who he is, is by asking questions and finding bits and pieces of information. He struggles greatly with himself, and the only way for him to know himself is to know his mother. This gets back to the idea that the parallelism between him and his mother, or chapters 9 and 10, helps him in his

In this story, there are times when James pays more attention to his family, and times where he pays more attention to his little brother, Isaac. In the beginning, James thinks a little bit about taking Isaac out to see the K-bones. James is kind of nervous, but not to the point where he would leave Isaac at home. So, James decides to bring Isaac along, when he and Isaac are really supposed to be at home. At this time, James doesn’t really worry to think about the danger that he could only put himself in, but he could also put Isaac in a peril, too. So, James cares more about his friends than Isaac. Another example that proves this is when James starts to go out. For example, he says “ Kris says they’re just a bunch of kids who hang out and do cool stuff. Like a club. Tonight, I have to prove myself so I can be in their club, too.” This shows me that James is more focused on his friends because instead of watching Isaac like he’s supposed to, he wants to

Jane was not only resented but also lacking any kind of love to balance her out. We know this right away when she is reading her book and she notes "there were certain introductory pages I could not pass quite as a blank. They were

James grew up in a racist and segregated part of history. Often times racial slurs were used to describe people of African descent during the time James was growing up. Even during school James would be called these horrendous names: “...someone in the back of the class whispered, “James is ni**er!” followed by a ripple of tittering and giggling across the room” (McBride 89). The fact that small school children call blacks these names shows how racist the many people are and the hatred and discrimination that blacks face. These experience taught James how people treat those that appear to be different. Another experience that taught James this was when he and his family went to the Jewish store and were discriminated against. McBride had many experiences in which he and his family were discriminated against whether it was by the police or store owners: “Some of these Jews can’t stand you” (86). All in all, incidents with people who have a particular dislike for blacks shaped James into the way

There is an absence of men in the novel. James is one of the few men seen throughout the story and because of this, the story suggests that he holds a lot of power. He is a difficult character to understand because his true intentions and feelings are hidden beneath what is being portrayed on the outside. James begins as someone who is displayed as positive, respectful and loving of women, but as the story progresses, it is revealed that he views women more as a sexual object or a slave to men. He tricks the reader into believing that he values and considers women as equals to

Everything started going downhill from there and that's where the conflict of interest begins. James left the house in the mornings but didn't go to school and says himself that he was practically a dropout. "I spent as much time away from home as possible. I quit church and avoided my deeply religious godparents. I was the first kid on my block to smoke cigarettes and reefer" (McBride, 138) shows the ways he was acting out, also including stealing from freight cars with his friends. He was even caught by the police once. With James out of the house all the time, his mother suffered more because no one was there to help her with her young children. He was hurting but was too stubborn to admit it and "reefer and wine helped me to forget any pain, and as the pain and guilt increased, my problems with drugs worsened" (McBride, 142). All the while his mother knew nothing about it. Until one day when he gave her a forged report card with a grade unlike his usual ones and she called the school only to find out something way worse than what she expected. From then on, James spent the summers with his sister Jack in Kentucky who his mother thought could straighten him out. Jack's husband lets James run free with him and he finds himself often at a place called the

As a feminist, Jane is able to protect herself when she is in a situation where she needs to be defended. For instance, when her brutish older cousin John hurls a hardcover book at her head, she pounces back by attacking him in defense. She also faces no difficulty in successfully defeating her cold-hearted aunt in a verbal fight, just at the tender age of ten. Jane is surely unafraid of the consequences that she has to face on actions that she believes as rightfully done. This amazing trait remains even as she proceeds into adulthood and meets the love of her life. She is able to deal with, and even stand up to Mr. Rochester’s unreasonable verbal attacks directed at her. She clearly shows her dauntless side of her personality, by speaking her own mind when Mr. Rochester demands for the money that he had given her. Jane refuses clear cut, and Mr. Rochester asks to then at least let him see the cash. Jane refuses again by retorting that he is “not to be trusted.” Jane has an honest and truthful soul who knows how to speak for herself, unlike many women during this period of time. Jane is never concerned about what other people would think of her if she tells them the exact truth about everything. She is able to inform her departure by cancelling off the wedding between herself and Mr. Rochester after what she had witnessed and experienced. Jane cries out “you are a married man-or as good as a married man, and wed to one inferior to you- to one with whom you have no sympathy- whom I do not believe you truly love; for I have seen and heard you sneer at her. I would scorn such a union: therefore I am better than you- let me go!” Jane is able to truthfully utter her thoughts, her true opinion without being afraid; even if it was to someone she dearly loved. When Mr. Rochester angrily cries out, “Jane, be still; don’t struggle so, like a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its

James retorts, " I never knew who I was. It wasn 't ' so much of a question of searching for myself as it was my own decisions not to look." It was only when James uncovers the life of his mother does he begin to understand the complexity within himself, noting that, "the uncertainty that lived inside me began to dissipate; the ache that the little boy who stared in the mirror felt was gone." By uncovering Ruth 's earlier life, James could understand his own singularity, thus creating the identity he sought his life to achieve.

This is fueled by, not only the changing emotions that teenagers typically endure, but also by the death of his stepfather, whom he saw as his own father. After his death, James cannot bear to see his mother suffer, for she no longer knows how to control the dynamics of the family and "wandered in an emotional stupor for nearly a year." James instead turns to alcohol and drugs, dropping out of school to play music and go around with his friends, which James refers to as "my own process of running, emotionally disconnecting myself from her, as if by doing to I could keep her suffering from touching me." Instead of turning to his family and becoming "the king in the house, the oldest kid," James "spent as much time away from home as possible… absolve[ing] [himself] of all responsibility…" As a result, Ruth sends James to live with his older half sister and her husband, in an attempt to straighten her out her son's life. James distracts himself with the life he found there, spending the summers on a street corner with his half sister's husband, Big Richard, whom he adores, and the unique men that frequented the area. During these summers, James discovers "[He] could hide. No one knew [him]. No one knew [his] past, [his] white mother, [his] dead father, nothing. It was perfect. [His] problems seemed far, far away." Instead of facing the realities of loss and anger in his family, James seeks distractions

The book begins talks about other conflicts that arose with James and Ruth. James took a downward spiral during his teenage years,

A main facet of James’ youth was his isolation from Jews and whites in general at the hands of his mother Ruth. On the few occasions that James encountered Jewish people, he stared in fascination as his mother haggled with them in Yiddish. Confused and amused, James always pondered how his mother learned the unique language. Despite these random brushes with them, James was mostly shielded from the Jewish religion, and began to infer that his mother disliked Jews for a reason, and that he too should not associate himself with them, claiming that he “never felt any kinetic relationship to Jews” (McBride 86). For a young

Furthermore, this demeaning and negative attitude Jane is exposed to is further instigated when her cousin, John Reed, expresses her situation by saying: "You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen's children like us". The truth of Jane's unfortunate situation is expressed against her which results in her feeling no true support from this family and confides only in her childhood nursemaid- Bessie, who although behaves inconsistently and has “a capricious and hasty temper”, is the closest mother figure to her. Furthermore, the friction between Jane and John is further emphasised when the first physical aspect of violence is introduced to the reader through a graphic portrayal, further showing the ultimate rejection Jane experienced

It instead shows Jane’s inner struggle to do what is “right” versus what she desires. The separation between the voice of herself and her thoughts exhibits her helplessness to change her path from what her mind has already decided. This displays the heavy influence society has on Jane, which is further proven by the personification of Jane’s two strongest rivaling emotions. The heavy influence of a patriarchal dominated society is evident in her “Conscience” being a strong male figure, whereas her “Passion” is a weaker, feminine figure. Similarly, the strongest reasoning for Jane to leave Thornfield is driven by the patriarchal demand for a female to remain “pure” until holy marriage, rather than Jane’s own desire to leave, further solidifying the idea that the voice given to her mind is not just her own internal thoughts, but also the demands and expectations of

In James’ case he knew that if he worked hard at school he could gain his fathers approval. However it seemed that he was in the shadow of his brother, who was also under the same pressure. He had turned to cheating to get better marks to avoid his father’s disapproval. James’ own sense of right and wrong were being clouded by his loyalty to- and competition with his brother, also his need for approval from his father and his sense of duty to protect his frail mother by “not