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Parallelism Jane Eyre

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Parallelism that Empowers Gender plays a significant role in both Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair and in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. The protagonists in each of these novels contradict the expected roles of men and women through similar methods. Many parallels can be drawn between Jane Eyre and Thursday Next, exposing the true strength of these women in the face of society’s expectations of them. By investigating the gender roles of the Victorian Era in Jane Eyre and looking at the more modern presentation of gender roles in The Eyre Affair, a clear understanding of these author’s intentions to expose the gender issues can be seen. Jane Eyre is a classic novel in which orphan Jane opposes societal expectations by becoming an intelligent, …show more content…

Jasper Fforde empowers women to contradict gender roles in society through the parallelism of protagonist Thursday Next in The Eyre Affair with Jane Eyre of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
Jane Eyre and Thursday Next are two female protagonists who challenge society’s expectations through their undeniable intelligence and qualifications. Jane Eyre is a young women in the Victorian Era. According to Professor Kathryn Hughes, most women in the Victorian Era would have stayed home to tend to the domestic tasks, like cooking or cleaning because they were believed to be physically weaker. They also received little education because, at the time, it was believed that learning could harm women’s reproductive health (Hughes). Investigating women in the Victorian era, Sykes notes that women were thought to be unequal to men by nature (Sykes 1). This belief is greatly challenged by the protagonists in Jane Eyre and The Eyre Affair. Both Jane Eyre and Thursday Next contradict these ideas. These two intelligent women continually reveal just how educated they are. Thursday Next is incredibly knowledgeable of literature and of politics. She is …show more content…

In The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next is presented with an opportunity to move to Ohio and start a life with one of her coworkers. Although she heavily considers this option, Thursday ultimately decides to follow her heart and marry Landen Park-Laine. A similar plot is seen in Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Jane is presented with a marriage proposal and an opportunity to travel to India with St. John Rivers. While this is the chosen path in the first manuscript of Jane Eyre in Fforde’s novel, the ending is altered to parallel that of Thursday Next’s marriage plot. Jane, like Thursday, denies this proposal and follows her heart. She returns to Thornfield to marry Mr. Rochester. It would have been easy for these two women to succumb to societal expectations and rush into a marriage with suitable men for the purpose of conforming to society. Jane and Thursday empower women by proving that patience and love is the most rewarding. By rejecting their marriage proposals, Jane Eyre and Thursday Next empower other women to take control of their lives and choose their spouses. As C. Sykes examines Victorian literature in his essay, he recognizes that many authors reveal gender issues. While some define characters by his or “her marital status,” others reveal inequality through “female capabilities” (Sykes). Victorian literature, like Bronte’s Jane Eyre, reveal gender

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