Jane Eyre and Social Commentary

Analyze the author’s use of irony in describing Mr. Brocklehurst’s family in the second passage. How does the author contrast this description with Mr. Brocklehurst’s lecture to Miss Temple to provide social commentary on perceptions of class during this time?

Bronte makes symmetrical comparisons to demonstrate the double standard in the expectations of the school girls versus the expectations for Mr. Brocklehurst’s family. One example is when a girl is “vain” because she has naturally curly hair and yet Mr. Brocklehurst’s own daughters and the older woman, who I assume is his mother, wear very time consuming and delicate curls. If the man truly believed that curly hair was vain, he would hold his family to the same standards because is he not just as worried about their souls, if not more? In this situation however, he obviously does not and is using things like hair styles as a way of controlling the girls and crushing their independent will.  Not to say that it would be alright if this man treated his family in this way either, in many cases men who are at this level of controlling treat their families worse than other people. But since Bronte is trying to comment more on aspects of class and the religious institution itself, that type of situation is not as relevant.

The same goes with the clothes comparison. Tuckers are a piece of linen or lace worn by women around the neck and shoulders to cover where their other clothes do not. So they are also a modesty piece, like a camisole, as well as an accent piece. They are also white which means that they can become dirty easily and could be expected to be changed out more frequently than other clothes. I assume from the Mr. Brocklehurst’s rules, that the girls use linen tuckers. Linen of course is less expensive and easier to clean than silk or velvet. This presents again a double standard for the school girls especially if they are not even allowed to get clean tuckers to wear for special occasions like having lunch with important people. Not to mention the quantity of a small amount of linen versus entire outfits of velvet and silk. This demonstrates how Mr. Brocklehurst not only thinks that the girls deserve more regulation in case of vanity and pride, but it also demonstrates how Mr. Brocklehurst thinks the girls are monetarily less worthy of even necessary pieces of clothing than his own daughters. This goes beyond religious and ethical double standards and Mr. Brocklehurst’s classism.  

Having Mr. Brocklehurst’s family enter as Mr. Brocklehurst has almost finished outlining his harsh regulations for presentation allows the audience to establish an opinion of Mr. Brocklehurst through Jane’s perspective as a mean person. When his family comes in dressed in finery with little commentary from Jane beyond their appearance, the audience comes to their own conclusion through comparing the descriptions of what the girls have versus what his family has that Mr. Brocklehurst is a huge hypocrite. Given that Bronte has control over what the characters describe, this conclusion is what she wanted the audience to make and see the double standards in her society.

Sources:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tucker

Deadly Sins

https://jorickch3028.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/11/ -

ZU Shoes: December 3rd, 2008

The advertisement is targeting young adult women. Most likely these women are middle class women in Australia, given that the prices of the brand are fairly reasonable before the company went under in 2015. The cultural knowledge of the audience would be urban and suburban heterosexual culture given the demographic of the models in the advertisement.

The advertisement on the left is of one woman in high heels and short silver clothes walking confidently on pavement away from a city with a clear blue sky in the backdrop with a line of well muscled shirtless white men in jeans behind her. The advertisement on a right is a mirror of the advertisement on the left, with the exception of the woman having orange hair, a short yellow dress with long sleeves, and yellow heels.The woman on the right is also walking on grass in the country with a similar line of shirtless white men behind her and reaching towards the woman. Both women are ignoring or oblivious to the pile of men behind them.

Though the object being advertised is shoe, the focus of the image is to communicate a feeling of confidence and desirability that can be achieved by wearing these brand of shoes. The trail of men are physical manifestations of the phrase “men throwing themselves at your feet” though that phrase usually has the genders reversed. The men are made helpless in their pursuit of lust and desire for these women because of their beauty or their superiority in class or wealth indicated by the women being nicely and fully clothed where the men are not.

The deadly sin being used as a persuasive tool here is lust. This is shown by the men on the ground leaning up towards and reaching towards the woman.The angle they are placed at also makes it look like the men are looking up under the dresses of the women. The image plays on the stereotype that women snub men they think are not good enough for them, which is supported by the woman on the right tilting her head up. The femininity of the women is emphasized by the hand on each of their hips which would draw attention to the sway of their hips while walking. The state of undress by the men is supposed to appeal to the lust of heterosexual women. I feel like the advertisement also reflects an aspect of representation of different races in Australian media but I do not know enough about the interaction of race and the media in Australia beyond acknowledging it is a former colony that still has issues in negotiating with indigenous populations, like America.

What's in a Name?

My first name, Julie, is of Latin origin and was very popular from the 1950's to 1970's in the United States. Julie is a deviant of the French name Julia, which means "youthful or soft-haired" , and is the feminine version of Julius. I do not find a lot of meaning in my first name.Beyond having sort of blond hair, that definition doesn't have any significance to me. Having a birthday in August and entering school later, making me one of the oldest kids in my grade has made me feel old pretty often compared to my peers, which is not fun at any age. One of my mom's cousin's is named Julie and my mom wanted to name me Julie because she thought it was pretty. It's convenient having Julie as a first name because rarely has there been more than one in any setting I am in. Though, since Julia is more common now some people think my name is Julia and there is occasionally a Julia in whatever group I am in. What is more significant to my family is my middle name Anne. My great-aunt and my aunt on my dad's side are both named Anne. Both my parents wanted my middle name to be Anne and they chose my first name based on how it would sound together with Anne. My dad's side of the family, who live in Georgia, call me Julie Anne when I visit. So Julie Anne holds more significance because it reminds me of being with family and how we have Southern traditions. My sister calls me JJ and it is a nickname I can see myself passing off as my preferred name to my future friends because it does not carry the weight of Julie or Julie Anne.

I understand what Quindlen is talking about. I do not know if I want to keep my last name Dodson even if I never get married. There is some bad history between my dad and his side of the family that I can see being repeated with me and my sister someday. I do not want to be reminded of that everyday when I sign my name. My dad likes to remind me of all the great members of his family as motivation to be the best at something, anything, and how much they would have loved to spend time with me. All I can think is that if they laughed at some of the jokes he makes or made similar jokes I would also add their names to people I should ignore to some extent for my sanity. Still, since I am left with the family I have I should be grateful, not everyone gets a family and extended family who wants to know how their doing. It does not feel so much of a blessing when you are modifying behavior to deflect conflicts within the family or towards yourself. With school, the priority is to deflect possible conflicts between you and teachers and you or other students and because of that I feel like I have not so much as filled a different identity but chose to be absent of identity outside of what people see or hear from me in class. There can't be conflict with someone who is not fully there.