{"id":258,"date":"2017-03-21T18:59:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T18:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=258"},"modified":"2020-08-31T20:37:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T20:37:58","slug":"the-paradox-of-jane-eyre-as-a-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2017\/03\/21\/the-paradox-of-jane-eyre-as-a-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"The Paradox of Jane Eyre as a Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using the lens of feminism, Gayatri Spivak\u2019s essay attempts to demonstrate how Jane Eyre<\/em> is a text that represents Victorian imperialism. While I do think Jane Eyre <\/em>holds important historical significance, it is important that it is artistically upheld and not simply historically as an informative text.\u00a0 As Erin O\u2019Connor points out in her essay, Spivak extrapolates her argument toward imperialism a bit too far, using Jane Eyre <\/em>to generalize all of Victorian literature.\u00a0 Where Spivak\u2019s argument excels, however, is in how a historically-informed perspective can influence the reader\u2019s hermeneutics of the text. \u00a0Observe the following passage:<\/p>\n

\u201cHere in Jane\u2019s self-marginalized uniqueness, the reader becomes her accomplice; the reader and Jane are united\u2014both are reading.\u00a0 Yet Jane still preserves her odd privilege, for she continues never quite doing the proper thing in its proper place. \u00a0She cares little for reading what is meant <\/em>to be read: the \u2018letter-press.\u2019 She reads the pictures.\u00a0 The power of this singular hermeneutics is precisely that it can make the outside inside.\u201d (Spivak 660)<\/p>\n

This is an interesting suggestion as it would render Jane as a passive character\u2014though she narrates, she reads along with the reader.\u00a0 This would imply that her story was not written by her, or that the story is a past reflection she is still working to interpret.\u00a0 However, this does not seem to agree with the text, as Jane addresses the reader directly at various points (Bronte 88,102). Further, the character Jane is certainly not passive, as can be most notably observed with her bold communications with Mr. Rochester and her display of independence among the girls at Lowood.\u00a0 This would make Jane Eyre a paradox, her passivity displaying her own activity.\u00a0 Spivak hints to this as well, as Jane Eyre makes the \u201coutside inside,\u201d internalizing external occurrences.\u00a0 How can this paradox be resolved?<\/p>\n

If Jane is a reader, then it would mean that she is still learning from her own narrative.\u00a0 Nevertheless, Jane Eyre seems to be inscrutable.\u00a0 The historical context that Spivak posits would give us a more informed reading not only of the novel itself, but of Jane\u2019s character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using the lens of feminism, Gayatri Spivak\u2019s essay attempts to demonstrate how Jane Eyre is a text that represents Victorian imperialism. While I do think Jane Eyre holds important historical significance, it is important that it is artistically upheld and not simply historically as an informative text.\u00a0 As Erin O\u2019Connor points out in her essay, … Continue reading The Paradox of Jane Eyre as a Reader<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138876,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2017","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}