{"id":1513,"date":"2024-11-04T23:13:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T04:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/?p=1513"},"modified":"2024-11-04T23:13:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T04:13:30","slug":"material-culture-as-analysis-for-jane-eyre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/2024\/11\/04\/material-culture-as-analysis-for-jane-eyre\/","title":{"rendered":"Material Culture as Analysis for Jane Eyre"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a call with a friend, discussing material culture within Jane Eyre<\/em>, we both brought up specific structures in the text that indicate the importance of objects throughout the text, in different iterations, using different contexts. Because this concept was addressed in conversation, we each had different \u201cfirst thoughts\u201d about ways in which materials were significant in Bront\u00eb works. I brought up a more expansive thought, coming from the perspective of my thesis, wanting to connect this idea across Bront\u00eb works: the combination of the material manifested through the architecture in Jane Eyre<\/em>, and how that in turn connects to the very omnipresent Gothic. The other Bront\u00eb novel I have currently read is Wuthering Heights<\/em>, which, like Jane Eyre<\/em>, has several buildings that connect to greater themes, like belonging, internal conflict, and larger Gothic motifs like ghosts and spirituality, across novels. This thought process makes me curious the ways in which this connection could be found in other Bront\u00eb novels. Another idea of material culture is that many objects indicate deeper cultural meanings \u2013 for example, as my friend mentioned, mahogany furniture and clothing are both materials that indicate a deeper cultural significance outside of Jane\u2019s personal world, perhaps leading into Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s lived experience.<\/p>\n

Although a specific occasion that can assist my analysis into material culture across Bront\u00eb novels is not immediately obvious, there are many moments I can think of \u2013 historical, narratively in films or novels, etc. \u2013 that use material objects to indicate a greater cultural significance than one might immediately assume. For example, I\u2019m sure many of us have heard the well-worn joke that English teachers, especially in high school, will prescribe too much significance on some blue drapes; after all, those must indicate sadness and devastation for the characters \u2013 meanwhile, all the students are thinking that the truth about those blue drapes are that they\u2019re really just what they are, and nothing deeper. But the fascinating thing about this example is that it actually indicates, on both sides of the joke, a greater cultural meaning. Sure, the blue drapes could indicate sadness for the characters \u2013 the color blue having an American cultural association with sadness, and drapes could have a deeper meaning of shutting out light and staying in darkness. On the other hand, the dismissal of that deeper meaning and acknowledging that maybe those blue drapes exist just because the author likes the color blue and wanted to spice up a room description, also show a greater cultural awareness necessary for a time when a lot of objects are ascribed over-significance, especially given the oversaturation of visual stimuli and entertainment. So, looking deeper into a joke about current material cultural, I am able to wonder at how authorial descriptions of objects in entertainment could be, subconsciously or consciously, indicative of greater cultural meaning on several levels. And if all that is possible with a joke about high school English teachers and blue drapes, what could be observed with a deep dive into Victorian material culture and Bront\u00eb novels?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a call with a friend, discussing material culture within Jane Eyre, we both brought up specific structures in the text that indicate the importance of objects throughout the text, in different iterations, using different contexts. Because this concept was addressed in conversation, we each had different \u201cfirst thoughts\u201d about ways in which materials were … Continue reading Material Culture as Analysis for Jane Eyre<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}