Reader's Response Lens In Jane Eyre By William Golding
“There have been so many interpretations of the story that I'm not going to choose between them. Make your own choice. They contradict each other, the various choices. The only choice that really matters, the only interpretation of the story, if you want one, is your own. Not your teachers, not your professor's, not mine, not a critic's, not some authority's. The only thing that matters is, first, the experience of being in the story, moving through it. Then any interpretation you like. If it's yours, then that's the right one, because what's in a book is not what an author thought he put into it, it's what the reader gets out of it.” -William Golding. This novel can be viewed through a reader's response lens because of all the different responses
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and opinions that people have when reading certain dialogue throughout the book. Not every reader will have the same thoughts or even think that the same events are important or not important at all, we all have our own opinions and our own way of perceiving things that take place. While reading this novel I noticed many things and a lot of events that happened really struck me. At first I thought the book was very confusing at times and I also thought it was very boring, but once I started reading more of the book I became more interested at what was happening. Throughout most of the book my main question was “What's going to happen to Jane?” because you never knew where she stood with people, how she truly felt or what others thought of her completely. For example, Bessie told Jane “What we tell you is for your good, you should try to be useful and pleasant, then, perhaps, you would have a home here; but if you become passionate and rude, Missis will send you away, I am sure.” (Bronte 12). This means basically that Jane is already being targeted by her Aunt Reed by forcing these rules on her and expectations Jane has to live up to now. Jane cannot freely do as she pleases or say how she feels like Mrs. Reeds children do all the time. This shows that Jane is already seen as unequal compared to her cousins. This influenced Jane tremendously because she has to watch what she does more carefully now in fear of being sent off without a home making Jane feel worthless and unloved.
Another example is what Jane says to Mrs. Reed before she leaves Gateshead. “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you, but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I….I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if anyone asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty.” (Bronte 36). Basically after everything she has been through and all the times she kept her mouth shut, keeping everything bottled up inside her, Jane finally got the nerve to stand up for herself and confront Mrs. Reed about how she treats her. This is important because this is very big of Jane to do because this makes Jane look like the bigger person, standing up for what is right and telling Mrs. Reed what kind of person she truly is making it aware that what her aunt did to her was completely wrong
and unfair. The significance of this is that Mrs. Reed had a huge jealously problem with Jane because of her husband, Jane's uncle, Mr. Reed loving Jane more than he loved her and his own children. So from the start Mrs. Reed disliked Jane until she was on her death bed insisting she had to see Jane. “I have twice done you wrong which I regret now..” said Mrs. Reed when talking to Jane. This first reason she did her wrong was “breaking the promise which I gave my husband to bring you up as my own child.” (Bronte 242). The second thing Mrs. Reed did wrong to Jane was not telling her about the letter from her uncle John Eyre in wanting to adopt her. This just all shows how you never knew what Mrs. Reed thought of Jane and what was going to happen to her because if Mrs. Reed would of given Jane the letter from her uncle Jane's life would be completely different than it turned out to be. In my opinion emotionally I feel sorry and very sad for Jane because of all the troubles she had to go through with growing up around her aunt Reed. This messed up Jane's head and how she perceived people to be. All Jane wants is to be loved and to love someone back. Other readers might not think the same though. Other readers with different interests, backgrounds, levels of reading expertise, from other cultural backgrounds or from another gender might respond to this work completely different than how I responded. They might of found it to be just as descriptive, boring and confusing like I did or saw it as completely the opposite. Those who have similar interests as the characters in the book or understood the time period better would more likely be very interested or attached to the book. For example events that happened such as being mistreated by your family and feeling unwanted appeared a lot in this book, with the Reeds and Jane and sometimes with Mr.Rochester and Jane, therefore; many people could relate to that sort of thing. Another example would be everything in the book that dealt with love and jealousy. For example, Jane said “I have told you, reader, that I had learnt to love Mr. Rochester: I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me…” (Bronte 188). This means Jane knows she loves Rochester and that she would do absolutely anything for him. But being proposed to by him after she for sure thought he was going to marry Blanche and then getting ready to get married and then finding out he is already married crushed Janes heart and made her believe she was stupid for falling for Rochester. Jane had never experienced love so she thought that what she did and how she did it, wasn't how she was supposed to go about finding her love. This matters because Jane felt alone in the reader's view and as if she couldn't trust him anymore. Many people can relate to this as well because everyone one way or another will experience some type of love in their lives whether it turns out good or bad. Jane had to go through both the good and bad parts of being in love with Rochester and she isn't alone. There are many different types of readers for this book because everyone gets something different out of it when you're completely finished. The ideal reader perhaps is someone from the victorian time period. They would be the ones to understand what is going on the most and why people act the way they do being from that specific era. But the reader the author was writing for I believe would just be anyone and everyone. I feel this way because there are so many different ways the book can be portrayed and taken as. One person may not get the same feeling as another person would get after reading the book and I think that was Charlotte Bronte's initial thought. Perhaps the book is also a diary that Jane had wrote because that seems the most realistic. “Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonised as in that hour left my lips: for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love.” (Bronte 327). This means that Jane suffered and broke down many times because of what she went through and being the reader and getting involved with her lifestyle and what has happened to her, she wishes that to not ever happen to anyone else. I am not a victorian woman but I am just a normal reader who had my own opinions on the book and thoughts about what I thought to be important such as when Jane found out about Rochester's insane wife, and the letter from her Uncle John Eyre giving her his fortune. In conclusion, the only thing that truly matters is the experience of being in the story and relating to in in so many ways, moving through it and then any interpretation you wish to have. If it's your own, then that is the right one, because what's in a book is not what the author thought he put into it, it's what the reader gets out of it. Many different opinions form when reading books and not everyone will relate or understand one character the same. Everyone has a different response to different situations and circumstances.
and opinions that people have when reading certain dialogue throughout the book. Not every reader will have the same thoughts or even think that the same events are important or not important at all, we all have our own opinions and our own way of perceiving things that take place. While reading this novel I noticed many things and a lot of events that happened really struck me. At first I thought the book was very confusing at times and I also thought it was very boring, but once I started reading more of the book I became more interested at what was happening. Throughout most of the book my main question was “What's going to happen to Jane?” because you never knew where she stood with people, how she truly felt or what others thought of her completely. For example, Bessie told Jane “What we tell you is for your good, you should try to be useful and pleasant, then, perhaps, you would have a home here; but if you become passionate and rude, Missis will send you away, I am sure.” (Bronte 12). This means basically that Jane is already being targeted by her Aunt Reed by forcing these rules on her and expectations Jane has to live up to now. Jane cannot freely do as she pleases or say how she feels like Mrs. Reeds children do all the time. This shows that Jane is already seen as unequal compared to her cousins. This influenced Jane tremendously because she has to watch what she does more carefully now in fear of being sent off without a home making Jane feel worthless and unloved.
Another example is what Jane says to Mrs. Reed before she leaves Gateshead. “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you, but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I….I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if anyone asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty.” (Bronte 36). Basically after everything she has been through and all the times she kept her mouth shut, keeping everything bottled up inside her, Jane finally got the nerve to stand up for herself and confront Mrs. Reed about how she treats her. This is important because this is very big of Jane to do because this makes Jane look like the bigger person, standing up for what is right and telling Mrs. Reed what kind of person she truly is making it aware that what her aunt did to her was completely wrong
and unfair. The significance of this is that Mrs. Reed had a huge jealously problem with Jane because of her husband, Jane's uncle, Mr. Reed loving Jane more than he loved her and his own children. So from the start Mrs. Reed disliked Jane until she was on her death bed insisting she had to see Jane. “I have twice done you wrong which I regret now..” said Mrs. Reed when talking to Jane. This first reason she did her wrong was “breaking the promise which I gave my husband to bring you up as my own child.” (Bronte 242). The second thing Mrs. Reed did wrong to Jane was not telling her about the letter from her uncle John Eyre in wanting to adopt her. This just all shows how you never knew what Mrs. Reed thought of Jane and what was going to happen to her because if Mrs. Reed would of given Jane the letter from her uncle Jane's life would be completely different than it turned out to be. In my opinion emotionally I feel sorry and very sad for Jane because of all the troubles she had to go through with growing up around her aunt Reed. This messed up Jane's head and how she perceived people to be. All Jane wants is to be loved and to love someone back. Other readers might not think the same though. Other readers with different interests, backgrounds, levels of reading expertise, from other cultural backgrounds or from another gender might respond to this work completely different than how I responded. They might of found it to be just as descriptive, boring and confusing like I did or saw it as completely the opposite. Those who have similar interests as the characters in the book or understood the time period better would more likely be very interested or attached to the book. For example events that happened such as being mistreated by your family and feeling unwanted appeared a lot in this book, with the Reeds and Jane and sometimes with Mr.Rochester and Jane, therefore; many people could relate to that sort of thing. Another example would be everything in the book that dealt with love and jealousy. For example, Jane said “I have told you, reader, that I had learnt to love Mr. Rochester: I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me…” (Bronte 188). This means Jane knows she loves Rochester and that she would do absolutely anything for him. But being proposed to by him after she for sure thought he was going to marry Blanche and then getting ready to get married and then finding out he is already married crushed Janes heart and made her believe she was stupid for falling for Rochester. Jane had never experienced love so she thought that what she did and how she did it, wasn't how she was supposed to go about finding her love. This matters because Jane felt alone in the reader's view and as if she couldn't trust him anymore. Many people can relate to this as well because everyone one way or another will experience some type of love in their lives whether it turns out good or bad. Jane had to go through both the good and bad parts of being in love with Rochester and she isn't alone. There are many different types of readers for this book because everyone gets something different out of it when you're completely finished. The ideal reader perhaps is someone from the victorian time period. They would be the ones to understand what is going on the most and why people act the way they do being from that specific era. But the reader the author was writing for I believe would just be anyone and everyone. I feel this way because there are so many different ways the book can be portrayed and taken as. One person may not get the same feeling as another person would get after reading the book and I think that was Charlotte Bronte's initial thought. Perhaps the book is also a diary that Jane had wrote because that seems the most realistic. “Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonised as in that hour left my lips: for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love.” (Bronte 327). This means that Jane suffered and broke down many times because of what she went through and being the reader and getting involved with her lifestyle and what has happened to her, she wishes that to not ever happen to anyone else. I am not a victorian woman but I am just a normal reader who had my own opinions on the book and thoughts about what I thought to be important such as when Jane found out about Rochester's insane wife, and the letter from her Uncle John Eyre giving her his fortune. In conclusion, the only thing that truly matters is the experience of being in the story and relating to in in so many ways, moving through it and then any interpretation you wish to have. If it's your own, then that is the right one, because what's in a book is not what the author thought he put into it, it's what the reader gets out of it. Many different opinions form when reading books and not everyone will relate or understand one character the same. Everyone has a different response to different situations and circumstances.