Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Rachel's Post for 10H Period 4
If Charlotte Bronte's life was different, would she have even been a writer? If the perfect Victorian women is one who spends her time at home, making life comfortable for her husband, she wouldn't have had the time or motivation to write a book, right? Or, if she still chose to be a writer, would her stories be completely different? She might have just written poetry or short, light stories for those magazines women read back then. Just something to think about, since we know about Bronte's background, and why she wrote such dark, fairy-tale stories.
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24 comments:
This is interesing-if she was born to be a writer, or her unfortunate environment shaped her into the writer she became. Nature vs. nurture, I guess.
Whether she was destined to be a writer or not, I definitely think her Gothic, mysterious, and often tragic writing style would not exist. I'm not saying she'd be writing kids books about ponies, but her literature would probably not be so dark.
If Bronte had a different lifestyle her writing would be very different! Charlotte's life impacted her style of writing had she been a perfect Victorian woman she would have written about her children or her family life.
Jane Eyre's childhood is very similar to Charlotte's, they had to deal with a lot of death and sadness, while at the same time having to grow up quickly. In a way Jane Eyre is Charlotte's autobiography through the novel she expressed how she felt about her own life experiences.
-Alexa =]
Well, it is very probable that a change in C.B's lifestyle might have caused her to write less dark pieces of literature.Still, if living the life of a perfect Victorian woman, C.B might have felt oppressed and weighed down by the sexist tendencies of the time period,continuing her inclination towards strong female heroines as protagonists.
-Camila S.
This is a really interesting question. I'd have to say that if Bronte's life were different, then her stories would be different. This is because usually, when the author goes through a certain kind of experience, it impacts the way they think and live. So, I think that because of her past journeys,it had an affect on how she writes and the skills that go along with it. For example, if a person were to look at life in a negative perspective, then they would probably write about how their life was miserable or even what life would be like in a positive way. On the other hand, if a person were to go through life with happiness, then they would write about what made their life so great and possibly ask themselves if a life of negativity even existed. It all depends on the way the author/person views things.
Oh absolutely.
Of course Bronte's writing would not even near what it actually is without her life story inspiring her. Her life molded who she was as an adult (or whenever she wrote her novels) like people's lives today impact them.
So far, I can tell that Jane, and probably all of Bronte's main characters, are "semi-reincarnations" of herself, meaning, that a bit of whom she wrote them to be, is a bit of Bronte herself writing like a diary, pouring out what she herself feels. We know, for example, that both Jane and Bronte loved a man older than them, and were both of a childhood lacking in love.
The characters, thus the story, even minor plots or even unimportant dialogues, would not be the same for sure if Bronte didn't grow up the way she did.
Mea Cupla for the length, Emily
i agree with emily. without inspiration from her own life, Bronte wouldn't have been able to pour out such emotions. it would have been very hard for her to extract such descritptive words just "out of the blue," whereas with previous experiences, Bronte was capable of creatiing such an indepth character such as Jane.
i also agree with you Rachel in that Bronte would have probably devoted her life to reciting the poetry of other male authors, instead of writing novels kids still read over a century later. if she did become a writer anyway, her stories (and characters)would not entail such gloomy and deep plots;instead they'd be full of lifeless words about beauty or the riches of life.
with Bronte's past behind her, she can really incorporate her experiences into in-depth, meaningful and inspiring stories. i admire her novel very much, and i can see that she has experienced all of the emotions Jane has.
-livia
Rachel, i like your question. I do think that her lifestyle shaped the way she is as a writer. I do not think that if her past was different she wouldnt have been a writer. I think that if you love something you go for it and she clearly loved reading and writing. I think that if her life was differnt, she still would of loved reading and writing as much as she did.
janine(=
interesting question. i believe that if Bronte had a different lifestyle, she would be a different writer. i also think that if she really wanted to read and write she would still be able to with all her chores. however i think that if she didnt have such a dark and dreary life, her books would be as dark and fairytale-ish. her books reflect what she has been through in her past, so if she had a different, possibly happier, lifestyle, her books would reflect those characteristics and be lighter reads.
I think I might be repeating everyone else because I didn't take the time to read anyone's response; but the environment you grow in and the events you experience shape who you become today. If Bronte didn't face so many tragedies throughout her life, Jane Eyre would have been a totally different book if Bronte even decided to write it in the first place.
In my opinion, writing was in that families blood. Even if she hadn't fallen for a married man, her sister Emily still passed away and that affected her greatly. I don't believe her writing would be different.
-Rebecca Fix
I think that if she was to write as a typical Victorian woman, her stories would have been totally different. For instance, the novel "Jane Eyre" might have been "Blanche Ingram".
firstly, i wanted to say that this was an interesting point you brought up rachel. yes, i think if charlotte bronte's life was different she might not have been a writer. but i believe if she was different, meaning she was the "perfect victorian woman" she would not be an author.
my follow up question to this is, how is this seperation between mr. rochester and jane going to affect her life? is she always going to hate men? is she going to find another love? what is jane going to do?
-katie michels
I think that if Bronte had become a Victorian women, writing would have been out of the question. She would be busy with other things such as worrying about her appearance. I dont think she would have found the deep thought that she uses to write books if she was your typical Victorian women. If she was a Victorian women and wrote, then I feel her writing would have been much different, because her writing is based on the harsh experiences of her life, something she would not have encountered if she was a Victorian women.
KOBE
I think that Jane's unique writing style would be very different in contrast to her life now. She would not write about interesting situations or encounters including Rochester or any of the other odd characters. Also, if she was to live like an ideal Victorian woman, her outlook on life wouldn't be as real and she would not be the Jane we all know. If this did occur, Jane wouldn't speak the truth all the time and would pretend to be someone she isn't, unlike now where she is living life in reality.
as we touched upon in class, most fiction is in fact derived from true events or other tibulations the author may have been through. There for it is common to see author's lives reflected in the pieces. This is very evident with the dark Bronte, who has a very gothic style with lots of death, sorrow, and suffering. She also managed to mic a part of her own life into the story, having Jane fall in love with a married man they way that she did, except in her book the love is reciprocated.
If Bronte may have led a different life under different circumstances, her writing may have been very different, there may not have been that dark, painful side to her writing, or she may have had different love plots invovled.
p.s. sorry for the late post, i was kinda busy
The dark, fairy-tale like story, "Jane Eyre", which Charlotte Bronte wrote during the Victorian Age shows that the character and views of people are influenced by what goes on around them (more specifically, their surroundings).
Events in people's lives like the death of a family member or the loss of a close friend influence the way people view the world and even society.
From what I know about Charlotte Bronte, her father died when she was very young. Because of this tragic event, Charlotte Bronte had to become independent and make her own way in life. As a result of the growth of her independence, Bronte must have seen that it is helpful to become self sufficient and not to rely too much on men (husbands) for substinence (which many rich women of the time did) just in case they die. I assume that Bronte believed that learning to be independt protected one's self from misfortune, fate, and the unpredictable.
I think a lot of what she writes about in her book is based on not only the events of her own life but the emotions she had to deal with (when dealing with the multiple deaths of her loved ones, not being allowed to marry who she wanted to, etc.) If Charlotte Bronte hadn't had such an emotionally difficult life and had she been happier, I don't think her stories would have any of the same depth and gloom that Jane Eyre does.
good question. i guess she wouldn't be a writer because you don't really have your own free time.
Interesting question. I don't think Bronte would have written as dark of stories if she did not have such a tragic past, but I believe she probably would have still been a writer. Writing is one of those areas where if you have a passion for it, you pursue it, and Bronte seems to have had a passion based on her writing. The actual content of her writing, however, would have changed dramatically. It is just like in Jane Eyre. If Jane had grown up in a loving, caring family instead of with the malevolent Reeds, her life would have been completely different.
I think that Bronte would still have been a writer. Bronte wrote many books about fate, and I believe that she was fated to be writer. However, if Bronte was raised up in a different environment, she would definitely have written about other things (:
-Jane
I think that Bronte's writing wouldn't have as many depressing aspects if she was more privileged and had more opportunities. There's no doubt that Bronte would grow up to be a writer, but she would definitely have been a different writer.
-Victoria
I agree that if Charlottle Bronte still became a writer her dark writing style would be very different.
I do, however, question if Charlotte Bronte would ever become a writer. It is possible that she found an escape from her world through writeing like Jane Eyre who found an escape through reading. If Bronte had been brought up in the envirnment she was surrounded by it is possible that she wouldn't need that escape or she might find it in something other than writing.
I have so much to say, but not enough initiative to actually type it. I think we should have a heated discussion.
Yay for this question, well done Rachel(:
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