-gave in-depth information about Charlotte Bronte and her family
-lets readers know about the history behind the book and how it became popular
-compares Charlotte's life to Jane's story
-brings to light details that are not looked at in depth
Cons:
-retold a lot of the story through out the podcast
-hear distracting noises in the background
A part in the podcast that stuck out to me was the talk of orphans at the beginning. It seems as if there were a lot of orphans during the Victorian Era so I dug a little deeper to see what role the orphans took in society and how and where they lived.
In this article about orphans during the Victorian Era, it gives you an idea of how the orphans attributed to literature. The article states that orphans were used in literature as "respectable but troubled heroines or heroes." The authors place the orphans in dirty and dark places after their parents are gone. It seems to be that the only place with an accurate history about orphans during the Victorian Era is in books written through out that time period.
Another good situations for an orphan would be getting placed into an educational institution. The schools provided food, shelter, clothing and education until they were of age. It was considered a social responsibility for philanthropist to donate to these institutions.
Overall, orphans have always been pushed to the side. They are not provided for in the proper way and it is upsetting to see children suffer.
First off, thanks for researching about the school where the orphans went. After reading your post, I felt that I already got a lot of that information from the book. There were some thing I didn’t know but I felt like Bronte gave us a history lesson about schools back then in Jane Eyre. For example, you said that the “schools were not funded properly”. I felt like I already knew that from Jane Eyre because Bronte doesn’t just out loud say that the school wasn’t funded properly. Instead, she describes how bad the school. When Bronte writes about how Jane finally had her first full meal in eight years at thornfield. You know as readers that the school wasn’t getting money to properly feed the girls. Bronte didn’t have to research all this stuff about schools. It’s because she was there, she lived in a school were the conditions were bad. So throughout where she talks about Lowood it is what she knew about the school from her own knowledge instead of what she researched.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that you researched orphanages of the Victorian Era, considering that Lowood Institution has such a huge effect on Jane's life. It's such a shame how orphans adopted by relatives (like Mrs. Reed adopted Jane) were considered the lucky ones. In many respects, Lowood is no different from actual orphanages of the Victorian Era. It lacked proper funding, was run in a very strict manner, and it experienced disease that killed many orphans. Today, it almost seems impossible that these orphanages were given no government funding. If Bill Gates and Warren Buffett were the sole providers for our orphanages today, although they are wealthy, there is no way they could match the contributions of the government. Lack of funds is never a good thing, especially when people feel obligated to donate. When people feel obligated, they often do the minimal amount required. In conclusion, thank you for covering this topic! Your research helped me to understand Jane's struggles at Lowood, while also reflecting on the systematic issues that British orphanages faced across the board.
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