February 21: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Read to Chapter 8)
Both at Gateshead and at the Lowood School, the young Jane Eyre meets with harsh disapproval and punishment, yet she seems to remain a particularly willful person. How do Jane's "superiors" at Gateshead and Lowood attempt to discipline her behavior? What does she do that they find so unacceptable? How does Jane react to the harsh treatments of her superiors? Why does she refuse to be a "good little girl? Discuss Jane's' crimes, her punishments, and her resistance to those punishments in the beginning of Jane Eyre.

February 26: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Read to Chapter 20)
As a governess, Jane's social status is somewhat uncertain. More than a servant, yet not quite an equal to Rochester and his social circle, Jane moves uneasily between. How does Jane's position as a governess limit her within the Thornfield house? How does her position give her a freedom and potential not given to servants and others in the house? Why does Miss Ingram and her ilk treat Jane the way they do at Rochester's soiree in Chapters 18 and 19? How does Jane's uncertain social status affect her relationship with the "master," Rochester? Discuss Jane's social position as a governess.

February 28: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (read to Chapter 30)
By Chapter 27, after a strange courtship, Jane and Rochester finally plan to marry, yet the wedding day reveals the mystery that Rochester had kept locked up in his mansion. How is Bertha Mason depicted in the novel? When she is finally released at Jane's wedding, what is Jane's attitude about Bertha? Is Jane sympathetic to a woman who has been physically caged by her own future husband? What is Jane's reaction to Bertha as a colonial woman? What is Rochester's reaction to his (first) wife? How does he justify his actions toward Bertha? What are we meant to think of Bertha? Discuss the depiction of the colonial women, Bertha Mason, upon her entry onto the stage of Jane Eyre.

2. After Bertha's entry into the novel Jane is forced to leave Thornfield but not after a long account by Rochester giving the details of his life with Bertha. Bertha in many ways seems to represent--in character, behavior, and predicament--an "anti-Jane." How is the character of Bertha contrasted with what we know about Jane? How do their intellects compare? Their outward dispositions? Their physical presence? Their roles as wives? Are they similar in any respects? Does Jane feel empathy for Bertha or does Jane see her as a problem to be overcome, a rival to the hand of Rochester? Compare/contrast the character of Jane Eyre with Bertha Mason in the novel.
 

March 4: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (read to end)
At the end, why does Jane ultimately make the romantic choice she makes? Why does she choose Rochester and not St. John? Why does she find St John's offer of love and marriage to be unacceptable, yet Rochester's somehow suddenly becomes acceptable? Is it simply because Bertha is out of the picture or does Jane see a change in Rochester that allows her to come back to him? Why can she be with Rochester at the end of the novel, when she could not be with him before? Discuss Jane's choice and the circumstances that surround her final choice of men at the very end of the novel.