Use of Elemental Imagery Jane Eyre Essay Example for Free

Use of Elemental Imagery Jane Eyre Essay The use of elemental imagery in Jane Eyre, revealed throughout the novel both literally and metaphorically, is one of Charlotte Bronte s key stylistic devices. The opposition of the two elements, fire and water, highlights the need for the characters to find equilibrium between the two. Fire can describe passion and warmth, but it can also burn. Water can describe coolness and comfort, but it can also chill. Because of Charlotte Bronte s use of elemental imagery in her book, Jane Eyre, the reader can better comprehend what the characters of Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester, St. John Rivers, and Bertha Mason are feeling and thinking. Fire imagery helps the reader understand the strong feeling of passion in the character of Jane Eyre. At Gateshead, Jane is unable to control her passions and hits John Reed after he bullies her. As her punishment, Jane is locked up in the red-room. Fire imagery here, in the form of the red room, is Bronte s way of representing Jane s passion and fury. A bed supported on massive pillars of mahogany, hung with curtains of deep red damask (20) is used by Bronte to represent, through physical manifestation, Jane s overly passionate nature. Also very significant is the direct use of fire. This room was chill, because it seldom had a fire (20) is Bronte s way of saying that Jane is the fire in the room. There was not a fire until Jane inhabited the room. This key symbolism generates a horrific image in the reader s mind of what Jane looks like and is acting like in this scene due to Bronte s significant use of elemental imagery. Another instance of fire describing Jane is when she sees Mr. Rochester s bed torched. It is ironic that Jane happens to find Rochester s bed torched. The reason, illustrated by Bronte, is because they share passion with each other. They have feelings for each other in a way that Bronte can only describe with the fire imagery. The scene s sheer coincidence makes that hard not to believe. Because Bronte used fire to describe Jane s passion in that scene, the reader can really grasp how Jane is feeling. On the contrary, that scene extinguishes the fire, thus the passion. Later in that scene, Jane extinguishes the fire in Rochester s room with water. The water that Jane uses to put out the passion flame in that scene is metaphorically telling the reader that she needs to relinquish her passion. The flame between Jane and Rochester is too hot. They need to find equilibrium. The reader can see the amount of passion that Jane feels, and the amount needed to extinguish her passion. Another instance of water imagery describing Jane s feelings is when Jane shows Rochester one of her paintings. This painting tells the reader much about Jane s concerns and values through the rich sense of imagery in them. The first painting is described as having a drowned corpse in its swollen seas of green water (143). Jane, because of her passionate nature, sees water, representing a locking out of passion and emotion, as death itself. Given that Jane has hot, fiery passion, water imagery is used by Bronte to show the reader how and equilibrium needs to be reached between the two. Another character, Mr. Rochester, shows extreme passion in his multifaceted and intricate feelings. Thornfield is usually considered a gloomy house like a grey hollow filled with rayless cells, (133) but when Rochester enters, Jane sees a warm glow in the oak staircase and a genial fire lit in the grate (133). Immediately upon Rochester s return to Thornfield, fire imagery is used more by Bronte. Come to the fire, (152) said by Rochester to Jane is seen as an invitation to indulge Rochester s passion. Bronte portrays Rochester as fire itself. His purpose is to offer passionate and romantic love to Jane. Rochester, viewed as fire, makes the passion swelling in him more obvious to the reader. St. John Rivers does not feel much passion in his life. Therefore, he can be described as cold and icy. The first and foremost evidence of this is exemplified just by reading his name, Rivers. When Jane sees St. John for the first time, she says, I have never seen that handsome face of his look more like chiseled marble as he put aside his snow wet hair from his forehead (386). Bronte writes that St. John was at the fireside a cold, cumbrous column, gloomy and out of place (393), hinting the incompatibility of Jane and St. John. Jane s nature is passionate while St. John s is not. Bronte again uses water imagery to describe the strange marriage proposal of St. John s. She compares him with imagery of cold, running water when Jane says he has no more a husband s heart for me than that frowning giant of a rock, down which the stream is foaming in yonder gorge (459). St. John Rivers feelings are better illustrated from this use of water imagery. Bronte uses fire to describe Bertha Mason. Through Bronte s use of this imagery, the reader can see the potential dangers of allowing passion to rule uncontrolled. Bertha represents unleashed, untamed passion, without any control or reason. This can be observed when she torches his bed curtains. The imagery, such as the lit candlestick on its side lying on the hallway floor, symbolizes destructive passion that Bertha possesses. Notice that the candlestick is on its side, not upright in a safe position. When Bertha torches Thornfield, she is described as having hair streaming against the flames (476). This description signifies that Bertha has almost a satanic nature bearing a head full of fire. These two scenes are designed to make the reader appreciate the grave danger of uncontrolled passion. In Charlotte Bronte s Jane Eyre, the reader understands better what Jane, Mr. Rochester, St. John Rivers, and Bertha Mason are feeling and thinking due to Bronte s use of elemental imagery. As a result of this, the reader appreciates these characters even more. Without the use of fire and water imagery to show the characters feelings, comprehending what the characters are thinking would be difficult. Basically, Bronte s use of fire and water imagery signifies her relentless pursuit to show the reader what her characters in Jane Eyre are feeling.

Earthquake of 1987 :: essays research papers fc

I. Introduction Earthquakes in California are certainly not a surprise. What is a surprise is their unpredictability and randomness. Geologists say there is roughly a 50 percent chance that a magnitude 8 or more quake will hit the Los Angeles area sometime over the next 30 years. And, over the past twenty years, the Los Angeles area has witnessed several earthquakes, and in particular, two that were quite devastating; the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, and the January 17, 1994, Northridge Earthquake. Given the certainty that earthquakes will occur, they still seem to come as a surprise, and leave many communities unprepared to deal with their aftermath. For example, on October 1, 1987, at 7:42 a.m. the residents of the Los Angeles basin got a jolting reminder of the perils of "living on the fault line." This was due to the so-called Whittier Narrows earthquake. Hardest hit by the quake, was Whittier (pop. 72,000). Whittier is twelve miles from downtown Los Angeles and was the community closest to the epicenter. When the quake, registering 6.1 on the Richter scale, first struck, it was thought to be centered along the Old Whittier Fault. However, after extensive study, it was determined that it was actually the result of a "new" fault, or a fault that had not previously been discovered by scientists. II. Lessons Learned From The 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake What are the lessons learned from the Whittier quake? And, how does this quake compare to other more recent, higher magnitude quakes? Despite the fact that regular warnings are part of California living, repeated in schools, in earthquake exercises, by local and state governments, and even in the front of telephone books, many people were caught off-guard and panicked. Fortunately, Californians learned a lot from the Whittier quake. The Whittier earthquake was not the "big one" that Angelenos perpetually wait for. This may be hard to comprehend given the extensive damage caused by the earthquake. Although classified as "moderate," the quake left more than 100 injured and six dead, including an electrical repairman buried in an underground tunnel, a college student struck by falling concrete in a campus garage, and three people who died of heart attacks brought on by the shock. As a spokesman for the city of Whittier put it, the crumbled business district "looks like downtown Beirut." (Kerr, 16). Twenty buildings there were condemned and over 2000 homes were damaged.

Health care in the United States Essay

Obamacare is a federal statute that represents the most significant government expansion and regulatory overhaul of the United States healthcare system. Obamacare will increase healthcare costs tremendously. A positive to it is that it will provide over thirty million uninsured Americans with healthcare. Obamacare will affect businesses, especially small businesses by cutting their hours and jobs. It may also prevent them from providing their employees with health benefits. Obamabcare will also affect Medicare and Medicaid with budget cuts of around $ 716,000,000, a tax increase, and also increase the cost of medications. Health insurance exchange will be set up to try to organize the programs and offer different choices for health care plans. Overall, Obamacare will affect people that already have insurance by making their costs continue to rise. Obamacare is estimated to make the cost of insurance skyrocket, but no one truly knows. Obamacare is mostly modeled after Romneycare. Obamacare is going to cost the federal government $1.1 trillion net cost. Obamacare will be paid for mostly by the 9% tax increase and the $716 billion dollars cut from Medicare. Doctors will also be affected by pay cuts, business mergers, and them having to close their practice to new patients. Obamacare will affect young adults with premium increases, loss of coverage, government takeover of student loans, less money for education, and crushing fiscal burdens. It will affect senior citizens by increasing the age at which they can retire, and by cutting the amount of access they have to medical care by a doctor. Obamacare will affect hospitals by merger increases and many of them will lose doctors. They will be under a tremendous financial squeeze while having to manage the overall health care of their patients. To fight back against such things, many states are changing laws and not accepting it at all. Some negatives of Obamacare are newer higher taxes and the government’s control over doctors’ decisions. Drug companies and medical device companies will benefit from this law because more people will have access to medicines and equipment. Drug companies will benefit more because these patients will have medicines paid for that before they may not have been able to afford. Obamacare’s employer mandate is among the newest laws with the most anti-growth provisions. When implemented, it will force most American businesses to offer government approved health insurance to their employees or else pay new federal taxes for not doing so. This costly new  requirement will make it more expensive for companies to hire new employees in the future. Consequently, it will destroy jobs and many companies are likely to slow down hiring in anticipation of it being implemented. Major players that were instrumental in getting this bill past were Gary Cohen, President Obama, Max Baucus, Ron Wyden, Bill Nelson, and Maria Cantwell.

Othello Death by Difference - 1935 Words

For a long time we have been obsessed with one most tangible feature of Shakespeares Othello: the heros color. This we have done with good reason, for Othellos skin color is explicitly mentioned in the text from the very beginning. The fact that this tragic hero is black (when Shakespeares other heroes are white) is so intriguing that we seek to make sense of it. Writing in 1811, Charles Lamb insists that Othello is essentially unstageable, for there is â€Å"something extremely revolting in the courtship and wedded caresses of Othello and Desdemona† (221), earlier describing Othello as â€Å"a coal-black Moor† (221), his italics showing his disgust at the thought. Samuel Taylor Coleridge only a few years later asked if Shakespeare could be â€Å"so†¦show more content†¦She herself never directly refutes her fathers claim that she is under the influence of witchcraft; however, she does quite eloquently defend her new allegiance to Othello in 1.3. Brabantio loc ked her into a stereotype of passivity which she broke. Iago similarly tries to lock her into a stereotype of adultery in 3.3, as he carefully plants the seeds of doubt in Othellos mind. â€Å"Look to your wife† (3.3.199), he tells Othello, claiming that â€Å"In Venice they do let God see the pranks / They dare not show their husbands† (3.3.205). Arguably, Desdemona is innocent of any adultery. If so, she is breaks Iagos stereotype of the Venetian wife. This â€Å"typical† Venetian wife, Iago implies, would unquestionably and unashamedly sleep with Cassio. Since Desdemona breaks these stereotypes, she is different just as Othello is, but in a less visible way. Cassio, too, is different—something we may not always notice. â€Å"A Florentine† (1.1.17) and not a Venetian, Cassio is, like Othello, a foreigner. Like Othello, he gets hurt. Of course, he is a foreigner to a much smaller degree than Othello, and likewise his hurt is much smaller than Othellos. Also, like Desdemona, he breaks a gender stereotype: he cannot hold his liquor very well. We wouldShow MoreRelatedOthello Character Analysis905 Words   |  4 Pages1. Throughout the drama, â€Å"The Tragedy of Othello†, Iago successfully manipulates Cassio various times. In the writing, Shakespeare creates Iago’s plan to demote Cassio from being Othello’s lieutenant, the role Iago dreamt of, by tricking Cassio to get drunk so that he will raise chaos and result in Cassio being demoted. This worked out for Iago when Cassio accepts Iago’s encouraging words and began to drink heavily, this would result in Cassio ultimately fighting and stabbing Monta no in a drunkenRead More The Theme Of Death In Othello and A Dolls House Essay example1070 Words   |  5 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The theme of death is present in many works of literature. It is given metaphors and cloaked with different meanings, yet it always represents an end. 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