Ferrell's Blog Post

     Well, I am extremely frustrated with Jane and Mr. Rochester. We finally see some flirtatious behavior between the two, even though it seems like they are belittling each other the whole time. It is obvious that Mr. Rochester values Jane and her opinions because he asks her if she thinks that he is handsome. I do not understand why Mr. Rochester and Jane are calling each other unattractive while simultaneously engaging in flirty banter, but they are both so strange that they probably like that. Also, we finally get to hear a little about Mr. Rochester's mysterious past. His past seems pretty crazy. He was in love with an opera dancer (who he showered in expensive gifts), but then he caught her cheating on him while he was hiding on her balcony. Then, he immediately stops loving her when he realizes that she is cheating with someone he despises, so he breaks it off and kicks her out of the hotel. Finally, it is revealed that the opera woman (Adele's mom) says that Mr. Rochester is Adele's father. It is evident that he is NOT the father, but when Celine abandons Adele, Mr. Rochester decides to bring her to England. This look into Mr. Rochester's past makes me wonder what else he is hiding. Anyway, let's get back to Jane and Mr. Rochester. We will skip the fire in Mr. Rochester's bedroom, which weirdly everyone ignores, the demonic laughter that Jane hears in the hallway, and the fact that Grace is obviously hiding something shady, so we can get back to the love story that is unfolding. At the end of the reading, Jane confesses that she has grown to love Mr. Rochester and longs to see him, and keeps wondering when he will call for her. Mrs. Fairfax reveals that Mr. Rochester has gone to a party and that he is very popular with the ladies. This leads us to arguably the most disturbing and sad part of the reading, where Jane's jealousy leads her to have extremely negative self talk and to torture herself with a painting. Jane has an inner monologue where she calls herself stupid for ever thinking that she is worthy of Mr. Rochester's love and affection, and to remind herself of this, she paints an "accurate" self portrait and then a painting of what she thinks the perfect Miss Ingram looks like. She does this to remind herself that she will never be worthy of Mr. Rochester, which is extremely depressing and disturbing. I am eager to keep reading and see what happens next in this book!