#book themes

[itsapmseymour]

So how many characters can I expect to have “the horrors” in their stories?

Each character in CosWon faces a degree of strife or tragedy in their stories :)

How they choose to overcome, accept it, or cope is up to each of them.

One of the themes of the book is understanding one of the many paths to find yourself again~

[thundamoo]

In response to your last reblog:

I just wanted to say I absolutely adore your books. I only wish I had discovered VM sooner, that I could have watched it develop in real-time.

I love all of the main characters (and side characters for that matter) deeply and think you have an incredible talent for eliciting understanding of varied personalities and minds. You take characters who would at best be tragic villains elsewhere and make them so much more. I love that when you make moral complexity, it is truly complex with the evil acts actually feeling deeply terrible while being totally understandable for the characters. That they are neither excused nor excessively demonised.

And you write characters with brains that remind me of my own at various points in my life. Its scary sometimes!

Also, everyone is incredibly gender all the time. I am not above saying that much as I'd be terrified I'd willfully walk into Penny's clinic for the monster transition magic.

So uh, hope this ramble was welcome! I just wanted to show appreciation for your work. It's definitely going to stick with me and inspire my own creative endeavours I think.

Aww! Thank you so much! I think it's profoundly important to look at good and evil with a clear lens and avoid excessive justification or demonization. It's easy and satisfying to look at evil, direct hate at anyone who participates in it, and call it a day. But the more you look at why people are the way they are, the more you analyze the path that took them there, the more it's easy to realize that you could have ended up on that path, and you might not have been strong enough, smart enough, wise enough, or kind enough to get off it any more than they did. Being good is a responsibility I believe we all have. But it is also, in many ways, a privilege. At many times in my life I have found myself realizing that it wasn't due to my own merit that I can consider myself kind. I could have, probably even would have, ended up a bigot or a narcissist or otherwise a very cruel person, were it not for the help of better people around me. I think we should all try to remember that, when people hurt us. Sometimes, you have to fight monsters. That is an undeniable fact of life. But wherever you can, show kindness to them instead, and you might be surprised by the person you find underneath.

[iamthenightcolormeblack]

Much has been written about the foils in Jane Eyre used as representations of the conflict Jane faces between passion and reason (ex. Rochester versus St. John, Bertha versus St. John). I wanted to include the Reed cousins (Eliza and Georgiana) within that discussion because I haven't seen much about this particular foil.

In chapter 21 of the novel, Jane meets her cousins while visiting Gateshead to see her sick aunt. She stays for a month and gets to know her cousins, who have changed since she saw them last.

First, my case for the Reed cousins being foils:

Eliza Reed lives like a nun--she wears plain black clothing and keeps herself busy on her own schedule, which runs like clockwork. She devotes herself solely to religious instruction and busywork. Eliza values logic and likes dividing each day into sections for productivity.

Georgiana Reed is the total opposite--she represents the excesses of the wealthy as she's perpetually bored and lives only for balls and social events. Even though she should be in mourning gowns, I've always pictured her wearing fancy pink, puffy dresses, slightly plump with bows in her golden hair and jewelry adorning her neck. Unlike Eliza, Georgiana is "emotional" and complains whenever she isn't the center of attention.

They are both united by their lack of empathy for others and only care for themselves. Georgiana is self-centered and thinks only of her own pleasure, while Eliza, though "religious" in that she observes the rites and studies the Bible, hates Georgiana and wishes to cut ties with her even though they are sisters.

So how is the foil of the contrasting Reed cousins used to develop the conflict of passion versus reason?

Georgiana's "vain and insipid" personality represents the danger of being completely ruled by emotions. She's become immature because she doesn't have any logic/reason with which to control her emotions/channel it into something to occupy herself with.

Eliza is interesting because she is what Jane would have become had she stayed at Lowood; studious and "productive" but slave to a boring routine of religious rites where each day is rigidly divided into portions and controlled by a schedule. Eliza is seemingly level-headed but does not allow herself to feel; as a result of emotional suppression she has lost the ability to love others, calling into question whether or not she is a good Christian.

Jane doesn't approve of Eliza's decision to become a nun because she feels that Eliza would be "walled up alive" inside. By cutting herself off from the outside world and the possibility of human connection she is in effect slowly killing herself. In this way Eliza and St. John Rivers are similar in that their zealous, rigid view of religion turn them into "automatons" who are busy performing religious rites but who don't actually "live."

I saw an interesting post about St. John being a "broken mirror" in that he reflects what would have happened to Jane had she suppressed her emotions and lived according to "duty." In fact, a possibly stronger argument can be made for Eliza being the broken mirror as well. In outward appearances, they resemble each other (plain and wear dark clothing); in fact Eliza modeled herself after Jane's composure. Like Jane, Eliza wants independence, but she and Jane have different ways of getting freedom. They both prize self-sufficiency as a means of attaining some independence; Jane does so through employing herself as a governess, while Eliza is proud of her ability to control her time by setting strict schedules.

But their view of freedom differs significantly. Eliza's freedom involves rejecting human connection so that her time will not be taken up by others. In other words, Eliza's freedom is "negative" in that she wants to banish all obstacles to her lifestyle, even with the cost of emotional imprisonment. In contrast, when Jane becomes "self-sufficient" through inheriting her fortune, her first instinct is to divide it among her family members. Jane achieves her freedom through balancing her individualism with the need to "love others" in a Christian way like Helen Burns; she thrives from the support of those who respect and care for her and in turn gains pride from her individual ability to support them and herself.

As much as Jane dislikes Georgiana for her laziness, she recognizes that Eliza is to blame as well for her lack of compassion towards her sister. And last but not least, Eliza is an important part of Charlotte Bronte's critique of Christianity within the novel. She is by outward appearances a good Christian but in actuality a "machine, an automaton without feelings." Ultimately, the contrasting cousins represent alternate mindsets for Jane, and it is up to her to find the happy balance between passion and reason, self-sacrifice versus self-indulgence, isolation versus community, and "work versus play."

This is a continuation of a fragment I had in my review of the 2006 BBC miniseries version of Jane Eyre about the cousins representing passion versus reason.

Tags: @appleinducedsleep @princesssarisa @thatvermilionflycatcher @obscurelittlebird @brontefanatic

[tiktoksinspo]

[desertsongpdf]

pLayLiStS :))

I HAVE NO TALENTS OR HOBBIES (i do but useless ones) EXECPT LISTENING TO MUSIC WHILE DOING EVERY DAMN THING. SO HERES A BUNCH OF PLAYLISTS I MADE BECUASE THIS IS LITERALLY SOMETHING I DO WHEN IM IRRATATED/BORED/SAD/SCARED/HAPPY/EMPTY ETC.. ON THAT NOTE, HERES MY PLAYLIST.

also im broke as fuck and dont have spotify “PrEmIuM” dont hate

these are some playlists i made off of quotes from some of my favorite books of all time

“remember this feeling, the moment you stop being a rabbit”- Nora Sakavic; The Foxhole Court. The feeling when you do it. when you escape the cycle and evolve. when you are free of the norms. when you feel like the best version of yourself.

“maybe we just lived between hurting and healing” - Bejamin Alire Saenz; Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. For the 3ams spent awake, for the lost one, for the ones hanging on, for the numb and empty.

“i looked up at the stars extending out into incomprehensible infinity and was somehow frightened” - Wolfgang Herndorff; Why We Took The Car (’Tschik’ in the original german) for the ones who look to the stars for answers and as friends. for the ones who wish for change but are to scared for it. for the ones whos ambitions are worth a million dreams. 

“for the ones who dream of stranger worlds” - V.E Schwab; A Darker Shade of Magic. for the ones who wish they were far away. for the ones who wish they could let go of everything chaining them down. for the ones who dream of the brightest futures and the greatest possibilities. 

[englishobservations]

Books and Pens!

Hey, everyone!

I have a book club on discord! You should definitely join if you love books, writing, or want to make friends!

January's theme is "Fresh Start"

You can vote now on suggested books:

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After by Jenny Colgan

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

City of Friends by Joanna Trollope

Please stop by! We'd love more people to have discussions with!

https://discord.gg/4wKcqaa

[englishobservations]

October Book Theme

Hey, everyone! 

I just wanted to let you know that I have a book club discord! This month’s theme for the book club is Supernatural and we are looking for suggestions. If you would like to join just click here Books and Pens 

We are a small group, but we try to talk whenever we can. We also have a few channels for general bookworms, writers, and fans of Harry Potter. We are always taking suggestions on how to make our discord group better, as well! 

So, please join if you can! Anyone and everyone is welcome!!

Thank you!!! 

<3 Marisa Ann