Jane Eyre and Whale Rider

Introduction:

Jane Eyre and Whale Rider equally explore the embedded notions of their context, positioning responders to experience the trials of Jane and Pai in two alternate worlds.  Under the umbrella of social class, Bronte addresses the role of women in a patriarchal society, Jane’s connection with her environment and elements of the supernatural genre. Texts from past are constantly implicitly and explicitly appropriated into popular culture and responders place a new value on them. This web of intertextuality is evident in the implicit appropriation of Jane Eyre in Whale Rider, where both texts serve a social and moral function in reflecting reality, and challenging preconceived societal norms. The film Whale Rider, by Nicki Cairo, depicts a culture in transition. Cairo examines the evolving role of women balanced with the importance of cultural identity in a town steeped in tradition. A text acts as a catalyst for responders to explore the transcendent values of society and provides opportunity to manifest into social change.

Body 1:

Jane struggles continually to achieve equality and overcome oppression. In addition to class hierarchy, she must fight against patriarchal domination. Throughout the novel, Jane must escape a dominant male figure who attempts to force her to abandon her morals or ignore her feelings. This can be seen as representative of a society in which women were expected to know their place. “My tears gushed out...the vehemence of emotion, stirred by grief and love, was claiming mastery, struggling for full sway, to overcome, to live, rise and reign.” Bronte’s elegant utilisation of long sentence structure enables jane to elaborate her developing ideas in eloquent successions rather than short, blunt statements. This construction mirrors Jane’s augmenting understanding of the values of Victorian society and her unwillingness to be repressed by patriarchy. Jane expresses that her emotions will “live, rise and reign.” These three words project power and force, and act as a representation of Jane’s decision to be an independent individual, free of societal constraints. By falling in love with Rochester, she implicitly mutinies against the class boundaries that relegate her.  Bronte explicitly portrays that Jane will not act in the manner that “custom” or “conventionalities” would deem her to act, but through her own free will.

Role of women:

Comparable to Jane, Pai broke away from her assigned gender role and liberated herself from the constraints of being a female in an oppressive society. The representation of women as subsidiary characters to men in mainstream films explains why Pai was having a difficult time in obtaining the role as leader; women are only meant to fulfill a supporting role. The pinnacle of Paikea’s ability to counter the female stereotype was in the scene when all the dead whales washed up to the shore. Her grandfather saw it as a sign that she had corrupted the system and the ancestors are punishing them. The dying whales represented the dying patriarchal standards.Niki Caro used the whales to symbolize the tribal men who needed to be rescued by a woman. One can look at this as counter-stereotyping or challenging gender expectations because males are expected to be the heroes, not the ones shipwrecked and needing assistance at sea. Females are not supposed to be revolutionary and independent. Paikea was finally able to show her strength and devotion for her culture and people, and gain the acceptance of her grandfather. As a result the society was beginning to harbor the ideas of gender equality.

Relationship  with nature:

 Jane Eyre is marked by strong romantic elements where the role of nature is fundamental to Jane’s development –Jane’s relationship with her surroundings signifies her evolving society. The five settings Jane finds herself in lay parallel with stages in her life.  Bronte’s provocative imagery provides the responder with a clear picture of the world Jane is surrounded by. The authenticities of Jane’s different locations provide reality to the plot of the novel. Nature is regularly a refuge for Jane, and weather is often used to reflect her state of mind. The novel thus has a unified structure of imagery and vocabulary. "The room was chill, because it seldom had fire, it was silent...solemn” Bronte’s provocatively cold imagery correlates  with the harsh emotional climate and sense of isolation experienced  at the Reed’s house. By contrast, whenever she encounters human comfort it is by the warmth of the domestic hearth. The fire at Thornfield figuratively embodies uncontrolled passion. Through this web of related, elemental images, the novel binds realism and imagination, reason and passion, into a satisfying union, fortified by the use of objective correlative.

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