Aerial,
I most definetly agree with your response, the beginning was stretched out more than it should have been, especially with Bronte's use of details. I also found it relevant for us as readers to have a better understanding of Jane's past in order for the novel to progress. I also agree on your view about Helen, to me she was an important aspect of Jane's life. Helen was a wise young girl who understood more than most and gave Jane great advice about humiliation and how to deal with people's such as Mrs. Scratcherd. Even though Jane Eyre was difficult to read in the beginning I would have to disagree with you about Wuthering Heights being somewhat better than Jane Eyre because to me it was my favorite of the two.

I completely agree with you when you said your opinion on Heathcliff changed throughout the book. I also felt sorry for him in the beginning but as I kept reading I began to hate how bitter he was towards all the other characters in the book.

Hannah,
I completely agree with you when you say that Heathcliff was only out to take revenge on the people who hurt him and their children. I also agree with you when you say that Nelly was tied to everything important that happened in the book. To me it seemed that Heathcliff couldn't get over what happened to him in the past and continued to dwell on it the rest of his life. It was as if he thought his goal in life was to make others pay for what happened to him. Heathcliff was probably my favorite character in the book, along with Nelly.

I completely agree with you Megan. The story did start of confusing and a little slow. But the more you read the harder I found it to put the book down! I also enjoyed the surprising timeline. It did feel as if all the events had happened years before Nelly told Mr. Lockwood. Although I found That the way Nelly explained the story as pretty truthful. I didn't find cause for her to change the story up at all, And it all sounded pretty sound. but just like you I also enjoyed the book.

I agree with you as well Jaspreet. The book was jumbled but over time became clear. With the main focus always being the true love Heathcliff had for Catherine. I don't believe anyone from the outside would understand how deeply he loved her. This causing the ending to be sad due to Heathcliff dying, but yet joyous for you know now he will be with his Catherine again.

I agree with Erin; I felt as though the ending was a bit rushed, and left out a lot of small details of Jane's life that could have made the novel a little more interesting. The only part I disagree with of Erin's comment is the French, but that is simply because I could translate it and I liked the edge it gave some of the characters' dialogue.

Amber, I totally agree with you! Jane Eyre was the typical Cinderella story and the more I got into it, the more I wanted something exciting to happen. Helen was such a sweet little girl, it broke my heart when she died. She always stood by Jane's side, even when things were tough for Jane.

Brooke, I completely agree with you! Jane Eyre was a much harder book for me to get into also. I feel like the early part of the book was very predictable and not surprising at all. The book definitely did not catch my attention right away.

I completely agree with Erin about everything, especially when she said that she did not like the part of the story where Jane leaves Thornfield. Even though the ending was rushed I still really enjoyed the way everything turned out!

I totally agree Lauren, this did slide under the category of a romance story, somewhat of a Disney genre. A disparaged girl, development into a women, love interests, sifting out the rest; you get it. I also agree a pun the elaborate scheme to marry Jane, why not just be upfront about it and put a ring on it? But this probably adds to the mystique of Mr. Rochester, probably just the character development Bronte wanted to show the readers.

Dante',
I completely agree that Jane Eyre would have been much more enjoyable if some of the unnecessary facts had been left out. I often thought that the main plot was interesting but it was lost in descriptions that did not aid the story.

Brooke, I agree with you about how interesting the part of Jane Eyre was when she became a governess and the parts talking about Rochester's secret. It was almost like reading a lifetime movie! So dramatic! I also agree that Jane was foolish and naive for taking Rochester's hand in marriage despite all of the unanswered questions. The fact that he kept it for so long after they had been married was unacceptable and the fact that Jane put up with him keeping the secret from her makes her seem very passive unlike her personality earlier on in the book where she seemed to be more headstrong. But for me I would read this book again. I love drama-filled books like this.

Luke, I can definitely say I agree with you on the last point you made about Jane taking a stand and doing what she wanted and not what she was told. However when it comes to being interested in the book, I found myself more interested in certain scene then say for instance having something catch my attention for the rest of the book. The beginning fought my attention because I was so depressed by the way Jane was treated as a child. I also enjoyed the scene with Helen Burns, Grace Poole's story, and the wedding scene. After Jane realized that St. John and Diana were her cousins my mind was completely blown. The irony of a poor girl with no relatives growing to work for her cousins really got to me. From that point I was eager to read the rest. And I completely agree about Wuthering Heights!!

I agree with you Chandler. The beginning was a very slow read, but it seemed to pick up a lot and really take dramatic turns. The most intriguing part for me was trying to figure out who Mr. Rochester was hiding upstairs. This is what kept me reading through the middle section. I also agree with you on how awful Mrs. Reed treated Jane. I don't understand how anyone could do that to a child, especially one that they have agreed to take in and supposedly treat as a family member.

I gotta say that I also loved Jane Eyre the same way. Seeing her grow up in a rough house then end as a rich heiress really made the book worth reading. The ending gave you that sense of satisfaction that the story was ended the way it should be.

Ryan, I agree with you. The downfall for this book was the complexity of it which made it a difficult read. If its so difficult that you have to reread a lot of passages, it doesn't make for a very enjoyable book to read in my opinion. If it was simplified and told from one point-of-view and the characters were better explained, this might have been an enjoyable book to read. Although I did actually somewhat understand why Heathcliff was doing what he was doing.

I agree Jacob! When I was reading Jane Eyre I noticed a lot of references to God in a somewhat negative way. For example the way St. John talks about how Jane must give up her life to spread the Bible, and it seems as though negative things will happen if she doesn't. I understand that for the time period this was probably considered, like Mrs. Proctor said, a moral book, because it showed that if you stay on the right path God will reward you. I also found it interesting that Emily Bronte also included many of these aspects in Wuthering Heights.

I totally agree with you, Bryana. I feel as though the first couple of chapters depicted Jane's life to be so harrowing and gloomy, that it reeled me in to continue reading. The Reed family's actions towards Jane immediantly turned me off. I am one to love scandoulous storylines, and Jane Eyre most definitely contained one from her days at Gateshead to her personal life. Though to some it may had been predictable, I personally loved the way the book ended in the union of Rochester and Jane. Overall, I too, believe it was a great book and was somewhat simpler to understand and connect together than Wuthering Heights.

I actually enjoyed Wuthering Heights a lot more than Jane Eyre. I loved how there was such precise detail included. It gave me a better understanding of the time period and overall setting of the story. Heathcliff, I felt, was a very stubborn character and ended up being my least favorite, even though I was on his side in the beginning of the book.

Alex, I agree the book was a page turner and the details definitely helped me relate to the story. Jane Eyre was my favorite for being so much easier to understand than Wuthering Heights. I too predicted the love affair between Rochester and Jane from the beginning!

I agree with you to a point Dante, I definitely thought Wuthering Heights had too much going on at once but I don't believe simplicity is the key when it comes to writing. Heathcliff starts out as what I perceived as the 'good guy' at the beginning but over time I started to like him a little less. Then again I started to dislike many of the characters throughout the book the more I read into it.

I agree, I actually enjoyed this book and liked the layout it was written in. There were surprises and twists you wouldn't expect and in a way it all pieces together slowly the more you read into. I also agree with what you said about Rochester trying to make Jane jealous but he showed no affection or love towards her at all until Jane confessed her love to him. It's as if she was treated as a backup plan, maybe more wanted than Ingram but nonetheless a backup plan.

I completely agree with you, Grace. Although for me personally, I believe Jane Eyre to be the better book, Wuthering Heights relentlessly kept you guessing with the depth of the plot. Heathcliff's love for Catherine was undeniable, and I believe his resentment led him to force young Catherine to stay at Wuthering Heights. In regards to Nelly, I couldn't help but to compare her to Bessie in Jane Eyre. Nelly and Bessie, both servents, were the people Jane and Heathcliff could confide in. They were indeed motherly figures to these two orphans and instilled confidence within them.

Zach,

I both disagree and agree with you on some of your points. I didn't like Wuthering heights nearly as much as I did Jane Eyre and found it to be a little difficult to read. I definitely preferred Jane Eyre out of the two books. Also, I didn't hate Heathcliffs character entirely, I pitied and somewhat liked his character at both the beginning and end of the book. I did hate how he manipulated people as well like you said about wanting Linton and Catherine to marry so he would have her fortune. Thankfully, in the subnotes at the bottom of my pages in my book they actually translated most of what Joseph said so I didn't have to worry understanding that too much. If I didn't have them, I probably would have misunderstood most of what he said.

LP,
I totally agree with you when you said that the constant introduction of characters was a bit confusing. I will definitely be making some type of family tree in the near future. Also, you were spot-on when you said that Jane Eyre was the more enjoyable book of the two. As for the difficulty of reading it, it definitely was a hard read. Overall, our opinions on Jane Eyre seem to coincide almost completely with each other.

I definitely agree! Jane Eyre was much easier to understand and more interesting than Wuthering Heights. It took me a couple chapters for the book to grab my attention but it did once Mr. Rochester's bed caught on fire, that started everything. From then on there were twists in the book that you would have never thought of. In the end I was really happy that she went from a miserable childhood to a happy adulthood too and that her and Rochester ended up together!

I completely agree with what you thought of Jane Eyre, Kristin. I felt it fascinating that she was able to find her feminine voice in a time when it was not accepted. I think that may have been one of the things that truly drew me in to Jane and made me attached to her, as a character. Without her strong sense of independence and fiery attitude, I feel this may have become just another boring love story. Jane, however, brought to the table completely different elements that made the story special. The most important I feel of these would have to be her troubled childhood, her sense of pride, and her way of persevering through everything that went wrong in her life. This set the book apart from the rest, for me, and enabled me to become intrigued in the story. Jane Eyre was a feminist before anything of the sort was ever thought of, making her quite a historian in my book.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head with Jane Eyre for me. The whole body of the book was rather predictable, right up to the crazy wife part. I feel as if the Bronte sisters almost wrote their books in completely opposite ways, because while I enjoyed the body of Wuthering Heights better, the ending was pretty disappointing. They should have wrote one book together, with Emily writing the body and Charlotte writing the end, and then they might have had a good book throughout.

Maxwell, I completely agree woth what you said about Jane Eyre being uneventful. It seemed as if EVERYTHING in her life at forst went wrong which was rodiculous since she was 10 years old. And Cinderella was a great comparison! I thought one of the servants had set the room on fire and stabbed Mr. Mason which kept the plot suspenseful. Overall I think it was a good book as well, just with such a slow progression.

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Aerial,
I agree that a Bronte sister collaboration would be awesome. Jane Eyre was boring because it was like reading a journal, however the other characters were very interesting. Wuthering Heights was more interesting, but I felt like the over-arching theme was more simple

Aerial,
I agree that a Bronte sister collaboration would be awesome. Jane Eyre was boring because it was like reading a journal, however the other characters were very interesting. Wuthering Heights was more interesting, but I felt like the over-arching theme was more simple

I agree with you in that Jane's aunt also got under my skin. I also believe that Rochester should have handled his marital problems with Bertha before moving on to Jane.. It was wrong if him to pursue and in a way lead on, Jane. If he truly loved her he would have taken care of any problems like that beforehand. I too liked Jane Eyre more than Wuthering Heights. All in all Zach, you and I are on the same page.

At the beginning when the characters were being introduced, I couldn't keep anyone straight. I'd say that's a problem with the novel, because I feel like I didn't get the full effect of the story because I didn't know who anyone was.

Megan, I totally agree with you about how the timeline of the book was arranged. It was unlike any book I have read and caught me off guard at first but I quickly adjusted. I also found it hard to understand at first as well. It was kind of dull to me and the vocabulary was a tad confusing at times. However, it eventually gained my attention, and I enjoyed the book for the most part.

Jane Eyre
This was a very well written book but I still had problems with it. The whole part of the book before Jane went off to school and a lot of her early life was way too long and some of it was unnecessary. Also, some of it was hard to understand at first but that wasn't really a big deal. I also don't like how most of it, like the end, was predictable; but it did have some aspects that were extremely unpredictable, like the drama with Mr. Rochester's wife, that I really enjoyed. I also really liked the characters Mr. Rochester and Helen Burns for what they did for the story but I HATED Mrs. Reed and her daughters. Overall, I thought it was an extremely well written book, with a very interesting, but a tad drawn out story line.

Excellent details, Thomas! Edward definitely thought Jane would "save" him.

Nice use of supporting details, Alex.

Bertha was probably restrained whenever she was hard to handle, and Grace was usually drunk and laid back, thus not someone that would agitate Bertha too much. :)

Phillip,

I agree with you. Heathcliff accomplished his goal of revenge. His manipulative and cruel treatment of others allowed him to have his revenge. This treatment did not fill the void in his heart that Catherine left though. Also i see what you are saying about Lockwood. For him to be so curious, we really didn't get to know his character.