Learning Unit-jane Eyre

ERRICO DI FABIO

LEARNING UNIT History of English Literature

PURITANISM IN CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S JANE EYRE

LEARNING UNIT

Text : Meantime, Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth with his hands behind his back, majestically surveyed the whole school. Suddenly his eye gave a blink, as if it had met something that either dazzled or shocked its pupil; turning, he said in more rapid accents than he had hitherto used. "Miss Temple, Miss Temple, what -- WHAT is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ma'am, curled -- curled all over?" And extending his cane he pointed to the awful object, his hand shaking as he did so. "It is Julia Severn," replied Miss Temple, very quietly. "Julia Severn, ma'am! And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly -- here in an evangelical, charitable establishment -- as to wear her hair one mass of curls?" "Julia's hair curls naturally," returned Miss Temple, still more quietly. "Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely.” Addressees:

V Liceo;

Objective:

Puritanism vs. Modernity; Oppression vs. Freedom

Time:

About 5 hours;

Strategies:

Brainstorming, cooperative learning;

Techniques:

Skimming, scanning, infering;

Interdisciplinarity:

Religion, history , Italian;

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES : 1)

The students will be divided into five groups and the teacher asks them to work on the following picture, which refers to the text, by using active learning strategies.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Who?

When?

Where?

What?

Why?

There is a man, a girl with red long hair, other girls with bonnets and a woman

In the eighteenth A nunnery century

A man is holding He is crazy the girl's hair

Then each speaker of each group will talk about the hypotheses for the picture. 2)

Silent reading of the text and underlining of unknown words

3)

Match the words to the correct definition. The students will work in groups.

WHILE-READING ACTIVITIES : 1)

The text will be divided into paragraphs and the groups of students will give titles to them.

Par. 1 :”Meantime, Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth with his hands behind his back, majestically surveyed the whole school. Suddenly his eye gave a blink, as if it had met something that either dazzled or shocked its pupil; turning, he said in more rapid accents than he had hitherto used.” Par. 2 :"Miss Temple, Miss Temple, what -- WHAT is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ma'am, curled -- curled all over?" And extending his cane he pointed to the awful object, his hand shaking as he did so. It is Julia Severn," replied Miss Temple, very quietly.” Par. 3 :”Julia Severn, ma'am! And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly -- here in an evangelical, charitable establishment -- as to wear her hair one mass of curls?" Par. 4 :"Julia's hair curls naturally," returned Miss Temple, still more quietly. "Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely. ” 2)

The groups of the pre-reading activity will work again on the table by making possible integrations or correction of what they have done before.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Who?

When?

Where?

What?

Why?

There is a man, a girl with red long hair, other girls with bonnets and a woman

In the eighteenth A college century

3)

A man is cutting She can't have the girl's hair long hair because that society strongly religious

Where is the climax of the whole text passage? “Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely. ”

4)

Give a brief protray of the characters:

Mr. Brocklehurst

5)

Miss Temple

What is the author's message?

Julia Severn

POST-READING ACTIVITIES : 1)

Write a letter to the Mr. Brocklehurst and try to convince him that Puritanism is wrong.

2)

Problem solving: Imagine you have a time machine and want to rescue Julia Severn by taking her to the year 2009. How would you guide her in such a different age? (Cooperative Learning Activity)

after

before

3)

What song would you match to the text?

Ex: Non ho l'età – Gigliola Cinquetti

WRITTEN EVALUATION : -

Continue the story: you can choose to write either a happy ending, with Mr. Brocklehurst changing his mind, or a bad one.

ORAL EVALUATION : -

Imagine you are in the Victorian age. What would you do to change that society?