Writer's methods — Jane Eyre — Edexcel GCSE English Literature 1ET0
Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Writer's methods
Writer's methods
What you need to know
How Brontë's form, structure and language create meaning: the first-person narrator looking back on her life and speaking directly to the reader,
the Bildungsroman shape of five settings, Gothic elements, symbols and motifs such as fire and ice, the red-room and the chestnut tree,
weather and pathetic fallacy, and dialogue that shows Jane as Rochester's equal.
The first-person narrator looking back on her life, and her direct addresses to the reader, as in 'Reader, it was on Monday night'.
The Bildungsroman's five settings, each a stage in Jane's growth, and the patterns that mirror one another: two homes with cousins, three proposals and two fires.
Gothic elements from the red-room to the torn veil, symbols of fire and ice, and the chestnut tree split by lightning and later recalled by Rochester.
Weather and setting, from the cold rain of the opening to 'A splendid Midsummer shone over England' before the proposal.
Edexcel's novel question has two parts, and neither marks context: part (a) on the printed extract marks language, form and structure (AO2); part (b) on the novel elsewhere, from memory, marks the argument and its references (AO1), not language analysis. Use context only where it explains a reading, and say which part each worked paragraph and exam tip is for.
