Yousuf Karsh, photographer essays

Yousuf Karsh, photographer essays Youseph Karsh was a world-renowned photographer, famous for his photographs of dignitaries and political figures. Karsh was born in Turkish Armenia in 1908. At the age of 14 he and his family fled to Syria to avoid the genocide being committed in Armenia. At 16 years of age his family sent him to Canada to live with his Uncle who was a portrait photographer. When he was 20 his uncle sent him to Boston to study photography with John Garo, who was considered one of the top ten portrait photographers in America. What was to have been a six-month apprenticeship lasted three years. Karsh was exposed to famous people from the world of music and theatre and he decided that when he branched out on his own he would only photograph those men and women who leave their mark on the world. In 1932 Karsh moved back to Canada and opened his photography studio in Ottawa, there he caught the eye of Canadas Prime Minister, Mackenzie King. King set him up to photograph political figures. In 1941 King arranged for Karsh to photograph Winston Churchill, who was visiting Canada, Churchill had not been notified he was having his portrait made until he was being ushered into the room. Grumbling, he lit a cigar and told Karsh he had exactly two minutes to take his picture. Karsh, knowing he did not have adequate time to get a good photograph, calmly walked over to Churchill, plucked the cigar from his mouth, and saying, forgive me sir, released the shutter. Afterward Churchill told Karsh You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed. Karsh sold this photograph to Life magazine for $100. It has become the most reproduced portrait in American history. Karshs goal when photographing someone was to expose the essential element which has made them great, explaining, All I know is that within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task ...

How to Use Loops in Ruby Programming

How to Use Loops in Ruby Programming Computer programs often have to perform actions a number of times, not just once. For example, a program that prints all of your new email will need to print each email from a list, not just a single email. To do this, constructs called loops are used. A loop will repeat the statements inside it a number of times until some condition is met. While Loops The first type of these loops is a while loop. While loops will execute all of the statements contained within them as long as the conditional statement remains true. In this example, the loop continually increases the value of the variable i by one. As long as the conditional statement i 10 is true, the loop will continue executing the statement i 1 which adds one to the variable. #!/usr/bin/env rubyi 0while i 10i 1endputs i Until Loops Until loops are almost identical to while loops except that they will loop as long as the conditional statement is false. The while loop will loop while the condition is true, the until loop will loop until the condition is true. This example is the functional equivalent of the while loop example, except using an until loop, until i 10 . The variable is incremented by one until its value equals ten. #!/usr/bin/env rubyi 0until i 10i 1endputs i Loops the "Ruby Way" Though the more traditional while and until loops are used in Ruby programs, closure-based loops are more common. It isnt even necessary to understand what closures are or how they work in order to use these loops; in fact, theyre viewed as normal loops despite being very different under the hood. The Times Loop The times loop can be used on any variable containing a number or used on a number itself. In the following example, the first loop is run 3 times and the second loop is run however many times is input by the user. If you input 12, it would run 12 times. Youll notice that the times loop uses the dot syntax (3.times do) rather than the keyword syntax used by the while and until loop. This has to do with how the times loop works under the hood but its used in the same way a while or until loop is used. #!/usr/bin/env ruby3.times doputs This will be printed 3 timesendprint Enter a number: num gets.chomp.to_inum.times doputs Ruby is great!end The Each Loop The each loop is perhaps the most useful of all the loops. Each loop will take a list of variables and run a block of statements for each of them. Since almost all computing tasks use lists of variables and have to do something with each of them in the list, the each loop is by far the most common loop in Ruby code. One thing to note here is the argument to the loops block of statements. The value of the current variable the loop is looking at is assigned to the variable name in pipe characters, which is |n| in the example. The first time the loop runs, the n variable will be equal to Fred, the second time the loop runs it will be equal to Bob and so on. #!/usr/bin/env ruby# A list of namesnames [ Fred, Bob, Jim ]names.each do|n|puts Hello #{n}end

Kinship among South Indian Communities Literature review

Kinship among South Indian Communities - Literature review Example Kinship among South Indian communities has been indispensable and the main form of social organization (caste system). The caste system was a closed hereditary group to which a person belonged strictly by birth. At one point, there were relationships based on endogamous marriage between two people from the same caste. Kinship is also concerned about the productive anxiety of relations of distinction and sameness, the main aspects being the ties that separate or bind. In a fishing village, ‘the Marianad’ what matters is the relations between siblings. The children of the same father and mother, siblings are similar apart from their gender. The strongest differentiation is made between siblings of different gender, a difference that has a great effect in the following generation (Busby 2000; 1995). Therefore, among the â€Å"Marianads† sisters are viewed to be identical in a manner that brother and sister cannot be. Sisters in this tribe, live closely, they are spot ted with each other baby either carrying or feeding it. Contrary, brothers are different in that they move to their wife’s houses in distinct villages, although they view their brother’s children as their own, and they often refer to them as their daughters or sons. The word Dravidian refers to a family dialect mainly spoken in South India. The Dravidian family is different in both origin and structure from the Anglo-Aryan family located in North India. People from South India classify kin based on the difference in sex, the difference in age, the difference in generation, and difference of kin identical with union relationship. This system exemplifies a sociological theory of marriage, and it justifies the issue of someone marrying a cross-cousin (Clark-Deces 2011; Bourdieu 1997). The Marianad people do not have the separate terminologies for the younger and elder sibling, uncles, and aunts. They also do not differentiate between kin identified to ego’s parents via same-sex association (parallel kin) and kin identified to ego’s parents via opposite se-associations. Writers such as Dumont try to suggest the differentiation between the cross and parallel kin in comprehending marriage choices and decisions in South India (Dumont 2006). The children of parents’ same or similar sex siblings (the fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law) are absorbed to the position of elder or young siblings, with whom sexual intimacy, marriage and sexual activities are prohibited. On the other hand, the children of parents’ cross-sex siblings (fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law) are absorbed to the position of spouses or wives with whom marriage is accepted or permitted in that in some castes in south India, it is preferred and prescribed. It is significant to note that these terms recommend separation between relatives (in-laws) and kin, which is not the same as our cultural differentiation between relatives by marriage and blood relatives.

Psychological Treatment of Culturally Diverse Populations Research Paper

Psychological Treatment of Culturally Diverse Populations - Research Paper Example In contrast in 2000, the numbers fell down to 69%. The U.S. Census Bureau foresees that racial/ethnic minorities will constitute a numeric majority by the year 2050. However, other private researches made by the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Interests (2000) anticipate that this demographic transformation will take place sooner. The following 2000 U.S. Census figures will provide us with an overall idea on some minority groups. The U.S. Census Bureau reported several conclusions on the bases of these statistics. Most importantly, they consider that it is impossible for the mental health clinician not to meet clients who differ in regards to race, ethnicity, and culture. Secondly, what is defined as therapy can vary considerably from the traditional understanding of the mental health professional. And last but not least, mental health workers have to become culturally competent in order to meet the needs of their clients. Attention to diversity and cultural competence and awareness are of great importance for the U.S. society since it has become increasingly diverse. In this paper I will focus my attention on ethical practice with patience from different cultural, ethnic and racial background. I will also concentrate on some recommendations for the psychological treatment of Mexican-American population. The American Psychologica... Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Populations (APA, 1993) suggest comprehensible counseling and flexible perspectives for working with such individuals. It is of great importance that each psychologist remains sensitive to diversity issues and possesses general knowledge about the groups that seek mental health treatment. The American Psychological Association Ethics Code (APA, 1992) requires that psychologists are aware of "cultural, individual, and role differences" and "accord appropriate respect to the fundamental rights, dignity, and worth or all people (Principle D: Respect for People's Rights and Dignity, p. 1599)." Further, the psychologists are instructed by the APA Ethics Code (1992) to acquire the necessary training if he is to work with individuals of diverse background. Having the knowledge about the client's culture will aid the therapist to incorporate into the mental health treatment traditional spiritual and healing customs and will reinforce the partnership between the therapist and the patient. Aviera (2002) reports on multiple occasions when disclosing personal details "helps the Latino client feel that the therapist is a caring and real person (p.18)." Familiarity with one's culture, openness and genuineness of human interactions are of prime significance if the psychologist aims to work effectively with culturally diverse client. According to the numbers provided by the 2000 U.S. Census over 35 million identify themselves as Hispanic, which approximately makes 13 % of the total U.S. population. The majority 58.5% are of Mexican origin. Barona (2003) reports that "many ancestors of present-day Mexican Americans resided on this land when national borders were established more than

The Use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War Essay -- Vietnam War Essays

The Use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War Agent Orange is a plant killer, which was used during the Vietnam War to destroy the massive amount of trees (Nguyen, 1). The destruction that occurred, however, is far more extensive than once believed. Complications in health occur much more frequently to those exposed to the chemical than those who managed to avoid contact (Nguyen, 2). The use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War affected the American soldier’s health and genetics. Agent Orange is a 50:50 mixture of two major compounds, 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy acetic acid (Nguyen, 2). This defoliant also contains dioxin, which is one of the most lethal compounds known to man (Nguyen, 2). Ironically, the dioxin, which makes Agent Orange lethal to humans, isn’t intended to kill plants at all (Vancil, 1). It is extremely hard to prove, however, that dioxin is responsible for the countless illnesses acquired by many Vietnam veterans because each individual has their own tolerance to dioxin (Vancil, 1). Many soldiers in the Vietnam War encountered Agent Orange repeatedly. Their lives revolved around the 55-gallon drums, which once were filled with an extremely harmful herbicide. Unaware of the possible consequences, many soldiers built showers and hibachis out of these discarded drums (Doyle, 139). They also used the barren drums to store potatoes and watermelons (Doyle, 139). One man described to his wife how they would bathe and s...

My Ideal Career

My ideal career goal is to successfully complete all necessary training to become a proficient source of protection to our nation. My first desires are becoming a part of the U. S. Marshal forces or joining a Crime Scene Investigating team. I am open to various fields throughout the Criminal Justice system as long as I’m making a difference in the everyday lives of others. I chose this path because of my eight year military background involving tours with the Marine Corps and the Army National Guard.I served fifteen months overseas in Iraq with the Army National Guard where every day was a challenge to restore order. I fed off of the motivation of my fellow troops and my own motivation to make an impact on the lives of the people in Iraq. The careers that have my interest have many similarities that I have been trained on over the years. I chose this profession because I hold a passion for law enforcement and the military close to my heart. In this type of work, a bond forms b etween co-workers that lasts a lifetime. I am not only motivated to make a difference in the communities, but also motivated to join the ranks of a new family.Every day should be adventurous and my motivation for this type of work will allow me to push above and beyond the call of duty. Receiving my college education will boost my level of skills and support my military background to help me find work in various specialized fields. Currently my military background would allow me to have a job under Law Enforcement, but having a degree will allow me to move further along in my career to higher positions and more responsibility, which in return leads to making more money. My education in Criminal Justice plus my military background will both be the backbone to a new beginning.

Nevertheless, She Persisted Jane Eyre Study Guide

To paraphrase Virginia Woolf, modern readers often assume that Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, published in 1847 under the ridiculous pseudonym Currer Bell, will be old-fashioned and difficult to relate to, only to be astonished by a novel that largely feels as fresh and modern today as it did in the 19th century. Regularly adapted into new films and TV shows and still serving as the touchstone for generations of writers, Jane Eyre is a remarkable novel both in its innovation and in its enduring quality. Innovation in fiction isn’t always easy to appreciate. When Jane Eyre published it was something remarkable and new, a fresh way of writing in so many ways it was astounding. Closing in on two centuries later, those innovations have been absorbed into the larger literary zeitgeist and to younger readers might not seem so special. Even when people can’t appreciate the historical context of the novel, however, the skill and artistry that Charlotte Brontà « brought to the novel makes it a thrilling reading experience. There are, however, plenty of very good novels from the period that remain eminently readable (for reference, see everything Charles Dickens wrote). What sets Jane Eyre apart is the fact that it’s arguably the Citizen Kane of English-language novels, a work that transformed the art form permanently, a work that supplied many of the techniques and conventions still in use today. At the same time it’s also a powerful love story with a protagonist who is complicated, intelligent, and a pleasure to spend time with. It just also happens to be one of the greatest novels ever written. Plot For many reasons, it’s important to note that the subtitle of the novel is An Autobiography. The story begins when Jane is an orphan at just ten years old, living with her cousins the Reed Family at the request of her deceased uncle. Mrs. Reed is cruel to Jane, making it clear that she views her as an obligation and allowing her own children to be cruel to Jane, making her life a misery. This culminates in an episode where Jane defends herself from one of Mrs. Reed’s children and is punished by being locked in the room in which her uncle passed away. Terrified, Jane believes she sees her uncle’s ghost and faints from sheer terror. Jane is attended by the kindly Mr. Lloyd. Jane confesses her misery to him, and he suggests to Mrs. Reed that Jane be sent off to school. Mrs. Reed is happy to be rid of Jane and sends her to the Lowood Institution, a charity school for orphaned and poor young girls. Jane’s escape at first only leads her to more misery, as the school is run by the mean-spirited Mr. Brocklehurst, who embodies the pitiless â€Å"charity† often championed by religion. The girls in his charge are treated poorly, sleeping in cold rooms and eating a poor diet with frequent punishments. Mr. Brocklehurst, convinced by Mrs. Reed that Jane is a liar, singles her out for punishment, but Jane makes some friends including fellow classmate Helen and the kind-hearted Miss Temple, who helps clear Jane’s name. After a typhus epidemic leads to the death of Helen, Mr. Brocklehurst’s cruelty is exposed and conditions improve at Lowood. Jane eventually becomes a teacher there. When Miss Temple leaves to marry, Jane decides it’s time for her to move on as well, and she finds employment as a governess to a young girl at Thornfield Hall, the ward of Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester. Rochester is arrogant, prickly, and often insulting, but Jane stands up to him and the two find that they enjoy each other immensely. Jane experiences several odd, seemingly-supernatural events while at Thornfield, including a mysterious fire in Mr. Rochester’s room. When Jane learns that her aunt, Mrs. Reed, is dying, she puts aside her anger towards the woman and goes to tend to her. Mrs. Reed confesses on her deathbed that she was worse to Jane than previously suspected, revealing that Jane’s paternal uncle had written asking Jane to come live with him and be his heir, but Mrs. Reed told him Jane was dead. Returning to Thornfield, Jane and Rochester admit their feelings for each other, and Jane accepts his proposal—but the wedding ends in tragedy when it’s revealed that Rochester is already married. He confesses that his father forced him into an arranged marriage with Bertha Mason for her money, but Bertha suffers from a serious mental condition and has been deteriorating almost from the moment he married her. Rochester has kept Bertha locked up in a room in Thornfield for her own safety, but she occasionally escapes—explaining many of the mysterious events Jane experienced. Rochester begs Jane to run away with him and live in France, but she refuses, unwilling to compromise her principles. She flees Thornfield with her scant possessions and money, and through a series of misfortunes winds up sleeping out in the open. She is taken in by her distant relative St. John Eyre Rivers, a clergyman, and learns that her uncle John left her a fortune. When St. John proposes marriage (considering it a form of duty), Jane contemplates joining him on missionary work in India, but hears the voice of Rochester calling to her. Returning to Thornfield, Jane is shocked to find it burned to the ground. She discovers that Bertha escaped her rooms and set the place ablaze; in trying to rescue her, Rochester was badly injured. Jane goes to him, and he is at first convinced she will reject him for his hideous appearance, but Jane assures him she still loves him, and they finally are married. Major Characters Jane Eyre:  Jane is the protagonist of the story. An orphan, Jane grows up dealing with adversity and poverty, and becomes a person who values her independence and agency even if it means living a simple, no-frills life. Jane is considered ‛plain’ and yet becomes an object of desire for multiple suitors because of the strength of her personality. Jane can be sharp-tongued and judgmental, but is also curious and eager to re-evaluate situations and people based on new information. Jane has very strong beliefs and values and is willing to suffer in order to maintain them. Edward Fairfax Rochester:  Jane’s employer at Thornfield Hall and eventually her husband. Mr. Rochester is often described as a â€Å"Byronic Hero,† so-called after the poet Lord Byron—he is arrogant, withdrawn and often at odds with society, and rebels against the common wisdom and ignores public opinion. He’s a form of antihero, ultimately revealed to be noble despite his rough edges. He and Jane initially spar and dislike each other, but find they are drawn to each other romantically when she proves she can stand up to his personality. Rochester secretly married the wealthy Bertha Mason in his youth due to familial pressure; when she began to exhibit symptoms of congenital madness he locked her up as the proverbial â€Å"madwoman in the attic.† Mrs. Reed:  Jane’s maternal aunt, who takes the orphan in response to her husband’s dying wish. A selfish and mean-spirited woman, she abuses Jane and shows distinct preferment to her own children, and even withholds the news of Jane’s inheritance until she has a deathbed epiphany and shows remorse for her behavior. Mr. Lloyd:  A kindly apothecary (similar to the modern pharmacist) who is the first person to show Jane kindness. When Jane confesses her depression and unhappiness with the Reeds, he suggests she be sent to school in an effort to get her away from a bad situation. Mr. Brocklehurst:  The director of Lowood School. A member of the clergy, he justifies his harsh treatment of the young girls under his care via religion, claiming that it is necessary for their education and salvation. He does not apply these principles to himself or his own family, however. His abuses are eventually exposed. Miss Maria Temple:  The superintendent at Lowood. She is a kind and fair-minded woman who takes her duty to the girls very seriously. She is kind to Jane and has a tremendous influence on her. Helen Burns: Jane’s friend at Lowood, who eventually dies of the Typhus outbreak at the school. Helen is kind-hearted and refuses to hate even the people who are cruel to her, and has a profound influence on Jane’s belief in God and attitude towards religion. Bertha Antoinetta Mason: Mr. Rochester’s wife, kept under lock and key at Thornfield Hall due to her insanity. She frequently escapes and does strange things that at first seem almost supernatural. She eventually burns the house to the ground, dying in the flames. After Jane, she is the most-discussed character in the novel because of the rich metaphorical possibilities she represents as the â€Å"madwoman in the attic.† St. John Eyre Rivers: A clergyman and distant relative of Jane’s who takes her in after she flees Thornfield after her wedding to Mr. Rochester ends in chaos when his previous marriage is revealed. He is a good man but emotionless and dedicated solely to his missionary work. He doesn’t so much propose marriage to Jane as declare it to be God’s will that Jane doesn’t have much choice in. Themes Jane Eyre is a complex novel that touches on many themes: Independence: Jane Eyre is sometimes described as â€Å"proto-feminist† novel because Jane is portrayed as a complete personality who has ambitions and principles independent of the men around her. Jane is intelligent and perceptive, fiercely committed to her view of things, and capable of incredible love and affection—but not ruled by these emotions, as she frequently goes against her own desires in service of her intellectual and moral compass. Most importantly, Jane is the master of her life and makes choices for herself, and accepts the consequences. This is contrasted in a neat gender-flip by Mr. Rochester, who entered into a doomed, unhappy marriage because he was ordered to, a role most often played by women at the time (and historically). Jane persists against tremendous adversity, especially in her younger years, and matures into a thoughtful and caring adult despite the deprivations of her mean-spirited aunt and the cruel, falsely-moral Mr. Brocklehurst. As an adult at Thornfield, Jane is given a chance to have everything she wants by running away with Mr. Rochester, but she chooses not to do so because she firmly believes it is the wrong thing to do. Jane’s independence and persistence was unusual in a female character at the time of composition, as was the poetic and evocative nature of the intimate POV—the access the reader is given to Jane’s inner monologue and the adherence of the narrative to her limited point of view (we only know what Jane knows, at all times) was innovative and sensational at the time. Most novels of the time remained at a distance from the characters, making our close association with Jane a thrilling novelty. At the same time, being so closely wedded to Jane’s sensibility allows Brontà « to control the reader’s reactions and perceptions, as we are only given information once it has been processed through Jane’s beliefs, views, and feelings. Even when Jane weds Mr. Rochester in what could be seen as the expected and traditional conclusion to the story, she twists expectation by saying â€Å"Reader, I married him,† maintaining her status as the protagonist of her own life. Morality:  Brontà « makes clear distinctions between the false morals of people like Mr. Brocklehurst, who abuses and mistreats those less powerful than he is under the guise of charity and religious teaching. There is in fact a deep undercurrent of suspicion about society and its norms throughout the novel; respectable people like the Reeds are in fact awful, legal marriages such as Rochester and Bertha Mason’s (or the one proposed by St. John) are shams; institutions like Lowood that ostensibly demonstrate the good of society and religion are in fact terrible places. Jane is shown to be the most moral person in the book because she is true to herself, not out of adherence to a set of rules composed by someone else. Jane is offered many chances to take an easier way by betraying her principles; she could have been less combative towards her cousins and curried Mrs. Reed’s favor, she could have worked harder to get along at Lowood, she could have deferred to Mr. Rochester as her employer and not challenged him, she could have run away with him and been happy. Instead, Jane demonstrates true morality throughout the novel by rejecting these compromises and remaining, crucially, true to herself. Wealth:  The question of wealth is an undercurrent throughout the novel, as Jane is a penniless orphan through most of the story but is in secret a wealthy heiress, while Mr. Rochester is a wealthy man who is quite reduced in every way by the end of the novel—in fact, in some ways their roles reverse over the course of the story. In the world of Jane Eyre, wealth is not something to be jealous of, but rather a means to an end: Survival. Jane spends large portions of the book struggling to survive due to a lack of money or social standing, and yet Jane is also one of the most content and confident characters in the book. In contrast to the works of Jane Austen (to which Jane Eyre is invariably compared), money and marriage are not seen as practical goals for women, but rather as romantic goals—a very modern attitude that was at the time out of step with the common wisdom. Spirituality:  There is only one bona-fide supernatural event in the story: When Jane hears Mr. Rochester’s voice towards the end, calling to her. There are other allusions to the supernatural, such as her uncle’s ghost in the Red Room or the events at Thornfield, but these have perfectly rational explanations. However, that voice at the end implies that in the universe of Jane Eyre the supernatural does in fact exist, bringing into question how much of Jane’s experiences along these lines might not have been truly supernatural. It is impossible to say, but Jane is a character unusually sophisticated in her spiritual self-knowledge. In parallel to Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s themes of morality and religion, Jane is presented as someone very much in touch with and comfortable with her spiritual beliefs whether those beliefs are in step with the church or other outside authorities. Jane has a distinct philosophy and belief system all her own, and shows a great deal of confidence in her own ability to use her wits and experience to understand the world around her. This is something Brontà « presents as an ideal—making up your own mind about things rather than simply accepting what you’re told. Literary Style Jane Eyre  borrowed  elements of Gothic novels  and poetry that shaped it into a unique narrative. Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s use of the tropes from gothic novels—madness, haunted estates, terrible secrets—gives the story a tragic and ominous overtone that colors every event with a larger-than-life sense. It also serves to give Brontà « unprecedented freedom to play with the information given the reader. Early in the story, the Red Room scene leaves the reader with the tantalizing possibility that there  was, in fact, a ghost—which then makes the later happenings at Thornfield seem even more ominous and frightening. Brontà « also uses  pathetic fallacy  to great effect, having the weather often mirror Jane’s inner turmoils or emotional state, and uses fire and ice (or heat and cold) as symbols of freedom and oppression. These are the tools of poetry and had never been used so extensively or effectively in the novel form before. Brontà « uses them powerfully in conjunction with the gothic touches to create a fictional universe that is mirrored on reality but seems magical, with heightened emotions and, thus, higher stakes. This is amplified even more by the intimacy of Jane’s  point of view  (POV). Previous novels had usually hued closely to a realistic depiction of events—the reader could trust what they were told implicitly. Because Jane is our eyes and ears to the story, however, we’re conscious on some level of never really getting  reality, but rather  Jane’s version  of reality. This is a subtle effect that nonetheless has a tremendous impact on the book once we realize that every character description and piece of action is filtered through Jane’s attitudes and perceptions. Historical Context It’s essential to keep in mind the original subtitle of the novel (An Autobiography) for another reason: The more you examine Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s life, the more obvious it becomes that Jane Eyre is very much all about Charlotte. Charlotte had a long history of an intense inner world; along with her sisters she had created an incredibly complex fantasy world Glass Town, composed of numerous short novels and poems, along with maps and other world-building tools. In her mid-20s she traveled to Brussels to study French, and fell in love with a married man. For years she wrote fiery love letters to the man before seeming to accept that the affair was impossible; Jane Eyre appeared shortly afterwards and can be seen as a fantasy about how that affair might have gone differently. Charlotte also spent time in the Clergy Daughter’s School, where conditions and treatment of the girls were terrible, and where several student did in fact die of typhoid—including Charlotte’s sister Maria, who was only eleven years old. Charlotte clearly modeled much of the early life of Jane Eyre on her own unhappy experiences, and the character of Helen Burns is often seen as a stand-in for her lost sister. She was also later a governess to a family that she bitterly reported treated her poorly, adding one more piece of what would become Jane Eyre. More broadly, the Victorian Era had just begun in England. This was a time of intense societal transformation in terms of the economy and technology. A middle class formed for the first time in English history, and the sudden upward mobility open to regular people led to an increased sense of personal agency which can be seen in the character of Jane Eyre, a woman who rises above her station through simple hard work and intelligence. These changes created an atmosphere of instability in society as old ways were changed by the industrial revolution and the growing power of the British Empire worldwide, leading many to question ancient assumptions about the aristocracy, religion, and traditions. Jane’s attitudes towards Mr. Rochester and other monied characters reflects these changing times; the value of property owners who contributed little to society was being questioned, and Rochester’s marriage to the insane Bertha Mason can be seen as an overt criticism of this â€Å"leisure class† and the lengths they went to in order to preserve their status. In contrast, Jane comes from poverty and has only her mind and her spirit through most of the story, and yet ends up triumphant in the end. Along the way Jane experiences many of the worst aspects of the time period, including disease, poor living conditions, the limited opportunities available to women, and the stultifying oppression of a harsh, pitiless religious attitude. Quotes Jane Eyre isn’t famous solely for its themes and plot; it’s also a well-written book with plenty of smart, funny, and touching phrases. â€Å"By dying young I shall escape great sufferings. I had not qualities or talents to make my way very well in the world: I should have been continually at fault.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"’Am I hideous, Jane?’ ‛Very, sir: you always were, you know.’†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, great and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I would always rather be happy than dignified.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Flirting is a woman’s trade, one must keep in practice.†