Metacognition: Reading Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre- sometimes a difficult person to deal with being as stubborn as she is; Jane Eyre- often a difficult novel for me to read. I don’t know exactly what it was, but keeping up with the daily readings was a struggle for me. We discussed the importance of this 19th century novel written by Brontë and the unique style of writing utilized. To maximize the “effectiveness” and enjoyment of this novel, it required immersion, a slower pace, and the ability to listen attentively to conversation. This isn’t the type of novel made to be sped through. This is where I think it posed a problem for me. In our culture, speed has a higher market value. It’s hard to mesh this story with today’s culture in that regard. However, being imprisoned within a busy schedule, activities, and homework in all other classes, there’s no other way for me to read this novel other than in a restricted, limited time. I felt this sometimes led to me not enjoying the story as much as I could have.

As I was reading Jane Eyre, I noticed that it took me quite a while to read and digest everything. Part of that was me stopping and taking in major events and the other part was me just dozing off. Sometimes I would realize that I was staring at the same page for about 3 minutes, and had to bring myself back to experiencing Jane’s world. I have a feeling that this was because I tried too hard to speed through it. Mentally thinking about speeding through the novel actually made me read the story slower. It was difficult for me to focus when I tried to speed through it. Also, when I sped through I noticed quickly that I didn’t understand it as well and was forced to reread it again. A change I would make in the future is to adjust my reading style according to the novel. Next time when reading a novel similar to Jane Eyre, which requires a slower pace, I’m going to try and enjoy reading it slow, instead of try to blaze through it. I feel this way I will get more out of the story and I will understand it better.

What surprises me about my thinking is how easily distracted it can get. What I did like about my thinking as I read this novel (which didn’t develop until later) is how fluid it is. I wrote page summaries at the top of each page, but it was hard for me to stop at the end of each page and take a pause from reading. This was the time I was easily most distracted. Instead of disrupting the flow of the story, I waited until I finished the chapter, and then I went back and wrote page summaries. This also helped because I only noted the big observations that were still fresh in my mind. I would like to improve on my skills at reading dense material while using a slower pace to my advantage.