Mr. Bratwurst

3. Identify and interpret the architectural images Jane uses to denote Mr. Brocklehurst in this chapter. What is the impact of these images on the development of his character?

"A long stride measured the schoolroom, and presently beside Miss Temple, who herself had risen, stood the same black column which had frowned on me so ominously from the hearthrug of Gateshead. I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture. Yes, I was right: it was Mr. Brocklehurst, buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever."

I think its a very interesting and unique method of description to use architectural imagery to describe someone, and I think that also makes it a very good method of description.

As Mr. Brocklehurst (which sounds like Mr. Bratwurst) comes into the scene, Jane quite obviously has a very negative view towards him from the beginning. She outrightly states that she isn't looking forward to his arrival, and he is presented in a very negative light. This sets the stone for Mr. Bratwurst to have negative connoted descriptions, which consist of architectural comparisons. Jane first plainly says, "I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture". Instead of metaphorically comparing him to architecture, she blatantly says so as if it was a defining quality of him. She then continues saying, "...looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever." These are characteristics that could easily be given to a skyscraper much less a human, and qualities that have more of a negative connotation, especially when describing a person. Additionally, she referred to him as a "black column" and a "long stride" which "measured the schoolroom". By referring to him as a black column he puts architectural characteristics on him in accordance with the color black which is generally a negative color, and by referring to him as a long stride that measured the schoolroom, she put non-human qualities onto him, supporting her purpose.

This creates a very dehumanized description of Mr. Bratwurst. I have never read Jane Eyre, and for all I know his character could be completely different, but from this excerpt I get the idea that Mr. Bratwurst is a very closed-minded and strict character, simply because he is described with dehumanizing imagery like a building. His character is developed in a way that suggests he isn't very human at all, and in a way he doesn't have basic human qualities like emotion and sympathy. The way he acts in the end of the excerpt toward the curly-haired girl kind of supports that idea.

The usage of this imagery really caught my attention because it isn't always that you hear someone described architecturally. I think this is what makes it such a good method of description, because it's so different.