From early on in Lindner’s hypertext, Jane makes a clear distinction between herself and other young women—chiefly through appearances. “I didn’t expend a lot of effort on my looks,” Jane muses. “I liked to think I had better things to do with my time than shop for lip gloss and clothes. In fact, I didn’t think about my appearance much, usually” (Lindner 18). Despite this claim, Jane is constantly weighing her appearance against those of the women around her. Although Brontë’s original Jane has her own despairing moments of insecurity, her self-criticisms, as well as those of the people around her, are mainly comprised of the following sentiment: “small and plain.” Even in the brutal comparison between herself and Blanche Ingram, Jane only refers to herself as “disconnected, poor, and plain” (Brontë 146). What is so interesting about the language shift in Lindner’s adaptation is the new mode of breaking down each individual body part during comparisons and examinations; for example...

When Jane Eyre travels to Lowood, she chooses, stubbornly, to stop eating. This decision (though of course linked to her depression) is a clear act of resistance within a setting where Jane does not have much autonomy; her refusal to eat for these first few days indicates that Jane has found an outlet for expression separate from her mode of speaking out, which is sure to result in swift punishment. In The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the titular character undergoes a similar act of resistance following a traumatic experience. However, instead of refusing to eat, Gemma decides she will simply stop talking. After Gemma witnesses the attack on Drummond, a fellow working girl, she struggles to understand why Drummond does not report the roommates who assaulted her and admits that she "did not know how to voice the shame that that must surely accompany such an attack" (Livesey 66). This instance foreshadows an identical attack on Gemma later in the novel. It is worth noting that, although...

The Physical Return

Helene K. Lee in “The Logics of Cosmopolitan Koreanness and Global Citizenship” (2018) describes the dispositions and disparities of Korean Americans (and Korean Chinese) in relation to homeland South Koreans. Lee details the way that cosmopolitanism is utilized as an effective apparatus for navigating identity, ideology, and consolidating cultural capital as travelling migrants or those born into Western societies and then make the return home. Although modern day South Korea, especially in the bigger cities like Seoul or Busan, aren’t considered third-word or in association with the Global South, the specific characteristics that make a person ‘Korean’ or adjust to the Korean way of life is set at a different standard than those of Chinese or American origins. Lee says that hyphenated persons in Korea use their differences as “mobility” (115).

            Such is the issue of a developing dissonance for older generations of...

In Chapter 18 of Re Jane, Changhoon gets tickets to the first game of the 2002 FIFA World Cup and takes Jane Re. The 2002 World Cup is remembered as one of the most contentious of all time. It should be remembered as the tournament of the underdog. Senegal beat holders France in the group stage before dumping out Sweden in the Round of 16; Turkey advanced to the semi-finals before losing by a single goal to Brazil; and host nation South Korea went on a run which included disputed knockout triumphs over Italy and Spain. The first contentious decision of the tournament would take place six years before it had even begun, when Japan and South Korea were selected as joint hosts in the summer of 1996. It was the first (and, to date, last) time that two nations would share hosting duties for the World Cup, with neither country having the infrastructure required to go it alone. The South Korean teammates were treated like heroes on the Korean peninsula, with even the chairman of...