The schooling that Jane and Billy had has many similarities. One similarity is that both schools prepare students for certain lifestyles. Secondary moderns prepare for manual work and Lowood for housewifery or the position of a governess. Because the schools were aimed at only one outcome, their teaching was very specific, and not very wide. In both instances the children are brainwashed into thinking that what they are being prepared for is the only thing they can possibly do.
In ‘Jane Eyre’ and in ‘Kes’ a lot of verbal, and physical, bullying takes place.
Supplies (especially food), for the students are in short, and poor quality, supply at Lowood. This, plus the simple knowledge that it is possible, causes a lot of bullying from the older girls to the younger girls. In Billy Casper’s school there is also a lot of bullying, but this bullying is for no particular reason other than it gives a feeling of power, and the bully can get away with it.
Teachers in ‘Jane Eyre’ and in ‘Kes’ are portrayed in a very similar way. They mostly don’t want for anything, but they still bully the students for a feeling of power. They don’t listen to the students and treat them very unfairly. There is also bullying among the teachers, but this occurs mostly in Jane Eyre. The teachers with a higher position abuse their power and bully the other teachers.
These facts show that in this instance nothing has changed. There was a lot of bullying and abuse in Jane Eyre’s time, and there is still a lot in Billy’s time. However, both books show one teacher who is friendly and kind towards the central character. It shows that not all of the teachers were horrible, and that when a teacher wasn’t, it made an enormous difference to the child.
The living conditions are quite poor in both ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘Kes’. This is quite a significant similarity because it has a very strong impact on the way that they lived their lives. Such a strong impact that Jane’s friend, Helen Burns, dies whilst she is living at school.
‘There were no curtains up. The window was a hard-edged block the colour of the night sky. Inside the bedroom the darkness was of a gritty texture. The window and bed were blurred shapes in the darkness. Silence… The living room curtains were drawn, and when he switched the light on it was gloomy and cold without the help of the fire… he stood up and walked into the kitchen, and opened the pantry door. There was a packet of dried peas and half a bottle of vinegar on the shelves. The bread bin was empty… on the step stood two empty milk bottles.’ This is a quote from ‘Kes’ that describes his living conditions. It is describing a time when Billy is by himself, which is the time when things are at their best.
‘Bitter cold’, ‘gloomy’ these are quotes that describe Jane’s living conditions.
The living conditions of both of these characters say a lot about the people who brought them up. In both instances the living conditions could have been a lot better, had the guardians of the children wanted the children to have better living conditions. The books were written roughly a century apart, and both reflect a certain type of society. The fact that people are still behaving in the same uncaring way towards young people in their care a century after ‘Jane Eyre’ was written shows that the mentality of many people has not moved forward from that type of behaviour (although there are now supposedly more regulations to stop such neglect happening), and probably never will.
Although the behaviour of many people has not changed over the years between the writing of each book, the class of the people that the author is writing about must be taken into consideration. In ‘Jane Eyre’, the people Bronte are writing about are middle class. In ‘Kes’ the people Hines are writing about are lower class. The differences between the books do, therefore, show quite a significant difference in the attitude of society as a whole.
For example, in Jane’s day Billy, as the son of a lower class, broken up family, wouldn’t be in school at all. Even if he had been to school, he would have started work at the age of 12, or younger, and would have been paid very little. The society around him would also have been very much poorer than it was in his time.
Billy would also have had much worse living conditions if he had been alive in Jane’s day. In ‘Kes’ Billy is described as being ‘malnourished’, but someone in his social situation a century ago would probably be starving. They would have had very little money. This improvement in society is shown by two of the main events from each book. In ‘Jane Eyre’ Jane’s best friend, Helen Burns, dies. In ‘Kes’ Billy Casper’s kestrel dies. However much Billy loved the kestrel it doesn’t cancel out the fact that it was bird that died, not a human. It is a significant point that in Jane Eyre’s time it was not uncommon for people to die, but in Billy Casper’s time it was unusual for someone to die the in the way that Helen Burns did. In my opinion this shows a big improvement in the function of society.
In many ways the schooling that Billy and Jane had were extremely different. The curriculum offered in each school was very different. The curriculum at Lowood was deeply rooted in Christian practice. Whereas, at Billy’s secondary modern they only practised as Christians together in assembly, where they sung hymns. The Christian beliefs and ideas didn’t affect their lessons or attitude to school anymore than in the Christian society we live now. The curriculum is also very similar to the curriculum we study in High Schools today. Although at the age of 15, Billy would have left school and gone to work.
Religion is very important at Lowood. Sunday is strictly observed, and collects, scripture and the Anglican Church Catechism are studied everyday. In one account Jane gives of going to church she calls Sunday a ‘dreary day’. The walk to church is two miles long. It would probably have been muddy, and very cold in the winter.
After church on a Sunday they return to Lowood to study the Anglican Church Catechism and the Sermon on the Mount that appears in St Matthew and St Luke’s gospel. The girls have to learn these by heart. At Lowood all subjects were learnt by rote, which made them very boring study. One of the major similarities between Lowood and Billy’s secondary modern is the way the teachers teach the students, and the way that they generate respect and discipline. Except for one teacher in each book, the teacher’s methods seem to be very similar in both instances. Both sets of teachers teach by use of punishment. They use verbal (for example, humiliation in front of class mates) and physical abuse (for example, the cane). By doing this they manage to conjure discipline and fear, but very little respect. This again shows how little society has moved forward between these two periods.
There are several teachers that are followed in each book, so as to give an example of characters to the audience. A point to note is that in both cases the mean teachers and adults outweigh the nice.
There are several teachers who can be seen as parallel in these two stories. For example, Miss Scatcherd, who is in charge of the girls (at Lowood), can be seen as parallel to Mr Gryce, the headmaster of Billy’s secondary modern. Miss Scatcherd is described by Helen Burns as ‘hasty’, meaning quick tempered. She constantly attacks Helen in chapters 5 and 6, for the slightest little thing, such as tilting her head. At one point she caned Helen for not cleaning her nails (when the water had frozen). Helen, as the rest of the girls do, does not rebel, she takes this as Christ’s suffering, ‘love thy neighbour as thy self’.
Mr Gryce is also very quick tempered and unfair. He uses the cane to punish the boys, even though he knows it is not effective. He smacks the innocent as well as the guilty children.
Another teacher who is focused on in ‘Jane Eyre’ is called Mr Brocklehurst. Mr Brocklehurst has standards; he forces the girls at Lowood to be very plain, yet his own daughters are elaborately dressed and very fancy. He also bullies the girls atrociously. Throughout Jane’s time under his teaching he viciously scolds her. He accused Jane of being a liar, and therefore a servant of Satan. He later labels her as ‘Daughter of the Evil one’, and recommends that others avoid her and don’t speak to her.
Another teacher who is focused on in ‘Kes’ is called Mr Sugden, a P.E. teacher. Mr Sugden bullies Billy in his lessons because Billy is more vulnerable than some of the other boys. In the lesson described in the book Mr Sugden picks on Billy specifically because he’s no good and does not have any kit.
Both the books have one teacher who is nice and pays attention to the main character. In my opinion this is the main similarity between the two books, because it is representing a huge issue, which is probably part of the essence of ‘Kes’ and a key issue within ‘Jane Eyre’.
Miss Temple was a young teacher at Lowood when Jane first arrives. She is the only teacher who is nice to Jane. She gets to know Jane for who she really is, not a Satan worshipper. Miss Temple later leaves Lowood to wed a clergyman. Jane says she has been, in the stead of a mother, governess and latterly, a companion.’
Mr Farthing is Billy Casper’s English teacher in his last year of school. He tries to bring out the best in Billy and shows an interest in Billy’s hobbies and life. He also sticks up for him when a boy called Macdowall is bullying him.
‘Kestrel for a Knave’, as a whole story, is about how Billy Casper, a good for nothing, poor boy who, at the age of 14, becomes interested in birds, and in particular, a nest of kestrels that he finds whilst out walking. Billy trains one of the baby kestrels, and keeps him in an unused shed. He steals a book from a second hand bookstore and spends hours and hours studying and learning about kestrels. He also spends a lot of time, and patience training the bird. He has to find food for it everyday (food that he can’t buy, because he has no money), and fly it everyday.
The only slightly supportive adult (or person, in fact) in his life, Mr Farthing, his English teacher, gets to hear about the kestrel during a discussion in class. He speaks to Billy about it outside school, and later comes to see the bird. Mr Farthing encourages Billy, in something that he enjoys, and is profitable to him. This means a lot, and causes Billy to love the Bird even more. However, this tragically backfires on Billy and his horrible elder brother, Jud, gets angry and kills the kestrel.
If there’s any moral that we can take from ‘Kes’ the essence is that motivation can be provoked within even the seemingly hopeless by, in many cases, just a small amount of positive attention. Something else that can be taken from ‘Kes’ is that people can learn things very easily if they are interested and want to learn. Billy shows this in his, solely personal, effort to learn about the kestrels.
This issue is also quite relevant in ‘Jane Eyre’, although it is not as important because it doesn’t really correspond with the story line.
At Lowood, (where Jane received very little support as a person) Jane was turned from a bright, opinionated young girl, to a solemn young woman, who expressed opinions very rarely and almost never smiled. ‘Do you never laugh Miss Eyre?’ (Mr Rochester, ‘Jane Eyre’.)
In conclusion, comparing the two novels shows that the school environment has remained oppressive over a period of more than 100 years. Despite this children are strongly influenced by good teachers. Comparing the situation of the two individuals, the physical situation for the child is probably better in ‘Kes’, but the moral situation is little better or worse.
When I read ‘Kestrel for a Knave’ and ‘Jane Eyre’ I found them both very thought provoking. They both triggered thoughts about the issue of how money is related to social class, and what type of people go with which class. Both books represent the conditions of life for a huge number of people in each period, which I thought was both interesting and sad. Both books seemed to give the message that people can be very unkind, and can destroy another person very easily. Kindness can go long way.
