“I return to the school room as Miss Wardley scowls (she shall curtsy when I am King)”
This shows that Laurie Lee will always strive forward to have his own way. He is very ignorant and self-confidant about where he stands in the village society. He appears to not have much respect for people who disagree with him and does not respect other people’s opinions. Again similar to Jane Eyre, he believes that he is the centre of his world and all the people around him are his ‘subjects’. Laurie Lee is a very inquisitive boy who always pursues excitement. He is not aware of the ‘big wide world’ around him, only the world of his village and he is very dependent on this.
Jane comes across as a very intelligent girl for her age. Always being banned to the nursery as punishment, she occupies herself by reading books. These books are written for people almost of adult age but Jane manages to understand their content.
“I soon possessed myself of a volume, taking care that it should be one stored with pictures.”
By reading such a variety of literature, Jane, to a certain extent is self-educated. She is desperate to find out what the world has to offer outside Gateshead, away from the Reed’s and being free of isolation and misery. This is why Jane always appears to be sad and unhappy.
Jane’s personality becomes clear in her early life, as at ten years old she is already quite mature and is able to look at her situation and judge it very honestly. She sees herself as the centre of her own little world as a martyr. She recognises that it is not her fault that she is being punished, and that her aunt and cousins resent her terribly for being an unwanted burden.
Laurie Lee does not come across as intelligent as Jane Eyre. This is because he has no need to be. Laurie Lee is happy in the world he lives in and does not need to seek other alternatives such as books like Jane Eyre. Laurie Lee is a far happier being and experiencing his own world than of someone else’s in book. E finds he is happy and pursues his life with excitement. He accepts the world he has and is very happy with what is around him.
In both novels each character reflects on their experiences of school life in their childhood. Being unloved and unwanted, Jane is eager to go to school because of her desire for knowledge. We know this as Jane in her early childhood reads a lot of books.
“I soon possessed myself of a volume, taking care that it should be one stored with pictures.”
Already from reading such a variety of literature, Jane, to a certain extent is self-educated. She is desperate to find out what the world outside Gateshead is like, away from the Reed’s and being free from punishment and misery. This is why Jane so badly wants to go away to school. This is Jane’s chance to escape the isolation and unhappiness of being at the Reed’s and being able to experience adventure and to express herself through education and allowing to be accepted for who she is. As Jane is unable to go to school at the beginning, she uses books to escape the unhappiness and sadness that she feels at the Reeds. By indulging herself in a good novel, she appears to forget all her misery and is happy, even if it just for a short while.
Laurie Lee has no desire to learn, only the desire for adventure. He was in a way, brought up on the assumption that if a child were to be left alone, they would find out and learn things in their own way.
“I could climb the high bed by sing the ironwork as a ladder. I could whistle, but I couldn’t tie my shoes. Life became a series of experiments which brought grief or the rewards of accomplishment.
At the beginning Laurie is reluctant to attend school. For Laurie Lee’s generation in a small, rural village school means time when the children are deprived of the world outside. Being cooped up in a classroom Laurie is unable to pursue his desire for adventure. Laurie tends to take his freedom for granted, as even when he does attend school he is still not trapped and able to have some personal independence.
The ways in which the schools are run are also very different. Lowood institution is a boarding school for poor orphaned girls run as a charity. Lowood becomes more than a school for Jane as it becomes her home; her whole world is based on what she is taught at Lowood. Jane sees the best and the worst of religious practice at Lowood. The clergyman in charge of Lowood, Mr Brocklehurst is Jane’s first experience of a religious person. He is harsh and severe, and uses religion as a justification for treating the girls at Lowood cruelly. He is a hypocrite, however, because although he advocates physical suffering for the girls, his wife and daughters are allowed to wear fancy clothes and rich jewels.
“You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence, but to render them hardy, patient and self-denying…” “By replacing with something more delicate the comfort lost and by obviating the aim of this institution.”
Mr Brocklehurst feels it is his duty to teach the girls of Lowood the hardships of life and how to deal with them. He shows then how plainness and simplicity and having just bearable conditions to live with will teach them how lucky they are to be in this world and to be one of God’s children. He indicates that by serving God his way they will be accepted into Heaven. This makes Lowood quite an unpleasant place as children are brought believing someone else’s opinions, not being able to find their own faith in God. Mr Brocklehurst uses God as a cover for the bullying and misuse of money that happens in the school. He sees that if he shows everyone that his intentions are to teach with the Christian faith and the best provide the best possible care for these children then know one will object to his methods.
At the village school the subject of religion is quite different. The way the children are taught does not mean that they have to agree with that opinion. It is much more relaxed and the children are able to have their own opinions.
“…begin to growl ‘Ar Father…’ at which we said the Lord’s Prayer, praised all good things, and thanked God for the health of our King. But scarcely had we bellowed the last Amen than crabby coiled, and uncoiled, and sprang, and knocked some poor boy sideways.”
The teaching methods are more relaxed at Laurie’s village school than of Lowood. The teachers here take the approach that if a child does not want to learn then they will simply allow them to ignore what is going on and it will therefore be their fault for not listening to important lessons in the classroom. As a result many children’s attitude to school was that of a social one. They considered school to be a social gathering where they could be around their friends. There were those children who didn’t have this view of school like Laurie’s brother jack who was too clever for his class. Laurie Lee’s classmates at the village school can only aspire to the manual work that awaits then in the surrounding fields, for which they are being prepared.
The way children are punished and how teachers use discipline is also different. Jane Eyre’s experience of discipline is much stricter than of Laurie Lee’s. For Jane both Gateshead and Lowood work as models of Victorian society, which compared to Laurie Lee’s upbringing is more server method authority.
“This ominous tool she presented to Miss Scatchered with a respectful curtsey; then she quietly and without being told, unloosed her pinafore, and the teacher instantly and sharply inflicted on her neck a dozen strokes with the bunch of twigs.
Here a child is being punished for not washing her nails. Even for the pettiest things a child was to be punished and not just verbally, but by physical means. Lowood was a school of discipline and authority. They wanted to produce girls who knew manners and how to serve God in a certain way and knew how to be humble. This is shown in the schools slogan for which it’s beliefs was based on.
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in Heaven.”
As a result of the harshness, Jane always feels that she is unable to be relaxed but must always be aware that she must act in the most acceptable behaviour to escape punishment. From the amount of unbearable cruelty that Jane suffers in the story, we start to question whether experiences like this really happened or if Charlotte Brontë went chose to describe Jane’s misfortunes in too much detail that she went a bit too far for it to be believable.
The disciplinary methods at the village school are much less firm than of Lowood. Laurie Lee only experiences the punishment of verbal discipline, not of physical.
“So I was dragged into that Room, where I’d never been before, and under savage eyes of the elder children teacher gave me a scalding lecture.”
This is because the children are being prepared for life out in the fields, not of a life in social society. Jane Eyre, because she is a female and brought up in Victorian times is expected to act in a certain manner. Girls such as Jane had very few options open to them apart from using their education as a marketable resource. Education was also used to reinforce the low status of poor females. This is why the discipline for Jane was so much stricter then of Laurie Lee’s.
Each character perceives their teachers in different ways. Being at a strict school, there are some teachers Jane does not like and some she loves. For Jane, a teacher can either be horrible and evil, or a complete Saint. This is because of her experience with them and how each teacher treats her. It is because of Jane’s own extreme nature that she is able to judge so harshly.
“…at intervals examining the teachers-none of whom precisely pleased me; for the stout one was a little coarse, the dark one not a little, the foreigner harsh and grotesque, and Miss Miller, poor thing! Looked purple, weather beaten and overworked.”
The way Jane describes the teachers shows her opinion of them in whether she likes or dislikes them. You can see from this quote that she shows pity on Miss Miller illustrating her liking for her. Only seeing the appearance of other teachers, Jane is quick to judge their personality. She only likes Miss Miller as she has already spoken to her and knows what she is like.
Laurie Lee’s opinion of his teachers is almost that of a comical one. He shows not much respect for his teachers, as he knows the punishment is not very harsh and that he does not want to be there in the first place. Even at a young age he has no fear of his actions. It comes across that Miss Scatchered is a deliberate caricature giving the reader some humour in the story.
“’What are you staring at?’ the widow inquired. I was too soft-hearted to answer.
‘Go on. Do tell. You needn’t be shy.’
‘Your wearing a wig’, I said.”
Here Laurie is almost having an argument with his teacher. The subject of the teacher wearing a wig comes across as comical to the reader. This tends to reflect Laurie Lee’s attitude to life at school. He perceives his presence at the school to be for social reasons and he is not there to learn. If Jane Eyre had dared say that to one of her teachers then she would have definitely been expelled from the school. This again shows different times changed the ways of discipline and how children were treated.
The styles of both novels are very different. Cider with Rosie encompasses more than simply a child’s life from age three to adolescence. It is far more ambitious. Other stories, other lives and other times fascinate the writer. Being an autobiography and with so much to cram into pages of his book the writer must be selective with his memories. As Laurie Lee has so many memories he wants to share with the reader, his style is not a sequential narrative. The unordered randomness of how the book is put together reflects the nature of the author and the unruliness and freedom of his life. Laurie Lee is simply writing the book in the order in which his memories seem most strong to him. As the book is written in this structure it sometimes makes the book hard to understand and it is very episodic as it is a series of reflected narratives. To avoid missing things out some chapters follow a structure of their own. Even though the story seems so inconsistent, chapters are used to help the story flow to end a certain time of his life, which is why the story appears episodic. For example the chapter ‘winter and summer’ informs the reader about the author’s experiences in the different seasons of the year and how the villagers coped with altering their way of life.
“The seasons (of course) so violent, so intense and true too their nature, that they have become for me ever since a perfection whenever such names are mentioned.”
This chapter in Laurie Lee’s life informs the reader of the extreme differences the weather made on one’s life living in such a remote area of the country. We are told about all his experiences during the different seasons of the year and how it affected the living conditions of the village. In the following chapter the subject doesn’t just change, it moves back to a different time in Laurie Lee’s life. This proves the book can be confusing, as you don’t know whether you are moving forward in the story or backward. The way the chapter begins with “As a child…” already indicates to the reader that the author is reflecting to an earlier time in his life and not moving forward in order.
By making the autobiography so inconsistent to the reader, the author can involve other characters in a much more descriptive way and still tell the story of his life. This to me makes the story much more interesting as it involves other people’s experiences.
The autobiographical form of Jane Eyre means that the novel follows linear, chronological narrative. The novel is given such a strong structure due to the strong characteristics of Jane, who carries the theme while she searches for a way to build her own identity and settles tensions within her character. The narrative focuses entirely on Jane, and events only appear to be in the book because they have had impact on her life and made her the person she is and we only become interested in other characters in the story due to Jane’s own experiences with them. Every character and incident in the book has some bearing on Jane’s development in the story and, in this way, the theme of the story is brought alive; every detail is made to count and always links to the next part in the story.
Because the novel is a fictional autobiography and therefore consists of a first-person narrative we largely see events and characters from the narrator’s point of view. This gives the story a high degree of authenticity. This also creates a very close bond between the narrator and the reader and draws them into a closer involvement with the story.
“Have I not described a pleasant site for a dwelling, when I speak of it as bosomed in hill and wood, and rising from the verge of a stream?”
In this quote Jane Eyre is directly addressing the reader as if she is in front of them having an open conversation. She is asking for the reader’s opinion and confirmation in what she has said before. This suggests that the reader was paying close attention to Jane’s past experiences in the book. This also makes the book seem so alive and real as Jane is addressing the reader on such a personal level.
Jane Eyre appears more structured as each section of the story shows a different part of her life as she grows up. By doing this it becomes clear to the reader where they are in Jane Eyre’s life and what there is still is to come. Unlike Laurie Lee who was able to just write down memories, which were most strong to him and still make them understandable for the reader. As the reader studies Jane Eyre it is almost as if they are growing with her as each of her experiences are explained with such detail and accuracy readers feel they are subjected to feel the same emotions.
Jane Eyre’s structure is different to that of ‘Cider with Rosie’ because Laurie Lee wrote his story strictly as an autobiography. The structure of this genre allows Laurie Lee to be inconsistent with his memories, but as Jane Eyre is fiction Charlotte Brontë must make her novel as real as possible to make an effective story. Writing Jane Eyre as a sequential narrative makes the story flow more effectively allowing the reader to become more involved. I enjoyed the way that Jane Eyre flowed chronologically through each chapter. This allows the reader to be subjected to the characters’ emotions as well as Jane’s. It allows the reader to become more self-involved with the story, even on a personal level. The way in that the readers can become self-involved brings us back to reality informing us that Charlotte Brontë only intended Jane Eyre to be fiction, not an autobiography.
From analysing both books you can immediately see that the style is not the same. In fact they are distinctly different. A writer’s style is simply the way he or she uses words in their writing. The language used by the writer is the end product of a range of choices, which are based on the purpose of the writer.
From studying Jane Eyre you can see Brontë wrote very carefully, drafting out every passage before writing it up into a final copy and spent a considerable amount of time on small details such as the choices of names. Because of her early upbringing, early reading and the time in which she wrote the book, it often has an eighteenth-century feel to it and tends to be a blend of old fashioned English.
“Ere the half-hour ended, five o’clock struck;” “There was I, mounted aloft.” “…the summons sounded for dinner.”
From these quotes you can see that the language of the novel is very difficult to someone unfamiliar with nineteenth-century texts. Many of the sentences are long and complicated and the vocabulary is elaborate. This formal prose was very popular amongst educated people at this time, in spoken and in written language. However, the very nature of some of the language highlights Jane is an articulate, intelligent girl, whose language reflects her learning.
“I like Revelations, and the Book of Daniel, and Genesis, and Samuel, and a little bit of Exodus, and some parts of Kings and Chronicles, and Job and Jonah.”
Here Jane is replying to a question asked by Mr Broklehurst. From the language used in her response you can see that she shows her intelligence and knowledge in her answer. The dialogue reflects Jane’s education, station and attitude.
The language of the novel is very emotional when it describes Jane’s torment. Jane’s descriptions of what is going on in her own mind are very shocking and we feel closer to Jane because we see events from her point of view. Her feelings, especially her ‘conscience’ and her ‘passion’, are often given their own voice, and seem to fight over her right to decide her own actions. In chapter 4, when Jane makes the decision to argue and tell her feelings to Mrs Reed, we see this very clearly. Jane’s urge to retaliating back to Mrs Reed makes her want to argue, but her conscience tells her she should not be saying such things. She knows it is not the way to behave but her feelings and emotions are too strong. This style, showing us the feelings of the character helps us too see what Jane is going through and helps us to understand why she acts as she does and helps the reader to relate to Jane on a Personal Level
“I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you; I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world…”
In this example we can see just how much force and passion Charlotte Brontë puts into Jane’s language. This shows the reader why Jane acts as she does, as she tends to bottle up all her emotions and make them all explode when they get too much. We can also see how Jane listens to her conscience before she bursts out in to an argument and shows how she feels in the situation.
“Speak I must: I had been trodden on severely, and must turn: but how? What strength had I to dart retaliation at my antagonist?”
Jane is saying to the reader that she cannot possibly retaliate to Mrs Reed for fear of making things even worse. The use of this language makes the reader feel what Jane is feeling and because they are so drawn into the story, the reader almost feels what Jane is feeling. It helps the reader relate to Jane on a personal level and make us aware of Jane’s deepest feelings and help us to understand why she acts the way she does.
Written in the nineteenth century Jane Eyre included a popular Victorian gothic style. A style whose main themes included spirits, death and the afterlife and a general presence of evil and darkness. The chapter about the Red Room is dominated by a sense of passion, sensuality and superstition, reflecting both Jane’s age and the more irrational side of her character. The concept of John Reed’s ghost in the Red Room is consequently gothic. The atmosphere created in the Red Room is that of deep gloom and mounting tension. Jane’s natural unease at being in her dead uncle’s room is, however, gradually being intensified by her superstition and overexcited mind.
The tone in this chapter is initially heavy, as the descriptions of the depressing stately furniture itself gives an illustration to the reader of what the room is like while the silence and abandonment of the room is suggested by words like ‘subdued’, ‘muffled’, ‘vacant’; even the dust is described as ‘quiet’. We see the room from Jane’s nervous point of view and she sees the objects within it quite strangely. The bed is not simply a bed but becomes a ‘tabernacle’, the chair beside it becomes a ‘a pale throne’, she herself becomes a ‘real spirit’, a ‘tiny phantom, half fairy, half imp’. Each object changes into something that is alien and frightening.
With the use of language Charlotte Brontë increases the tension and horror of Jane’s experience. A moving beam of light is insinuated in the darkened room. Jane’s over active imagination immediately suggests the worst. To her and the reader it seems as if some evil presence has entered the room.
“I thought the swift-darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world.”
To disorientate Jane and confuse her, Brontë makes the light entering the room move and as a result it makes Jane feel vulnerable to if she will be attacked. The word ‘darting’ suggests sharp and sudden movement. By seeing the light appear as a ‘herald’ it is a warning of worst to come, it implies to Jane that the light is merely a message carried by a deathly creature who is yet to appear. Brontë makes it clear that a ghost could appear in any moment. The constant present tense of the verb ‘coming’ suggests an action that has already begun and cannot be stopped. The statement ‘from another world’ would encourage readers to imagine for themselves the tensions of hell and death.
From all this action and terror towards Jane and her emotion, we are drawn into sympathy for Jane as she sits alone and frightened in the haunted room, but we also gain a mature understanding of the way in which she has brought much of her ill treatment upon herself.
The language used in Cider with Rosie is rich in imagery. This allows the writer to give clearer pictures for his reader as well suggesting a whole range of other sensations. Images are drawn from Laurie Lee’s experience but are often effective because of their simplicity.
To create the effect of such good imagery, Laurie Lee tends to join two compound adjectives together, almost giving the words a double meaning. This creates a more immediate image for the reader, as more detail is included in the dialogues. It allows the reader to form a visual picture of what is being described.
‘bird-crammed’ ‘insect-hopping’ ‘Knife-edged’ ‘full-rigged’ ‘wind-scared’ ‘spring-coils’
By using a compound adjective in his descriptive language, Laurie Lee creates a poetic and rhythmic tone to his writing. His writing tends to be much faster and easier to grasp then of Charlotte Brontë. His childlike descriptions help the reader to scan through the words at a much faster pace. This allows Laurie Lee to create a climax at the end of a sentence, which acts as a punch line.
“She crawled with a rustle of grass towards me, quick and superbly assured. Her hand in mine was like a small wet flame which I could neither hold nor throw away”
Words like ‘quick’ and ‘flame’ create an urgency making the pace of the sentence faster and more fluent. The subject of the paragraph also helps the speed, as it is a steamy sexual time when Laurie is with Rosie. The verbs included in this quote such as ‘crawled’ help the reader imagine what is being described. Again the description used helps with the visual imagery of Laurie Lee’s experiences.
Written in the twentieth century and after the time of Jane Eyre, gothic style was still enjoyed by many people. The book does not include as many superstitious experiences as Jane Eyre but one incident clearly has the chilling theme to it. The chapter about Jones’s goat is dominated by a sense of mystery and the unknown. The concept of Goat being the cause of the superstitions reflects the age Laurie Lee and also how he uses his descriptive language to convince the reader that the goat is something a lot more terrifying. The atmosphere created is that of mystery and curiosity, fear and excitement. It is only mysterious for the reader as the narrator and characters already know. This creates tension and a faster pace, as the reader is now keen to find out the cause of the problem. The descriptive dialect used in this part of the story suggests that the Lee family are keen to know what is outside the house but at the same time they are afraid to what it might be.
The tone in this part of the story is that of excitement and wonder. This is shown by the reaction of the sisters when they are in this situation
“The girls squirmed in their chairs and began giggling horribly; they appeared to have gone of their heads”
To make the event less scary, Laurie Lee almost includes humour into the situation. This makes the reader feel more at ease. The word ‘squirming’ suggests that the girls are uneasy and are not comfortable with what is happening still telling the reader the ordeal is not over. Saying that the girls have gone off their heads is indeed comical but it could mean that they have gone off their heads with fear.
Many of the words to describe the goat are of a gothic theme. Each one helps the reader visualise and picture what could be the creature that is scaring the Lee family.
“Drag of metal” “intermittent rattle of chains”
These statements can all be associated with ghosts. The word ‘intermittent’ suggests that whatever is put there is not stopping as the chains are continuously moving closer. With the use of language Laurie Lee increases the tension and horror of the family’s experience. The beast is getting nearer to the family house, making a loud noise with his chains on the ground. With the use mystery and descriptive language, Laurie Lee allows the reader to think the worst. To the reader it seems as if some evil monster is in the valley.
“The chains grew louder and nearer, rattling along the night, sliding towards us up the distant lane to his remorseless, moonlit tread.”
To disorientate and confuse the reader, Lee makes the beast entering the valley move and as a result it makes the reader feel vulnerable towards Laurie Lee for the feeling of him being attacked. The word ‘sliding’ suggests cautious and creepy movement. By knowing the beast is moving towards the house and getting ‘nearer’ it is a warning that the beast is coming closer and that it will not stop. By the chains being on the creature it implies to the reader that it is big and dangerous to be held by such force. Lee makes it clear that the creature could appear in any moment. The constant present tense of the verb ‘grew’ suggests that the action of the beast arriving has already begun and cannot be stopped. The statement ‘moonlit tread’ shows the reader that the beast knows where he is going as is path is lit by the moon, suggesting that the beast has been here before.
With the tension rising, the climax of the situation is building. Sentences broken up by commas introduce urgency, which increases the pace of the text.
“Up the lane, round the corner, up the top of the bank,”
To still keep the reader involved and in wonder, Laurie finishes by describing the beast. This allows the reader to imagine the creature before being told what it is. Laurie Lee is creating speed and urgency making the reader read faster, building up to a strong punch line. To produce the effect at the end of the climax, he concludes the descriptions of the beast by telling the reader what the terrifying creature is.
“Jones’s Goat!”
This creates a feeling of relief for the reader, knowing that Laurie Lee is not in danger of a beast of such scale and terror. However the descriptive language proves that the imagination can visualise anything when given the right words.
As I look back at the different childhoods of Jane Eyre and Cider with Rosie I feel I would have liked to been brought up in Laurie Lee’s time. Laurie Lee had a childhood with no expectations. He was able to live a free sprit. There was no pressure on how Laurie had to act or behave. Laurie Lee’s childhood was much more independent and adventurous than Jane Eyre’s. From the age of three, Laurie Lee already had a certain amount of freedom and being brought up in a time when children had most freedom, Laurie Lee was mostly left to his own devices. He was able to live the way he wanted without rules or boundaries. Laurie Lee was accepted for who he was because no one really had certain expectations of him. Not being pressurised about how to act around people, Laurie Lee was able to express himself at an early age without the implication that he was doing something wrong. The method of discipline used on Laurie Lee was a very haphazard and relaxed. Laurie Lee never felt alone as he always had people around him and made him feel wanted and secure as he had a close family relationship. There was always someone who Laurie could talk to in a time of need. He was never alone.
In my opinion Jane’s childhood was very pressurised. Young ladies of Jane’s time were expected to have certain qualities. If they did not have these qualities, then the child would not be loved or accepted into society. They would be treated as an outcast, someone who deserved no love or respect. As Jane did not meet these expectations she was not accepted for who she was and as a consequence she was made to feel withdrawn, unloved and unwanted. She was made to feel a burden on the Reed family.
By studying both children’s upbringing, it has made me see how lucky I am to be brought in a time when men and women are treated as equals. It was hard for women to be accepted for what they were in Jane’s times and also in Laurie Lee’s. Women had to pursue so many targets to be accepted into society. Today, things are very different. It is much easier to gain respect and success as Women are seen just as equal to men. Also I feel I am lucky with the amount of support and attention children receive. Education is taken very seriously and now if you do not have some sort of education you cannot strive out into the world. In Laurie Lee’s time, education was not seen as a very important issue. As children were taught the family business, most children carried on the family trade. There was no need for education. Also men went off to war, therefore children would go of to the army at a young age at train to become officers.
Even without knowing when the books were published, you are able to tell which book was written earliest. This is because the language used in the books, reflects what time in history they were published. Jane Eyre was published in the Victorian period when attitudes were very strict. The language of the novel is very difficult to someone unfamiliar with nineteenth-century texts. The sentences are long and complicated, and the vocabulary is elaborate. This form of writing was common at this time, in spoken and written language. Laurie Lee’s language reflects the change in society. Also it shows that he is trying to write from a child’s point of view. Language in early sections is often seen as deliberately childlike. This also helps the reader to understand the amount of freedom Laurie Lee had. A child’s lack of uncertainty often comes through the author’s choice of language. Laurie Lee also writes the way people would have spoken. This gives a clear indication of where the story is based as well as when it was written.
Overall Laurie Lee’s childhood was very ideal compared to Jane Eyre’s. From reading and analysing the novel, Jane Eyre’s childhood was very grim and as a result it made her a very emotional character. We almost feel sympathy towards Jane as we are given such a detailed image of her childhood. Laurie Lee showed the reader a much more free and idealised childhood while Jane Eyre illustrated a depressing and emotional upbringing.