As a result of Johns strike, the bleeding on her head is consistent but no one seems to care or look at it closer, they don’t give her any medical attention. Jane is not just wounded on the outside. You have to look deep into a person to find hidden feelings but you have to look even deeper to see the true feelings of a child. The Care for her inside wounds is love which is lacked greatly in the house of “The Reeds”
They always seem to refer back to Jane as a sort of Animal
“mad Cat”
“Little toad” abbot referred
Lowood is ran by a man named “Mr Brocklehurst” he was a mean selfish man who only thinks of himself, by his running of the school, the results in many cases for the girls has been ill treatment and many bad things happen to them. The school has a shortage of food…
“small mug of coffee and half a slice of bread…I was still hungry” Jane said solemnly.
Every morning when jane went down to breakfast, the porridge would be miniscule and like any other day “burnt”.
The school was a very cold and grim place to be in, they had no heating and in the winter it became unbearable. On most days when the girls awoke to attend class, they were unable to wash as the basin of water had ‘frozen over’.
The coldness was unbearable…
“The cold which nipped me without and the unsatisfying hunger which gnawed me within”
The rooms at Lowood were in dormitories and each person would share a bed with at least one person, even teachers would share. Mr Broklehurst has caused all the children physical abuse for he could have helped them, he had the money as Lowood was a charity school, he kept the money for his house and family and didn’t give a second thought on the students living conditions or food problems. This was also wrong as he was said to be very religious man and was said to be man who helped those in need, this was very ironic.
Mrs Scatchard uses physical abuse as discipline, she feels that the only way to communicate with a child is to physical force. Jane thinks that this is totally out of order but some people beg to differ. Mrs Scatcherd picks on a girl called Helen Burns, it seemed that everything she did was wrong.
“Burns, you are standing on the side of your she, turn your toes immediately.”
Helen does not show any sort of emotion towards Mrs Scatcherd, she does not hate her for trying to make her feel small or for trying to embarrass her. Helen says to Jane “Cruel? Not at all, she dislikes my faults”. Helen’s theory is that she went to the school for the education and she was not going to let anyone or anything stop that from happening.
I partly think that Mrs Scatcherd is mentally abusing her students as well as physically as she has blatantly told Helen so many times that it is her own fault and problems and until she started to believe it herself.
Jane lacks love in her home and therefore, in evidence to her suffering she looks for other sources to love and feel loved back by. Jane has a doll, she feels that the doll is real and has realistic feeling and characteristics. She sleeps with her doll and when she is upset she holds it even tighter, thinking that the harder you squeeze, the more love you will receive. Jane has a better relationship with her plastic doll than she does with her human guardians, this is very worrying. I think that love is the most important factor in a relationship with a child and if love has lacked since the beginning of their life, it can effect them for the whole of their life to come.
Mr Brocklehurst mentally abuses Jane by form of embarrassment. He goes out of his way to ensure that Jane suffers isolation just shortly after her arrival the school.
“Let no one speak to her during the remainder of the day.”
From the influence from Mrs Reed, Mr Brocklehust thinks bad things of Jane, in conclusion with this he decides to show her up in front of many people, teachers and members of his own family that she had gained respect from. He ‘hoisted’ her up on a stool ‘to the height of Mr Brocklehurst nose’ and announced that she was evil and that she has so little innocence. He implied that she was the works of the devil…
“Who would think that the evil one had already found a servant and agent in her?”
This resulted in Jane saying things that she didn’t mean. she was so upset when she was talking to Helen and she said “I would rather die than live”
After the stool incident, Helen told Jane that it will take a lot of persuading to the teachers to get them on her side. Miss Temple was the only adult who understood Jane and the only adult who believed her when she told her that all the things Mr Brocklehurst said were false accusations. Miss Temple was kind and compassionate, she showed understanding of young people in her care and she believed there were two sides to every story. Miss Temple lets Jane prove to everyone who she really was.
“We shall think you what you prove yourself to be.” Miss Temple tells Jane.
Mr Brocklehurst mentally abuses the children by suppressing them as he takes away their individuality. He makes them wear the same clothes (brown dress and pinafore), eighteen year olds have to wear the same clothes as seven year olds. He does not let the girls have curly hair, even when its natural, he orders them to cut it off. They are not aloud to move around when they want, their lives were ran by the sound of bells and he certainly took away the opportunity for their freedom of speech.
Mrs Reed’s treatment of her other children in comparison with Jane, is very unjust. Jane feels that despite her attempts to be good, the family and servants will always be unjustly prejudiced against her. Abbot said that ‘if she were a nice, pretty child one might compassionate her forlornness’ this is saying that if she were pretty like little Georgiana then she would be able to get away with a lot more and be let off with her faults.
In conclusion I think that the reason that the relationship with adults and children were so minimal was because of the injustice of their whole lives. The adults are the ones who can help and change the way they live but they don’t. The children feel a lot closer to other children as they are in the same situation as themselves. When Helen was dying, she did not want any adult by her side, she wanted Jane and this just shows that in a time of life and death situation the one who Helen trusted was a 10 year old girl who had very little experiences of the world. If justice was achieved by the adults, and the pupils lives got better, easier and more comfortable then I think that the relationship between adults and pupils would have improved greatly.
