Jane Eyre and Billy Casper are similar yet very different children. Compare their differences

Jane Eyre and Billy Casper are similar, yet very different children. I am going to compare their similarities and differences. The issues that I will concentrate on are their home lives and their treatment by people.

Jane, 10 year old lives in a mansion with her aunt Mrs Reed and her children. The family are extremely wealthy. “A small breakfast room adjoined the drawing room”. As we are told that the family has a breakfast room, we assume that Jane has her own room, which demonstrates that Jane is entitled to privacy. The notion of Jane having her own privacy is further reinforced when we are told at the start of the novel that she is walking in a big garden. “Wandering in the leafless shrubbery.” She has servants at her disposal. “Miss Abbot had left me.” In those days it required some people who were very wealthy or well off in order to have servants and therefore this is another indication that the Reed family were very wealthy. In her addition to that, Jane has access to books in her spare time. “Returning to my book.” We also know that Jane is educated and can read. All these things would suggest that Jane is a happy 10 year old as she has the amenities she requires such as food, privacy, warmth, education etc. We read on the first page that Mrs Reed is sitting on a sofa. “She lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her” This brings in the issue of warmth and we learn that the house is warm compared to Billy’s, which isn’t.

However is far from content as she lacks one indispensable thing every child needs and that is love. Nobody loved or cared Jane. “They did not love me.” Right at the end of the first page of the novel, Mrs Reed leads the way with her antipathy towards Jane. “Be seated somewhere, and until you can speak pleasantly remain seated.” This suggests that Jane was not treated as a member of the family and was treated as an outsider. Also it demonstrates the harsh environment Jane had to exist in where even Mrs Reed who was responsible for Jane’s upbringing was cruel towards her. She lived in a good house and had more than the basic amenities but financially, Jane had nothing. Jane’s parents had died when she was very young, virtually leaving Jane with nothing. Mrs Reed had promised her husband before he breathed his last that she would look after Jane. Other than what was given to her by the Reed family, Jane possessed nothing of her own and therefore it made her “a dependant” as said by John Reed on the Reed family.

In contrast 15 year old Billy lives in a small house with his mom and his brother Jud. He does not have the same wealth, food and privacy as Jane. Billy is poor and as a result his house and the area is very dirty. “Darkness of gritty texture.” The word ‘Gritty’ suggests that Billy’s house is very dirty. Another interpretation of the word it can also suggest that Billy’s life is hard and he and is his family are struggling to survive. Unlike Jane, Billy has no privacy. “There were no curtains up”. It gives us an indication right at the start that the Casper family are poor and as a result there are no curtains. The notion of Billy having no privacy is further reinforced when we know that he has to share his bedroom with his brother Jud. “Jud moved with him, leaving one half of the bed empty.” We know that Billy’s house is not very warm as the house Jane is living in. “The unoccupied space soon cooled.” “The living room…was gloomy and cold without the help of a fire.” Billy doesn’t have an awful lot to eat. “There was a packet of dried peas and a half bottle of vinegar…. the bread tin was empty. “ This suggests that there is a lack of food in Billy’s house and also gives an indication of how financially the Casper family are and as well as that highlights a lack of care displayed by the mother towards Billy who’s duties as a mother are to ensure basic facilities for her children.

In one aspect Billy and Jane are similar to each other as neither actually posses anything. As I mentioned earlier John Reed called Jane “a dependant. As for Billy his mom doesn’t provide an awful lot for him, therefore he has to steal. “Slipped the book inside his jackets,” suggests Billy’s plight, which forces him to steal not because of greed but out of shear necessity.

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When it comes to bullying, both Jane and Billy suffer. They both experience physical, verbal and psychological bullying at home. The first evidence of bullying comes from Mrs Reed. As I mentioned earlier we know that Mrs Reed humiliates Jane in front of everyone. “Be seated somewhere, and until you can speak pleasantly remain silent.” This suggests the lack of care displayed by Mrs Reed who insults Jane and shows that Jane is kept away from the family and is shown no love. We have the next evidence of bullying when we learn that John Reed calls Jane names. “Bad animal”. This shows that John Reed even though he is a cousin of Jane he doesn’t acknowledge that and intimidates Jane showing nothing but contempt towards her and therefore dismissing her. Jane is constantly afraid of the sight of John Reed who had instilled a fear into her. “I trembled of the idea of being dragged forth by the said John.” “Every nerve…every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near.” At times he made her feel inferior. “Say, “what you want, Master Reed,” Jane did this out of shear fear of John Reed and this suggests Jane’s terror when she was anywhere near John.

John did not only verbally bully Jane; he physically tormented her as well. “He bullied and punished me, not two or three times in a week…but continually.” Here we are told that Jane is not physically bullied once or twice but frequently, hence the fear creeps into her mind every time John Reed is anywhere near her. We learn that Jane often knew when John would strike her. “I knew he would soon strike.” “Go and stand by the door out of the way of the mirror and the window…. I saw him lift and poise the book.” This suggests how nasty John was. He planned everything and calculated the risks. Therefore it only increases the evil of his doings and also suggests that his violence towards Jane is not a mere reaction.

For a boy of his age, John Reed was extremely overweight. “He gorged himself habitually at table, which made him bilious.” Therefore, if he did her, the actual level of power would be immense and as Jane knew that he was going to strike she suffered even more pain as she was anticipating the violence and hence it made it even worse.

The mental and physical bullying were means of John Reed trying to convince Jane that she was worthless. However, Jane fights back against John Reed both physically and mentally. “Wicked and cruel boy.” “I don’t know very well what I did with my hands but he called me ‘Rat, Rat’. “Socially this was considered unacceptable during Victorian times. Females at that time weren’t allowed to fight back and Jane should have accepted what John Reed had done to her. After the death of Mr Reed, John Reed was regarded as the next head of the family. Therefore many would have seen Jane’s fight back as blasphemous. However, this demonstrates the strength of character displayed by Jane as shows her determination to fight back for herself, regardless of what society thought about it. It shows that Jane wouldn’t tolerate being wronged.

In the case of Billy, his brother Jud generally bullies him physically and mentally similar to what John Reed does to Jane. Frequently, he physically bullies him. “He swung his fist under the blankets and thumped Billy in the kidneys.” “Pushing his face into the cushions and forcing one arm up his back in a half Nelson.” This illustrates how aggressive Jud was towards his brother and the notion that the violence was quite serious for Billy. However unlike John Reed, who planned his attacks on Jane, Jud’s attacks on Billy are not pre-planned, they are more of a reaction. “ Jud stood up and thumped at Billy across the table.” This suggests that his brother constantly attacked Billy on a day to basis, almost this notion that Billy was surrounded by violence which is very astonishing considering that Jud was Billy’s brother and he should have protected Billy from any sort of atrocity rather than torment Billy himself.

In addition to that Jud also bullied Billy psychologically and verbally. “Tha’ll be coming down wi’me.” This demonstrates how Jud would undermine any confidence about Billy and his future. He also constantly threatened Billy. “ I said SHUT it.” This suggests that Jud threatened Billy verbally. Billy also had to cope with the threat coming from his mom. “I’ll bloody murder you when you get home.” This shows how threatening his mom was to him at times. However like Jane, Billy goes against the convention of society. The difference being that Billy doesn’t fight back but he accepts it and society would not have accepted that from Billy. The only time he does fight back is when Jud is too weak to fight back because he’s drunk. “Thumped Jud.” Therefore, both Billy and Jane go against the conventions of society of the time.

Both Mrs Reed and Mrs Casper are responsible for the upbringing of Jane and Billy and they are expected to do so. However neither fulfils their responsibility in the suitable way.

Mrs Reed didn’t want Jane to be a part of the family and hence declined to love or show concern for her. One of the most pivotal reasons behind Mrs Reed’s hatred towards Jane was because the parents of Jane died when she was very young, leaving her with no money and therefore financially Jane had nothing. As I mentioned earlier, the only reason why she accepted the responsibility of looking after Jane was because she had promises her husband that she would look after Jane after his death. Mrs Reed only loved her children and had total belief in her children. “John Reed was still ‘her own darling’,” and therefore Jane was helpless in fighting her cause, as she would be judged as the guilty individual. “Mrs Reed was blind and deaf on the subject.” A great deal of times she embarrassed and isolated Jane from her children. “She must really exclude me from privileges”. One of the instances when she shows a lack of care is when she sends Jane to the red room. “Take her away to the red room and lock her in there.” She sends Jane to the red room with intent knowing that Jane is distraught and not wanting to go because it evokes horrific memories of Mr Reed who died in that room. Jane was very young when Mr Reed and it had an affect on her life at the time. Also, it shows the ignorance displayed by Mrs Reed who refused to find out why Jane reacted in a violent way towards John Reed in the first place.

Mrs Reed’s attitude has led to even the servants of the house showing a lack of respect towards Jane. “You are less than a servant for you do nothing for your keep.” This illustrates that even the servants seem to have picked up the attitude of Mrs Reed. Jane is humiliated by the treatment she receives from everybody in the house and has almost lost all hope in life. “Running away…letting myself die.” If a 10 yr old could visualize something like this, then it just goes to show how far the Reed family and the servants went in order to hurt Jane and have these thoughts creep into her mind.

Mrs Reed destroys Jane’s character when she lies to Mr Brocklehurst about Jane. “Naughty child…guard against her worst fault, a tendency to deceit.” In doing so, Mrs Reed is preparing Jane for an inferior position in school and society ensuring her life will be horrible and is also having her prejudged by Mr Brocklehurst who will view Jane as a bad person. However, Jane displays her strength of character again when she fights back against the false allegations of Mrs Reed who blackened her reputation and attacks her verbally. “I am not deceitful” “You are deceitful”. By saying this, Jane is standing up for herself and doesn’t care if she will be punished for doing so and is correct in what she does as she is fighting off the false accusations Mrs Reed has made about her to Mr Brocklehurst. Again, this outburst of Jane was wrong as in those days, it was socially unacceptable for a couple of reasons. Firstly, as I mentioned earlier according to society females couldn’t fight back and secondly, it was almost seen as blasphemous for a child to verbally attack an adult, no matter what the reason was and as Jane was an orphan it was considered even worse for her to speak to Mrs Reed in that manner.

Like Mrs Reed, Billy’s mom similarly demonstrates a lack of care, love and protection towards Billy. She asks Billy to go to the shops to get food. “Billy get up to the shop and do as you’re telled.” The fact that Billy will be late for school doesn’t bother her and also as a mom it is her responsibility to provide food for Billy, a responsibility she has failed in achieving. She doesn’t see Billy as a child. “You haven’t got a fag on you, have you love.” This demonstrates mom’s lack of care towards Billy as she knows that Billy is a child yet smokes and decides to do nothing about the subject, an indication that it doesn’t matter to her whether he does or does not smoke. When Billy goes to the library, he does not know how it works. This is another evidence of mom’s lack of care, as she didn’t take him to the library before. Billy’s mom does nothing when Jud is bullying Billy in front of her and tells Billy to get food. “You know where’t pantry is.” She threatens him physically and verbally. “She swiped at him” and then later “I’ll bloody murder you when I get hold of you.” This suggests the lack of love shown by Mrs Casper towards Billy who made life even more difficult for Billy.

She ignores the fact Billy is bullied by Jud and does nothing which is a sign of her lack of care shown towards Billy but furthermore, this can also be looked upon as a sign of weakness displayed by her as she can’t protect Billy even when she’s notices him in trouble with Jud and is receiving unfair treatment from Jud. She also demonstrates a lack of comfort shown towards Billy. “Billy rushed round the table to his mother and tried to bury his face in her. She held him off embarrassed.” This is another sign of her lack of concern shown towards Billy when all he wanted was comfort and she doesn’t give any. She does nothing to Jud when Billy pleads for justice when he learns that Jud has killed his hawk. “Well do summat then? Do summat him.” This is a sign of her helplessness rather than her deliberate ignorance because she is too weak to do anything towards Jud.

Although Jane Eyre and Billy Casper are from different centuries and live in two different societies, both children are oppressed. However, they are different in the way they go about their unfair treatment but similar yet again as they both go against the conventions of society. Jane fights back against the unjust treatment she receives and this was considered wrong at that time as females weren’t allowed to fight back while on the other side, Billy doesn’t fight back against the unjust treatment he receives and he goes against the conventions of society as males were expected to fight back. However both children are looking for someone to care for them but no one does and in that aspect they are both similar.

Trevino Alfonso