We learn that Jane is content when she is doing this for she feared “nothing but interruption.”
Jane is often in a little world of her own. It is like an escape – reading books takes her away from her troubled and difficult life with the Reeds. This evokes sympathy because it is very sad that a child has to find happiness in her own imagination and not be happy in the real world.
When we see how John Reed abuses Jane, we feel very sorry for her because it is terribly unjust that a boy that is much older and bigger should hurt a young girl of ten. She is frightened of John because of the physical abuse he inflicts on her.
“…every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near.”
She stresses her vulnerability when she says:
“There were moments when I was bewildered by the terror he inspired; because I had no appeal whatsoever against his menaces or his inflictions: the servants did not like to offend their young master by taking my part against him.”
Also, here we see that no one will take Jane’s part. This demands our sympathy because everyone assumes that Jane is causing the trouble, and they didn’t really care that Jane was being abused.
“Mrs Reed was blind and deaf on the subject.”
Before Jane is struck by John, she “mused on the disgusting and ugly appearance of him who would presently deal it.” Here our sympathy for Jane is furthered because she is trying to strengthen herself for the abuse that will follow. We admire her courage. Our dislike of John is further strengthened as he beats Jane, “all at once, without speaking, he struck suddenly and strongly.” Alliteration is used here to highlight the swiftness of the attack.
We also see that Bronte uses the faults of the other children to make it seem like Jane is the good one. Jane tells us that Georgiana has a “spoiled temper, a very acrid spite, a captious and insolent carriage” and “was universally indulged.” Eliza is “headstrong and selfish” and John, “twisted necks of pigeons, killed the little pea-chicks, set the dogs at the sheep…called his mother “old girl” too and bluntly disregarded her wishes.” All these descriptions of the Reed children and the fact that they make life miserable for Jane, with John in particular, further our sympathies for Jane as she has to endure living with them at Gateshead.
At the end of the first chapter, John Reed tells Jane why she deserves no respect. He describes her status in the family.
“You are a dependant” “You have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg; and not to live her with gentlemen’s children like us.” Here we empathise with Jane because she has no one and she is made to feel unwelcome. We also are proud of the way she stands up to him. “Wicked and cruel boy!” Here, we see Jane’s strength of character and we admire her. Jane then defends herself when John charges at her and this pleases the reader to see that she is fighting back against this tyrannical boy.
“I don’t very well know what I did with my hands, but he called me “Rat, rat!””
When Jane is dragged off to the red room for punishment for John’s actions, we feel very sorry for her as it shows the injustices of Jane’s world. No one is willing to take her side.
““Dear, dear! What a fury to fly at Master John!””
This heightens our sympathy for Jane as the adult world unites and she is seen as the troublemaker.
As she was being taken away to the red room, Jane “resisted all the way”, which she never usually does. She said she was “out of myself” which shows us how traumatised she is from the fight, which demands our sympathy.
Bronte’s use of language shows the enormity of what happened to Jane in it. We learn that this is the room in which Mr. Reed died in and his coffin was placed here until the funeral. Jane feels trapped and this leads her to wonder why she is treated so unjustly and what has she done to deserve this treatment. She said that she “strove to fulfil every duty” but was “termed naughty and tiresome, sullen and sneaking, from morning to noon and from noon to night.”
This evokes our sympathy for Jane as no matter what she does, it is never enough and she does try her best.
Jane describes how she feels, but she does not moan about her treatment. She has only stated how she has been treated and how she feels about it. This furthers our sympathy because we see that at the time she believed that she was naughty.
The intensity of her confusion exhausts her: “What a consternation of soul was mine that dreary afternoon! How all my brain was in tumult, and all my heart in insurrection!”
All this evokes sympathy for Jane. The intensity of Jane’s thoughts and feelings drain her. Her very vivid imagination runs away with her as she thinks sees a ghost and she panics but she is trapped in the red-room.
“My heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears….. I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke down; I rushed to the door and shook the lock in desperate effort.” This shows us how oppressed Jane has felt during her childhood, which evokes sympathy for her. As the servants come to see what all the noise was Jane again appears to us as the innocent victim.
In this chapter we also see what the servants think of Jane.
“…an underhand little thing: I never saw a girl of her age with so much cover.”
Jane is constantly reminded of her status in the family – she is a dependant and if she doesn’t behave herself she will be sent away to the poorhouse.
““No, you are less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep.”” She is even reminded by the servants which again emphasises her low status.
When Miss Abbot tries to scare Jane by saying that she will be punished by God if she does not repent, we again feel sorry for her.
“Say your prayers, Miss Eyre, when you are by yourself; for if you do not repent, something bad may be permitted to come down the chimney and fetch you away.”
This is a very cruel thing to say to a ten year old child with a vivid imagination. We know that Jane lets herself get carried away with her imagination and she will get frightened. No one tries to listen or understand to her, and this demands our sympathy. Being locked in the red room is a cruel punishment for Jane as she is superstitious and the red room has many associations with death.
“Mr Reed had been dead nine years; it was this chamber that he breathed his last…and since that day, a sense of dreary consecration had guarded it from frequent intrusion.”
Jane is truly an outsider from the Reeds. She had nothing in common with them and they did not care for her.
“I was like nobody there. I had nothing in common with Mrs Reed or her children…if they did not love me…as little as I did love them.”
This demands our sympathy because there is no love in the atmosphere and Jane always feels isolated from the rest of the family.
When daylight begins to fade, Jane begins to feel upset again – her courage slowly disappears.
“My habitual mood of humiliation, self-doubt, forlorn depression, fell damp on the embers of the decaying ire.”
This makes us pity her because she is always humiliated and depressed. We also see Jane’s lack of self esteem that has been created by the treatment she has to endure from the Reeds.
“….but how could she really like an interloper not of her race…it must have been irksome to find herself bound by a hard-wrung pledge to stand in the stead of a parent to a strange child she could not lore, and to see an uncongenial alien permanently intruded on her own family group.”
Jane’s self image is very critical. She sees herself as a “strange little figure” like “half fairy or imp”. This demands our sympathy because her treatment from the Reeds has given her a very low self-esteem, which is very sad. Jane also considers the idea of killing herself.
“…but just conceiving of starving myself to death…was I fit to die?” This shows us how low Jane must feel that she should consider suicide to escape from her misery. This evokes sympathy for Jane because this shows how desperate she is to end her suffering.
Jane is very traumatised by her punishment in the red room. She puts on a brave face and tries to strengthen herself “I wiped my tears and hushed my sobs”. We admire her because she is trying to toughen herself up even though she has just experienced a traumatic, violent situation. We pity her because she is trying to be strong.
Jane’s vivid imagination makes her become frightened – she thought that a beam of light was a ghost. Leaving a young girl locked alone in a dark room is a cruel punishment because of the darkness and claustrophobia of the room. ‘Monsters’ and other such frightening things could be created in the child’s mind and there is no escape for Jane as the room is locked, and no comfort for her either because the Reeds are unloving and uncaring. This evokes sympathy for Jane because she is truly trapped – mentally and physically. Eventually, it becomes too much for her.
“I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke down – I uttered a wild, involuntary cry – I rushed to the door and shook the lock in a desperate effort.”
She is trying to escape from the horrors she has created in her own imagination in the red room. We feel sympathy for Jane because she has had enough and is in a panic.
When the maids come to the red room to see why Jane screamed, Jane is accused of being a liar.
““She has screamed out on purpose…I know her naughty tricks.””
Our sympathy is heightened because Jane was accused of lying even though she was truly frightened. No one tries to understand her.
When Mrs Reed comes to see what is going on, again Jane is accused of being a liar even though she asks for forgiveness.
““Oh aunt, have pity! Forgive me! I cannot endure it – let me be punished some other way!””
Jane does not ask for no punishment; she even suggests that she is punished some other way which shows that she respects Mrs Reed’s wish for her to be punished and it also shows how much fear she feels when she is in the red room.
Jane’s pleas and “frantic anguish” are ignored by everyone. “…abruptly thrust me back and locked me in, without further parley.” Sympathy is evoked for Jane here because even though she is clearly traumatised they ignore her. After they go, we see that Jane “had a species of fit” which makes us empathise with her as she has had a fit and falls unconscious but still no one seems to care.
In Chapter 3 Jane is again reminded of her inferiority as Mr. Lloyd, and apothecary is sent for as Jane is sick, Mr. Lloyd was called in whenever the servants are sick. When the Reeds are ill a physician is summoned. Mrs. Reed reminds Jane of her social position at every opportunity. Jane however takes comfort and feels safe when strangers are around “…someone was handling me; lifting me up and supporting me in a sitting posture: and that more tenderly than I had every been raised or upheld before. I rested my head against a pillow or arm, and felt easy” and Mr. Lloyd makes her feel at ease, “I felt so sheltered and befriended while he sat… as he closed the door after him all the room darkened and my heart again sank: inexpressible sadness weighed it down.”
We sympathise with Jane as her only friend is the apothecary and it shows how she aches for companionship. It is quite pathetic that Jane feels safe and secure when a stranger is near her and that she feels no security around her family.
“I felt an inexpressible relief…I knew that there was a stranger in the room…an individual not belonging to Gateshead, and not related to Mrs Reed.” Chapter 3 also shows how normally Jane is neglected in the house because here while she feels ill Bessie looks after her well and Jane describes the special treatment as “wonderful civility.”
We see that Jane is a polite, friendly child.
“I pronounced his name, offering him at the same time my hand: he took it, smiling and saying, “We shall do very well by-and-by.””
We can see here that Jane has good manners and is likeable. It also evokes our sympathy because she is only being treated well by a stranger and she is responding well.
