Jane’s cousin, John discovers Jane’s hiding place and begins to threaten her for being a lowly orphan who is only permitted to live with Reeds because of his mother’s charity. John then hurls a book at the young girl pushing her to the end of her patience. As Jane finally erupts, the two cousins begin to fight, however, Jane does not strike with her fists as much as using words to defend herself: “You are like the murderer-you are like a slave-driver, you are like the Roman Emperors!” These overemotional comparisons add some melodramatic shade to the scene.
Charlotte Bronte uses descriptions of mental, physical, and natural violence throughout the text to interest the reader and create springboards towards more emotional and dramatic parts of the novel. By doing this, Bronte not only uses violence to capture reader’s attention, but also leads the reader on an interesting journey throughout the book.
Later on in the chapter, Jane is being punished for starting a fight with John and is being dragged into the Red Room by Mrs Reed. This is obviously a terrible penalty to inflict upon a little girl who is clearly desperate and very afraid, however, Mrs Reed has no sympathy for her. “ I resisted all the way”, Jane Eyre states at the beginning of chapter 2, and this attitude strikes the perfect note for the entire novel, that a woman will “resist” the terms of her destiny (social or spiritual). She also refers to herself as being a “rebel slave”. Jane’s personality becomes much clearer in this chapter. At ten years old, she is able to look at her situation and judge it honestly. 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.
When Jane is ignorantly thrust into the Red Room (where her uncle died), we can see how the room has heavy religious imagery associated with it. We are told that the bed looked like a “tabernacle,” and the footstool resembled a “pale throne.” It is ironic that something a lowly as a footstool should resemble something as powerful as a throne. It is in this room that we can see how Jane starts to reflect on the abuse that she has suffered at the hands of the Reeds. She now refers to “John Reed’s violent tyrannies,” “ his sister’s proud indifferences,” “and all his mother’s aversion and the servants’ partiality.” It can be seen how Jane has become dejected and despondent. Her life as a child is sharply defined by the red colour of the room, which symbolises anger, humiliation, and shame, also contributing to Jane’s feelings.
To describe the room, Charlotte Bronte also uses adjectives like “darkly-polished”, “glared white”, creating a contrast between colours. Bronte fills the room with contrasting colours in the same way as she feels the scene with contrasting ideas: the brutality and cruelty on one side and Jane’s innocence on the other. By using adjectives like “large”, “huge”, and “massive”, the author creates the impression of Jane being very small compared to the surroundings. A light ‘quivering’ on the wall sets the seal of her fears. Jane gets struck with the sence that her uncle Reed’s ghost is in the room as she screams for help: “ Take me out! Let me go into the nursery!” However, her aunt believes that she is just trying to escape her punishment and ignores her pleas. Jane faints in exhaustion and fear. This chapter ends with a cliffhanger, which makes the reader curious about what is to happen next.
The language used by Charlotte Bronte in this novel is archaic, that is why it is very difficult for someone unfamiliar with nineteenth-century texts. The author uses words like endeavouring, influx, ottoman and many more, which we no longer in use today. The language used by Bronte is typical of Victorian fiction. The sentences are long and complicated, and the vocabulary is elaborate. This formal prose was very common at that time in spoken and written language.
Children’s speech in the novel reflects the view of Victorian society about childhood. At the time, children were viewed as miniature adults, and, consequently, the children were not recognised as having special needs of their own. Strict discipline was the main demand of Victorian society. In the novel children use a very formal speech similar to adults.
In order to understand the discrimination, which Jane faces, and her extraordinary nature overcoming them, it may also help to look at the society in which Charlotte Bronte herself lived. Before the publication of her book, at the age of thirty-one, Bronte spent much of her adult life teaching, and did not find it a pleasant experience. Life as a governess was very demanding and isolating. Bronte felt very strongly about the rights of women, who, like herself, were forced into this position.
These experiences are visibly reflected in Bronte’s novel. As we can already see from the first two chapters, ‘Jane Eyre’ explores and challenges the social ideas of nineteenth century Victorian society. Themes of social class, gender, relations, and injustice can be clearly identified throughout. Since Jane Eyre begins her story as an orphan raised by a wealthy family, this uncertain social standing motivates much of the inner tension and conflict of the novel: Jane’s education and semi-aristocratic lifestyle are those of the upper class, but she has no money. As a penniless orphan forced to live on the charity of others, Jane is a kind of a second-class inhabitant. The tensions of this contradiction immerge in the very first two chapters of the novel. Jane’s banishment to the Red Room exemplifies her inferior position, which regard to the rest of the Reed household.
The structure of the novel seems to be quite simple. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator claims that the novel is an autobiography of Jane Eyre so that the story is told from the first person point of view- from Jane herself. Actually we see two Janes: the mature story teller, who enjoys the wisdom of her life experiences, and the confused, orphaned girl, who must overcome many hardships to find love and happiness.
In conclusion it is possible to identify some most effective ways that Bronte uses to create sympathy for the main character of her novel. One of the particularly powerful means of achieving this is indisputably Bronte’s skilful use of language features. Sympathy for Jane becomes even more persuasive, since it reflects Bronte’s personal experiences, ideas and beliefs. And finally, because Jane expresses her thoughts and feelings directly, readers very quickly begin to trust that what she says is true, and to sympathies with her character, taking her side in the struggles against others.
However, as personal impression of the first two chapters proves, along with creating sympathy for Jane, Bronte also portrays her as a character that possesses a sense of her self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, and a passionate nature.
