'Jane Eyre' is a book that is written in a way that draws the reader into Jane's life and emotions.
Jane Eyre 'Jane Eyre' is a book that is written in a way that draws the reader into Jane's life and emotions. At the beginning of the book, we see nineteenth century life through a child's eyes. Jane is not treated kindly or with love and because of this we see how awfully some children were treated in the nineteenth century, so very different to our world today where that would be unacceptable to treat a child badly. The author, Charlotte Bronte was like the character she invented, so she found it easy to express Jane's emotions and thoughts. Charlotte wanted ignorant people to see the pain that she suffered in her life, for example her mother and sister's deaths. Charlotte went to a school like Lowood, so she was writing from memories, rather than what she had learned from others.I think that Jane's later life is how Charlotte would have liked her own to be. It is like many stories, even those written in the present day, which is the author's fantasy. The fairytale-like ending resembles not just any fairytale, but one in particular, Cinderella.'Jane Eyre' is set in the early to mid nineteenth century and we see how different life today is, compared with the time which Jane lived. In the nineteenth century, school was not compulsory and that is why many people had little or even no education at all. If you were rich, you would have a good education, but you would not have to work. If you were poor however, your education, if any would not be of a very good standard and you would have to work to earn enough money to survive.Today, men and women are treated equally, which was certainly not the case in the nineteenth century. Women, in the nineteenth century were treated as if they were inferior to men.'Seating himself in an armchair, he intimated by a gesture that I was to approach and stand before him´ Poor women were expected to work as well as
look after their husbands i.e. cook, clean and serve their husband like a slave to his master. Rich women were just there to be wives basically. Still rich women were to please their husband, but not by cooking and cleaning etc., as servants would be employed to do this. The country was definitely male dominated.Charlotte Bronte is attacking the social injustices that were present in the nineteenth century. Bronte successfully does this and vividly portrays what life was like at the time the book is set.A rich girl living in the nineteenth century was expected to be 'seen and not ...
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look after their husbands i.e. cook, clean and serve their husband like a slave to his master. Rich women were just there to be wives basically. Still rich women were to please their husband, but not by cooking and cleaning etc., as servants would be employed to do this. The country was definitely male dominated.Charlotte Bronte is attacking the social injustices that were present in the nineteenth century. Bronte successfully does this and vividly portrays what life was like at the time the book is set.A rich girl living in the nineteenth century was expected to be 'seen and not heard'. These model girls would read the bible, obey their elders, act happy and contented at all times and never argue or answer back. Their childhood was just full of acting how it was seen fit to act at that time, much like their womanhood would be. Rich girls also would be pretty and be artistic, showing this by singing, playing the piano and painting.A rich boy living in the nineteenth century was supposed to be quite the opposite of what was expected of a girl. Boys should have physically strong and active. They were also expected to be naughty and loud and of course dominant, as they would be in later life.Unlike today, in the nineteenth century there was a very definite set of what one would almost call 'rules' of how and how not to behave. 'Until she could discover by her own observations that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner - something lighter, franker, more natural, as it were - she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy little children´. It would be rather frowned upon for an adult not to 'obey' these expectations but for a child, totally unacceptable, in the eyes of rich people, certainly.Jane was never treated as a rich child. She was treated as a poor girl who didn't deserve to have the life that she did have. This theory about Jane's childhood portrays Mrs Reed as a very generous woman, which we, as the reader can argue against. Jane thinks of poverty as being dirty, unnourished, badly treated and basically, below her social status. Jane does not however feel she is of high social standing, as she is not treated as such and constantly told otherwise by the adults in her life.Although Jane is strong willed and highly strung, she does have fears. Her greatest fear in life is of poverty and having to go to a poorhouse where she knows her life would be unimaginably painful and hard. Unfortunately, Jane was never taught that poor people shouldn't be treated as outcasts and that they still can be happy as well as poor. 'Poverty for me was synonymous with degradation.´ Jane sees happiness and poverty as two totally unlinked things.Later in the book we see Jane facing her deepest fear. Jane ends up poor and alone. She does not know how to cope with this sudden poverty as she has always had a good home, even if that was for many years her school. Luckily, Jane was taken in by a clergyman and his two sisters who were as Jane later found out, by huge coincidence her own cousins!Jane wanted to go to school because it would at least get her away from Gateshead Hall. 'If I had anywhere else to go, I should be glad to leave it.´ Jane's only knowledge of school is life is from John Reed and Bessie. John does not like school and this makes Jane think that she might because John and her are in no way alike. Jane knows that she is intelligent and probably also knows that John is not so, and this is another reason she thinks that she might enjoy school. Bessie tells Jane about school and that the girls have to sit up straight and wear backboards that make them keep their back straight. Jane does not particularly relish the thought of this, but she longs to be able to paint pictures and speak French, sew and play the piano, which Bessie had told her about.Lowood Institution was set up for girls that had lost one or both of their parents. These girls' parents would have come from a professional background but lacked the money to send their daughters to a fee paying school. The hypocritical Mr Brocklehurst ensured that these girls were plain and humble, while his own wife and daughters dressed in fine, expensive clothes.Whilst at Lowood, Jane met Helen Burns. Helen taught Jane a lot about life. Helen had strong religious beliefs that were passed on to Jane gradually. Mr Brocklehurst used religion in the wrong way. He thought he could use it as a way to 'put people in their place' because in his eyes, to lead a good Christian life you had to know your place in the social hierarchy. Later in the book when St John Rivers asks Jane to marry him she again sees this misuse of religion that was forced upon her as a child and that is what pushes her back to Rochester.Helen was a strong role model in Jane's life and when she died, Jane had then become emotionally able to deal with this, ironically through Helen's influence. Helen brought Jane down to earth and made her realise that she needed more self control and needed to think before making hasty assumptions and comments. The passionate, highly-strung child we were first acquainted with matured into a much more admirable adult. Miss Temple was a mother figure for Jane, one that Jane actually admired and respected unlike the cold-hearted Mrs Reed who Jane had no respect or admiration for at all.In her early life, the only male that Jane regularly comes into contact with is John Reed, a rude, stout bully. Jane does not at all like John, and is not afraid of showing this, as Jane does not lie or pretend for the benefit of others. Jane feels intimidated by this lout, but she stands up to him and retaliates on one occasion when she was pushed to the edge. Jane then gets punished and sent to the Red Room. This is one of the first accounts that we can obviously see Jane's true character - courageous, passionate and unusually strong feelings about justice and morality from an early age.The first adult male Jane meets is Mr Lloyd, a kind, understanding man who somehow knows Jane's feelings and what would be best for her. Mr Lloyd is good with children, and not just those who meet society's expectations.Jane then meets Mr Brocklehurst, a tall, daunting man who Jane, like most children was fearful of. Jane however, did not respect Mr Brocklehurst. Jane is a very clever girl and she can see through the act that Mr Brocklehurst's children put on to please him, which he is proud of. Mr Brocklehurst tells children that they are naughty if they don't act how he thinks they should and tells them they will go to Hell.Mr Brocklehurst is a cruel man particularly so to children and poor people. This is not very good considering he is a school superintendent. He is a cold hearted, possibly intelligent man whose intelligence is masked by what he has been taught about society. For example, he tells the girls at Lowood that they must dress plainly and be humble, the complete opposite to his wife and daughters. Surely if Mr Brocklehurst had never been taught about society's expectations he would clearly see that the girls at Lowood were no less a person than himself and his family.When Jane is a woman she meets Mr Rochester, a complex man. Mr Rochester treated Jane as an equal to himself. Instead of treating her politely and formally, he treated her as a friend, so his contrasting bad temper that had a tendency to flare up unexpectedly was not as much of a shock as it would have been if all she had heard from him was polite words. Also, the fact that Jane had had an unkind childhood helped her to deal with Mr Rochester's temper. Mr Rochester admired Jane for her courage and inner strength, and then fell in love with this passionate yet plain girl and the book conveniently ends in a marriage of the two.
