Bronte lost her mother at an early age, and Jane Eyre also lacks parental guidance throughout her life, including her childhood years when one needs the most parental instruction in order to form proper morals and to learn important lessons. During Bronte’s early life, she was sent off to school with her older sisters. Lowood reflects directly on this school, the Clergy Daughter’s Academy. While Bronte lived here, her sisters served as guides, friends and companions for two years, and then suddenly died when an episode of typhus broke out. As Bronte looked up to her sisters for examples, Jane’s friend Helen taught her morality. Mr. William Carus Wilson, the harsh unpleasant man who ran the academy, was said to rule with an iron fist. This is where Bronte received her inspiration for Mr. Brocklehurst, who could be considered mostly responsible for the hard times Jane experiences at Lowood. “Madame, these top knots, I repeat, must be cut off; think of the time wasted, of--” (Bronte 136).Mr. Brocklehurst is a cold hearted man who believes that the girls in his school should be raised humbly, and yet he raises his own daughters extravagantly, dressing them in silks and false curls, while he demands that the tight braids the school girls wear are inappropriate and must be cut off.
The men in Bronte’s life influenced the morals she valued in her idea of the perfect man. In Jane Eyre, John Reed represents Bronte’s only brother Branwell, whose father spoiled him, exactly as John Reed’s mother indulges him. “He would do very well if he had fewer cakes and sweetmeats sent him from home, but the mother’s heart turned from an opinion so harsh.” (Bronte 123). John Reed does not learn to become independent, therefore when he becomes older, he falls into self-destructive habits, ruining himself and losing his family’s fortune. Bronte’s brother Branwell fell to gambling when he had matured, also inflicting a heavy burden on his family. Mr. Rochester could be considered another reflection of Branwell, because Bronte’s perfect man was flawed, she created an imperfect man, who gambled and had mistresses. These bad habits, once sacrificed to marry Jane, made Mr. Rochester even more worthy to of Jane’s love.
When Bronte set out to write a novel along with her siblings, she said that she would give them a heroine as little and plain as herself. The first time that Jane Eyre came out in print, the publisher printed it as an autobiography by Currier Bell, Bronte’s pen name. In fact, it was more of a fictional autobiography, with certain aspects of Bronte’s life weaving in throughout the book. “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart!” Bronte (336). Bronte may have felt the same way Jane did about being shunned and rejected from society because of being smaller in size and standing than others who were above her in the social order. She certainly achieved her goal of creating a heroine as little and small as herself, because Jane is certainly little and small, but proves herself to be just as worthy as anyone else, overcoming difficulties and prevailing in standing firm in her own morals and ideals.
Certainly Jane Eyre contains many aspects of Bronte’s life, from character representation, to actual events such as a typhus breakout at Lowood, to the basis of Mr. Rochester on her brother Branwell. Some authors base their fiction on their own personal lives, nearly writing autobiographies, but others do not plan to share their lives in their writing. All experiences in life affect the way people react to and view certain situations, influence their moral faith, and can come out through different forms of art. However much Bronte meant to base the novel Jane Eyre on her own personal life, there were certainly many things that influenced the story and characters. When these things about Bronte are learned, they make the story all the more enjoyable for the reader.
Bibliography
Roosevelt, Eleanor. "Famous Quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt." Famous Quotes. 09 Mar. 2006 <http://members.aol.com/Jainster/Quotes/eleanor_roosevelt_quotes.html#Eleanor%20Roosevelt>.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Pocket Books, 2005.
