When Jane arrives at Lowood it is late at night and a servant comes and collects Jane and takes her to the school. Jane then meets the character Miss Temple who gives her a warm welcoming by giving her food and treating her like she is a human being, not like how her Aunt Reed treated her. Her warm welcome then changes by the morning. Charlotte Bronte describes Jane waking up very badly ‘the water pitchers was frozen’ this means that the basin they use to wash themselves with was unbelievably cold. Also through the night the girls have been shivering all through the night because of the north-east wind it had been that cold that it has made the ewers contents turn to ice. So the sleeping conditions at Lowood were very poor and it was easy for the girls to get phenomena or hypothermia! The eating conditions were also bad ‘breakfast time had come at last this morning the porridge was not burnt; the quality was edible, they quantity was small. How small my portion seemed! I wish it had been double’ this is saying that the porridge is usually burnt and the portions are very small.
The girls uniforms were also non-acceptable because it didn’t keep them warm during winter ‘ Our clothing was sufficient to protect us from the severe cold’ the girls feet were swollen, raw and stiff ‘my feet inflamed; and the torture of thrusting the swelled raw and stiff toes into my shoes in the morning’
The lack of food and comfort Is leading the girls to rebel and wrong doing for example the older and bigger girls are stealing from the younger/smaller girls food they would either coax (persuade by flattery) or threaten them to give them their food.
The character Mr Brocklehurst is the schools owner/manager/treasurer. Charlotte Bronte made Mr Brocklehurst a man who is ruled by fear with a strict regime he also follows a corpal punishment he thinks if he floggs or canes a pupil that has been naughty it will teach them not to do it again and also he thinks it will control the pupils. He also is the financial manager so he controls what the money gets spent on. So obviously he is spending little amount on Lowood and spending most of the money on his own leisure. All the staff are also terrified of him ‘all the school, teachers included, rose en masse.’ They also respond to him as an authority figure.
Mr Brocklehurst emphasizes the lack of physical comfort in the schools environment, he also is un-happy about the girls stockings not been mended well, he Is also thinking more about the money than the girls welfare ‘the laundress tells me some of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week it is to much; the rules limit them to one’ so he would prefer to have the girls unclean and save a little bit of money. Charlotte Bronte makes the character Mr Brocklehurst treat the girls like they are lower than everyone else and they wont have any luxury in there life, and they will get no were in life. He thinks it is also ok to physically and verbally because they are poor orphan girls.
Brocklehurst is a religious man who uses Christianity in an evil way. He uses the teaching and acts of Jesus to treat the girls badly for e.g. starving the girls and their physical appearance he wants them to look plain and simple.
Brocklehurst also likes embarrassing the pupils. He publically humiliates Jane when she accidentally breaks one of the slates, he makes sure that no pupil or teacher will talk to her for the rest of the day and makes her stand on a stool in the dining room. He says to the other pupils and teachers “this girl maybe one of gods own lambs, is a cast away: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien.” Here Brocklehurst is singling Jane out and making everyone turn against her, he is labelling her a freak and an outcast.
When Brocklehurst is punishing the girls he takes it one step too far, not only does he physically punish the girls he threatens them with hell and damnation. He also miss uses the scriptures, he uses the old testament more than the new because the new testament shows kindness and charity, so he is using the old testament to keep the girls cold, hungry and punished. He also thinks what he is doing is acceptable that people should be treated like this.
Charlotte Bronte makes the character Jane think that the lessons in school are boring long and difficult, so the girls are getting bored very bored and there most likely not paying attention, and they'll end up in trouble with the teachers.
The teachers at Lowood are very ineffective they don’t really care about the girls and the treat them very badly, so the girls ended up with a damaged self-esteem because of the teachers. The girl’s future prospects are getting limited by the teachers so the girls will end up thinking that they are nobodies.
Miss Scatcherd teaches history and grammer in Lowood, The character Miss Scatcherd picks up on every single mistake Helen makes, she also victimizes Helen.
The character Miss Scatcherd birches the girls when they do the slightest thing wrong. In one part of the novel, Helens fingernails aren’t clean enough so Miss Scatcherd birches her. Miss Scatcherd has made Helen think that she is full of faults. On the other hand, Jane is different to Helen for Jane rebels against the school. Jane wouldn’t be able to cope if she got birched “I am far younger than you, and I could not bear it.” Miss Scatcherd teaching skills aren’t very enjoyable, she can’t keep the girls interests and they begin to daydream.
Even though there is some cruel teachers there is also some nice ones which treat them with respect and treat the like humans not animals.
Miss Temple is the schools superintendent. She isn’t like the other teachers, she gives the girls respect and doesn’t birch them when they’ve done something wrong, but the pupils are hardly naughty in her lessons anyway because she keeps them interested.
When the characters Jane and Miss Temple first meet Miss Temple was very kind and considerate to Jane. When the girls breakfast in burnt Miss Temple orders extra bread and cheese so they don’t starve.
Jane copes with school by having people who she likes around her for example Helen and Miss Temple. Helen is there for Jane when the teachers punish her, she gives Jane sympathy, support and advice. Miss Temple also is there for Jane when she accidentally breaks one of the schools slates and Brocklehurst is yelling at Jane Miss Temple tells the character Brocklehurst that it was an accident.
Helen copes with Lowood in a different way to Jane, Helen uses her religious beliefs to get by. Helen’s religious beliefs let her see the good in other people not the bad even in Miss Scatcherd.
Lowood and schools nowadays are different yet alike in both ways, for we have teachers now who punish people for doing the slightest little things, also we have teachers who are there for the pupils and make them feel wanted. Another reason why the schools are alike are bullies, in the novel the bullies take the others food etc that still happens these days. Although the schools are alike they also are dislike for the girls get poor sleeping conditions and no heat, schools now have radiators, and boarding schools have top class sleeping conditions. Also the way the teachers treat the girls like there nobodies that doesn’t happen anymore, most teachers are treating the pupils with the utmost respect and not de-grading them for their looks and appearances.
