Bronte goes on to write about the Reed family’s cruelty, especially John Reed’s cruelty to Jane Eyre. Through Bronte’s descriptions of John Reed and his actions he is presented as a selfish and greedy bully. Even his appearance is described adversely as Bronte writes that he had “dingy and unwholesome skin” as well as “heavy limbs and large extremities”, Bronte writes that Jane was “accustomed” to John Reed’s abuse, which shows that he must have bullied her frequently. In this instance he picked up the book she was reading and “flung” it at her, which made Jane Eyre strike her head against the door and cut it. After John Reed had “ran headlong at her, Jane Eyre narrates, “I don’t know very well what I did with my hands, but he called me “Rat! Rat!” and bellowed out”, this shows the reader that Jane Eyre did rebel against her bullies and even resorted to physical violence which conveys to the reader that childhood in Jane Eyre can be wild.
Andrea Ashworth, who is bullied because of her race, also occasionally stood up to her bullies, however in a much more tame way than Jane Eyre, when she was in Canada and a gang of boys who were “not nice boys” demanded that Andrea Ashworth should “Get ‘em off” referring to her sandals, Ashworth wrote “I agreed to take off my sandals if my little sister didn’t have to” which shows the reader that she was protective of her sister and also did not fully accept the demands of her bullies, she then said “stuff you” to them however she did not rebel physically but only verbally unlike Jane Eyre which shows that childhood in Ashworth’s book is more tame in some ways. Jane Eyre is bullied because of her low social class as an orphan while Andrea Ashworth is bullied because of her race, this shows that the two books have a different context and were written at different times as in Victorian England diversity of race did not exist in society while “Once in a House on Fire” can be recognised by the reader as being a modern book due to the large diversity of race.
Charlotte Bronte also presents Jane Eyre as living beneath the shadow of Mrs. Reed’s absolute authority. After the incident where Jane Eyre defends herself against John Reeds assault, Mrs. Reed gives the order “Take her away to the red-room and lock her in there”, this order was immediately obeyed as “four hands were immediately laid upon Jane Eyre”, which shows that Jane is at Mrs. Reeds mercy. This is similar to Ashworth living under the absolute authority of her stepfather as the reader is shown when she has to “look up at her stepfather” to see if he would allow her to do something as trivial as eating a vanilla cake. Mrs. Reed’s authority and influence also affects the servants as Bessie is afraid to be kind to Jane Eyre in the presence of Mrs. Reed but sings songs to her and speaks kindly to her when they are alone as Bronte writes “none of the Reeds were there” and Jane Eyre narrates that Bessie spoke to her “every now and then a word of unwonted kindness”.
Charlotte Bronte also writes that Jane Eyre claims to have had an unusual experience while locked up in the “red-room” as she uses visual imagery to allow us to imagine what Jane Eyre is seeing by writing that a “light gleamed on the wall” and according to Jane Eyre it could not have been the moonlight as it “stirred”. A wave of panic then spread over her as she thought that a “swift darting beam” was coming from “another world”, this shows Jane Eyre’s childish perspective as when she reflects on that incident as an adult she can “now conjecture” that it was simply a “gleam from a lantern”, this use of dual narrative shows that Charlotte Bronte also presents childhood in Jane Eyre as imaginative as Jane Eyre created her own reality by imagining it was a supernatural event.
School was also a different experience for Jane Eyre and Andrea Ashworth. For Jane Eyre the Victorian charity school Lowood is an escape from the Reed family as she narrates in her own words that school was an “entire separation from Gateshead”. For Andrea Ashworth school is a place to make friends and have fun. The different experiences they had at school are also differences in how both books present childhood. While Jane Eyre is presented as a precocious child who enjoys reading not just fiction but also non-fiction books aimed at older audiences such as “Goldsmiths History of Rome” which leaves the impression that childhood in Jane Eyre, even though imaginative, is more disciplined and serious than “Once in a house on fire” as Ashworth’s reading is limited to children’s books such as Enid Blyton’s books which are about groups of children having adventures, this supports the portrayal of childhood in Ashworth’s book as cheerful, humorous and adventurous. Yet Jane Eyre, much like Ashworth, does read fiction books such as Gulliver’s travels which provides her as well with an escape from reality.
Bronte’s first description of Lowood through the eyes of Jane Eyre creates the image of mysteriousness and uncertainty as Bronte writes that Jane Eyre “dimly discerned” a wall in front of her. Visual imagery is used to emphasise the uncertainty that is Jane Eyre’s future, a “wall” could represent a barrier into a different and segregated world. Once Jane Eyre settles in the school Bronte clarifies the true picture of Lowood, which is portrayed as strict and authoritarian. The entire authority lies with the teachers, the students can also be punished for the most minor of things as the reader is made aware when Helen Burns is punished by Miss Scatcherd who cries out to her “you dirty disagreeable girl” as she forgot to “clean her nails”, this criticism is followed by Miss Scatcherd “instantly and sharply inflicting on her neck a dozen strokes with a bunch of twigs”. This violent punishment shocks the reader and is portrayed as unjust as she could not clean her nails because the “water was frozen” and yet Helen Burns accepts it without a word of rebellion, which conveys to the reader that childhood is also portrayed as being stoical. This is in contrast to Andrea Ashworth’s school, which does not punish for actions so minor but is rather accepting and welcoming of her as the reader is shown when she enters the class and the class tells her “welcome”, which shows that she is accepted by both the teacher and the students of her class which reflects the image of a society less dominated by social class.
Virginia Woolf wrote of the novel “Jane Eyre”: “The writer has us by the hand, forces us along her road, makes us see what she sees, never leaves us for a moment or allows us to forget her”, this is also true of the books presentation of childhood, were the writer makes us see what she sees, namely that childhood in Jane Eyre is precocious and somewhat stoical as well as passionate and imaginative. Marina Benjamin writes about “Once in a House on Fire”: “The great strength of this memoir is that its child’s-eye perspective is convincing”, the novel does indeed convince the reader that even though Ashworth is bullied and is powerless, she still has her moments of happiness, which conveys the idea that children are innocent and want to simply enjoy their existence. Bronte’s theme of childhood is in agreement with this as she Jane Eyre also looks for an escape from reality by reading fiction books showing the reader how children in Jane Eyre also seek happiness.