How does Charlotte Bronte create sympathy for Jane in the opening chapters of the novel Jane Eyre?

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How does Charlotte Bronte create sympathy for Jane in the opening chapters of the novel Jane Eyre?

Charlotte Bronte begins the novel with descriptions of the November weather, cold, harsh and inhospitable. It is very gloomy and hostile; this is use of the pathetic fallacy as it reflects Jane’s state of mind and how she is feeling:  “The cold winter wind.”  Also the use of “I” at the beginning of the novel instantly makes us enter into the workings of Jane’s mind, which helps the reader understand what Jane is feeling: “I was glad of it.”

The novel is semi – autobiographical: it is based on some parts of Charlotte’s life and Jane Eyre writes it like an autobiography. Jane is writing the novel as an adult and she goes on to talk about her unhappiness towards her family. She is treated as if she is not as good as her siblings, Eliza, John and Georgiana Reed: “My physical inferiority.” The cousins are so beautiful compared to Jane, she is condemned for being not as beautiful as them, and she is also condemned for being poor; she is lower down on the social hierarchy because of her poverty so therefore her aunt, Mrs Reed feels treats her cruelly. Jane is isolated a lot as well, for example, when the children were in the drawing room they were “clustered around their mama.” The word “clustered” is like safety, there is a group of people that feel safe and protected with one another but Jane is on the outside and apart from the cluster. The fireside in the drawing room is the symbol of the family life, cosy and warm, but Jane is not there, which gives a feeling of isolation. Also, Mrs Reed’s “Darlings” are so horrible to her but only later on in the novel the reader understands how ironic this is. “For now they are not crying or quarrelling” also this suggests that they usually are crying or quarrelling, which shows how bad the family get on with each other.

Bronte then uses “me” a lot; this shows Jane’s strength and passion in her character.  Jane was always apart from the rest of the family “keeping me at a distance” and Mrs Reed sees her own children as being brilliant but Jane will never be as good as them, she wants to see Jane try to be like Georgiana and Eliza so she keeps        Jane at a distance and thinks her children are happy; which is irony as they are the opposite, they are very unhappy later in life; for example John Reed commits suicide.                                       Jane’s principles make her hate lying or deceit and when she has done something wrong she wants to know what she has been accused of so she asks questions: “What does Bessie say I have done?” but Mrs Reed stops Jane asking questions which shows the lack of respect towards her and makes us respect Jane.

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The next setting is the breakfast room where Jane is reading book. She loves reading but she especially likes books with a lot of pictures, which shows Jane’s wild imagination. “Each picture told a story.” This is unusual as most heroines of novels are very intelligent and like reading long books, with no pictures, like Helen Burns who was a very important character in the novel, because she showed Jane how to control her negative passion. The second feeling of isolation was created when she made a haven of safety behind the curtain. “Having drawn the red moreen curtain nearly ...

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