Annotated Bibliography Of Jane Eyre

Autobiographical Evidence in Jane Eyre When creating a literary work, authors often write what they know. It isn’t uncommon for an author to weave their own experiences, ideals, and opinions into their writing. Especially for a work of fiction, it is much easier for an author to create a believable and likeable story when they can extract details from the life they have already lived. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, is no exception. The original novel, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, published under Brontë’s pen name, Currer Bell, was titled as such because Brontë modeled Eyre after herself so much. In fact, in a conversation with her sisters, Brontë said she would show them “a heroine as plain and small as” herself (“Introduction”). It is for

When Charlotte was just five years old, her mother died of cancer. As a result, her mother’s sister, Elizabeth, moved into the Brontë household to help Charlotte’s dad raise his six children (“Charlotte Brontë”). Similarly, Jane is depicted as an orphan who lost her parents to typhus before she ever really knew them. She then goes to live with her Aunt Reed at Gateshead Hall, where she suffers a myriad of emotional and physical abuses from her aunt and cousins. While Charlotte’s early years were far less abusive than Jane’s, they both suffered severe loss at a very young

For Charlotte, an imaginary world that she and her siblings created, Angria, was her escape. Charlotte recalled that many times, “what she imagined grew morbidly vivid” and that she was “half miserable” when she could not pursue her daydreams uninterrupted by the world around her (Brownell). Jane, on the other hand, was often very restless, especially during her days at quiet Thornfield Hall, where she lived as a governess after she left Lowood. “I could not help it; the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes. Then my sole relief was to walk along the corridor of the third story, backwards and forwards, safe in the silence and solitude of the spot, and allow my mind’s eye to dwell on whatever bright visions rose before it—and, certainly, they were many and glowing,” (Brontë, 69). Jane’s way to escape her restless mind and long, boring days was to escape into her mind, just like