Childhood Perspectives in Jane Eyre and Hideous Kinky

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Childhood Perspectives in Jane Eyre and Hideous Kinky

Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 in Hamworth in Yorkshire. Her father

was the vicar of the village she lived in. Her mother died when she

was very young. With her two sisters, Maria and Elizabeth she was sent

to a very strict boarding school where she was very unhappy. Both her

sisters died of tuberculosis, which made her very upset. Jane Eyre was

based on Charlotte Bronte's own experience and is a fictional

autobiography.

Esther Freud was born in London in 1963 almost 150 years after

Charlotte Bronte. She spent most of her childhood in Sussex, she was

taken to Morocco when she was very young but says she can't remember.

Hideous Kinky was published in 1992, although it's not an

autobiography its base on her childhood experiences in Morocco.

Jane Eyre is set in the middle of the Victorian period where children

had no rights and social class was everything. As the book goes on we

see Jane grow from a rebellious and boisterous young girl to a

sensible and determined woman. We see Jane move from place to place

meeting and losing people. Although we do see Jane growing into a

young woman we are only concentrating on the first 10 chapters in

which we follow her childhood.

Hideous Kinky is set in the 1960's, in Morocco .The book gives a view

of life on the road to Morocco is put across through the eyes of a

sincere but often distracted hippie's five year-old daughter. As the

small family seeks food, shelter and friendship wherever they can and

their adventures unfurl, there grows between them a strange yet

unshakeable bond.

The contrast between the historical and social period in which the two

books are set is stark, particularly with regard to th...

... middle of paper ...

...y. In the evening, Jane

speaks to Helen, she asks her why she puts up with Miss Scatchared's

bullying and she explains the principles of endurance, duty and

self-sacrifice to Jane, as based on the New Testament Gospels.

A lot of the first few chapters when Jane starts Lowood consist of the

converse between Helen and Jane. Though this dialogue covers some

complex theological ground, it is nonetheless quite naturalistic and

provides us with a deep insight into Helen's character. Helen offers

one solution to Jane's problem - the need to quell her passionate

nature and Jane does learn from her, as we begin to see in the

following chapters. But Helen's faith is also essentially inward -

looking, as indicated by her tendency to slip into reverie, and

potentially death - willing; she looks forward to death as an

elevation, 'I live in calm, looking to the end'.

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