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Recommended: Independence in Jane Eyre

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you”(257-258). The quote epitomizes Jane’s independence, but underneath Jane’s strong exterior, she is a young woman longing for love and a family. Throughout the novel, Jane learns to fend for herself, but we also see Jane’s longing for a family. In Charlotte Bronte’s book Jane Eyre, themes of family, love, and independence prominently play out in the characters of Jane, Rochester, and St. John.
Growing up as an orphan, Jane longs for someone to love her and care for her. Her benefactress, Mrs. Reed, and her children neglected her. On one occasion, John Reed told Jane, “You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen's children like us”(10). Jane endured that kind of treatment for ten years, then she moved to a boarding school where she found a friend. A kind teacher, Miss Temple took Jane under her wing and became like a mother to J...

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