Jane Eyre

When trying to understand the meaning in the novel, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, it is imperative to understand the underlying characteristics of Jane Eyre. Her characteristics are introduced early on in the novel at her Aunt Reed's house, and continues to grow and solidify through her interactions and relationships with those around her. These instances help depict Jane as a person who despises injustice, content, and reasonable.
While being an undesirable resident at her Aunt Reed's house, Jane goes through instances that lead her to be very outspoken and intolerant for injustice. Jane gets treated like a repulsive cling on to the family and gets beat around by her cousin John. Jane first begins to show her resistance to injustice when John threw a book at Jane's head. Jane had enough of passive acceptance for the way she was being treated. Jane rushed at John, and after that she realized she is not a helpless little girl. However, she also realized that her deliberate nonconformity to the Reed's concept that Jane “ought to beg, and not live here with gentleman's children like us” will lead her to harsh consequences (12). After Jane's outburst towards John, her Aunt Reed locked her in the red room. The red room was the place that her uncle died in and was rarely occupied after. During her confinement, Jane had a nervous breakdown after seeing a “glowing orb” which was supposedly the spirit of her uncle (19). This incident, while she was still confined to the red room, led her to think intently on the injustices that are placed upon by her relatives. She goes on to remember, “all John Reed's violent tyrannies, all his sisters' proud indifference, all his mother's aversion, all the servants' partiality” (17). These events in he...

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... would thrust her down to unsounded depths of agony” (114). It was not till the end that Jane realized a little passion in life makes for good company with reason. It wasn't until Later when Jane united passion with reason that she could say, “I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth” (374). However, reason never truly leaves Jane.
Through the duration of the novel, Jane grew and developed new characteristics that morphed her thinking and personality. Al thought she went through stages; being a person who is content, reasonable, and despises injustice stuck with her throughout her arduous journey. Jane's plain features and passion for reason helped her to be content with her life, but as she matured in her understanding of life, she came to the realization that balance of passion is also needed in life in order to obtain true joy.