Jane Eyre and Education in Nineteenth-century England
Jane Eyre provides an accurate view of education in nineteenth-century England, as seen by an 1840s educator. The course of Jane's life in regard to her own education and her work in education are largely autobiographical, mirroring Charlotte Bronte's own life. Jane's time at Lowood corresponds to Charlotte's education at a school for daughters of the clergy, which she and her sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Emily left for in 1824. Jane went on to attend Miss Wooler's school at Roehead from 1831 to 1832, and returned to teach there for three years in 1935, just as Jane became a teacher at Lowood. Both Charlotte and Jane became governesses.
The Lowood School is an accurate representation of a Charity School in the 1820s . The bad health conditions follow the conditions of the school the Brontes went to. The monitorial system of teaching it operates on coincides with the systems created by Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell. Lowood's system of a master teacher, under teachers, and monitors is consistent with Bell's complicated system. In addition, the brand of discipline implemented by Mr. Brocklehurst is much like that of Lancaster. Jane's horror at the harsh punishments at Lowood are meant to prompt similar reactions in the reader. Jane at first thinks she could not bear such punishment and is mortified when she must stand on a stool and is accused of being a liar. The disciplining of Jane was completely unfounded, the result of an accident. Most of the punishments at Lowood seem to be for minor and unavoidable infractions such as having dirty nails when the wash water was frozen. Jane sees these punishments as generally just being mean, and thinks that such mean people do ...
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...ould receive work appropriate for his own age and ability. The passages which do show Jane at the school usually include praises of how well her students are doing and how the children of England are so much better than the children of the rest of the Europe. This belief also suggests that their education system is the best, including the newest form of schooling, the class school.
While at first Lowood was an awful experience, Jane ended up getting a very good education, and went on to offer even better education to other children. Jane Eyre illustrates the evils one could face in the charity schools of the early nineteenth century and the development of that education system into a much better, more efficient system.
Works Cited:
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London, Penguin Books Ltd.: 1996. (Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Michael Mason).
Jane Eyre is about a girl named Jane who struggles to find who she really is and with it what she really wants. “As a model for women readers in the Victorian period and throughout the twentieth century to follow, Jane Eyre encouraged them to make their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals” (Markley). One of the reasons why this book gained merit was because of its striking presence within its time period. During the “Victorian Age” woman did not have much say in society, so this novel broke boundaries to societal norms that restricted woman from things they have today. “Brontë is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her nature.
Analyse the methods Charlotte Brontë uses to make the reader empathise with Jane Eyre in the opening chapters. Reflect on how the novel portrays Victorian ideology and relate your analysis to the novel’s literary content.
Jane is soon sent away to Lowood school. Lowood school has high walls and strict rules which holds the freedom of students. Lowood eats away at her body (inedible food, bad conditions), but Gateshead ate away at her soul (isolation).
The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe details the account of an African tribal named Okonkwo as his life goes from great to horrible. While this book has many lessons that can be learned, I will be primarily focusing on the effect that Christianity had on the population of the African tribe. While Christianity is a religion of peace, its followers often do not follow this basic tenant. The first missionary, Mr. Brown, practiced compromise and tolerance. His replacement, Mr. Smith, was much more aggressive in his tactics. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe shows through the characterization of Mr. Smith a shameful and harmful look at the spread of Christianity during the British empirical period.
Through the course of the novel, Jane Eyre is dependent on first her Aunt Reed, then Mr. Brocklehurst, and, subsequently, Mr. Rochester. As John Reed, her cousin, taunts her, she is “a dependent… [has] no money’” (Bronte 4), highlighting the complete control her Aunt Reed has of her life at this point. Her Aunt Reed chooses to send her to the frightful Lowood School and leads her Uncle John Eyre to believe her “’dead of typhus fever at Lowood.”’ (Bronte 217) While at Lowood, she is dependent on the dreadful Mr. Brocklehurst, a “personification of the Victorian superego,” (Gilbert and Gubar 343) who is the “absolute ruler of this little world.” (Rich 466) He uses “religion, charity, and morality to keep the poor in their place,” (Rich 466) rendering the students psychologically dependent on him. Finally, as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Jane Eyre is dependent on Mr. Rochester as his employee, required to acquiesce to his whims and to ask his...
As a child, Jane Eyre suffered from much torment from her Aunt Reed and her callous cousins. She never received the love she deserved and longed for. She felt the need to escape from the misery and torture that she got at Gateshead from her so called family. In a way, Mrs. Reed helped Jane in her process of growing and maturing. Jane was determined to find something better for her in life because she did not want to feel that rejection from the Reeds. With that rejection, Jane was motivated to become someone better than they were. Jane Eyre was sent to Lowood, an orphanage school, and met Miss Temple and Helen Burns.
First, Wollstonecraft discusses education of women as secondary to men. They learn a little bit of sewing, how to dress, how to sing and speak a little of a language. She criticizes that women need to learn more than muse their husbands. This concept is presented in Bronte's work. Jane Eyre is presented as successful mainly because Jane is educated in a school where she learns how to be other than an entertaining wife.
During the Western Imperialism era there were many changes made in Africa. One of the major changes that took place was that of religion. Most of the African tribes had their own religion and it was most of the time, polytheistic, with many Gods. When the Europeans came to these villages they brought the religi...
This feeling intensifies when Mr. Brocklehurst arrives to take Jane away to Lowood School. Her aunt is pleased to see her go, but manages to influence Jane's life even after Jane is settled in at the charity school, by informing Mr.
Jane had a testing childhood at the hands of her aunt Mrs Reed and her cousins. She lived with the Reed family until ten years of age and during these ten years she was bullied and unloved. Jane was then sent away to Lowood School she appeared excited to leave Gateshead, yet once at Lowood she experienced more ridicule and a hard school life. Nevertheless she did find friendship in Helen Burns, although this friendship was short lived as Helen died during a breakout of typhus, through their short friendship Helen had shown Jane that life at Lowood could be bearable; she was also the first friend Jane ever really had.
During the 19th and 20th century, Africa experienced various influences and manipulation from Western colonizers. Westerners emerged with strong intentions to destroy local traditions and establish a solid group of supporters who would accommodate their rule. Religion, being central to all African lives, was the first on the colonizers’ execution list. Evangelists and Missionaries arrived in Africa and infused with the local African community, appearing to be supportive and empathetic towards the natives. Gradually, Africans became brain-washed and started to fall for the cajolery that Westerners had plotted. However, eradicating the beliefs that were had been so deeply rooted in African culture for centuries were not an easy task. Although many radical Africans were tolerant towards the Westerners, conse...
Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, is set in a Victorian England, where social class is a huge factor in life. Brontë is very critical of Victorian England’s strict hierarchy. the main character, Jane, is a governess. Her social position is very complicated in which she has to be sophisticated, educated, intelligent, and soft spoken but she is then talked down to as she is of a lower class. The job of a governess is to teach children, whether it be art, writing or reading english literature. Victorian society is very corrupt and in the novel Brontë truly captures and illustrates the challenges that Jane has to face as a governess. The novel also emphasizes the social gap between individuals and how big it really is. In Victorian society, the rich get the most out of life and life for the poor gets harder. No individual should judge or belittle another due to the very minor factor of social status, but it seems to be very important in Jane’s society. The message that Brontë expresses in the novel is that social class is a meaningless catalyst in the progression of relationships, creating giant gaps between individuals.
In conclusion, it is clear that the coming of Christianity to Africa was not greeted with open arms. While it granted Africans the chance to acquire new teachings, it also insinuated itself within politics, family, and traditions, utterly destroying them from the inside out. Having been detailed within novels by Achebe, Oyono, and Thiong’o, it is easy to see how these “pacifying” roles eventually led to a total conquest for all of Africa.
Explore how Charlotte Bronte presents the character of Jane Eyre in the novel of the same name, noting the effects of social and historical influences on the text. Jane Eyre was a plain and insignificant unloved orphan, she was cared for by her aunt Reed, who did not like her but was obliged to look after her because it was a request of Mr. Reed who was also Jane's uncle. Eventually she was sent away to school after fighting with her bullying cousin John and getting locked in the room her Uncle died in, and she fainted. The school was awful with a horrible owner and bad conditions; there was a typhus epidemic in which her friend Helen Burns died.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.