The Ecology of Jane Eyre: Surviving the Struggles
Wild, calm, fierce, gentle, damaging, nurturing – nature, such an unpredictable force, can be paralleled with Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. Many of Jane Eyre’s characters resemble nature, and many of the novel’s events are supported or foreshadowed by occurrences in nature.
Jane Eyre’s main character, Jane, is shown maturing from child to adult. Jane’s metamorphosis throws her from the fairytale escape she has created, into real life that she must adapt to in order to survive. There are subtle changes in Jane’s character that hint of maturity. In the novel’s first paragraphs Jane states: “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day . . . I was glad of it; I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes . . .” (1; Ch.1). Further into the novel, nature being the medium of change, Jane adopts a new perspective: “It was a fine, calm day, though very cold; I was tired of sitting still in the library through a whole long morning . . . the distance, two miles, would be a pleasant winter afternoon walk” (102; Ch.12). The juxtaposition of Jane’s varying opinions show the growth of Jane’s character. This growth could be a result of Jane’s change of environment. Jane’s initial dislike of long, chilly walks is perhaps due to her unpleasant surroundings at Gateshead. Jane’s contempt for the walks and the outdoors vanishes during her time in the more hospitable environment of Thornsfield. Though Jane matures through the novel, from the beginning she is unabashadedly honest and harsh, much like nature. Jane, as does nature, reveals only naked and blatant honesty. When Rochester asks Jane if she thinks that he is handsome she, with no initial equivocation, answers, “No, Sir” (122; Ch.13). Jane, a type of nature, is companioned with another character who, similar to Jane, represents nature, Rochester. Rochester rivals Jane with his harsh and natural honesty: “Not quite: you have secured the shadow of your thought; but no more, probably. You had not enough of the artist’s skill and science to give it full being; yet the drawings are, for a schoolgirl, peculiar. As to the thoughts, they are elfish” (117; Ch.13). A development of Rochester’s character can be seen toward the novel’s end. This cha...
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... warning: “I am no better than the old lightning-struck chestnut tree in Thornfield’s orchard, and what right would that ruin have to bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness” (425; Ch.37)? Jane reassures Rochester: “You are no ruin sir – no lightning- struck tree: you are green and vigorous” (425;Ch.37). When Jane leaves, Rochester becomes distraught. Fittingly, Rochester’s surroundings reflect his feelings. Jane notices on her way to visit Rochester that “There were no flowers, no garden-beds; only a broad gravel walk girdling a grass plot . . . ‘quite a desolate spot’” (412; Ch.37). When Rochester sees Jane again and the two vow to love and live together always, Rochester regains his natural vigor: “The sky is no longer a blank to him – the earth no longer a void” (432; Ch.38). Jane and Rochester, seeming to understand their relationship and dependence with nature, accept it. Jane tells Rochester toward the novel’s end, “we will go home through the wood; that will be the shadiest way” (427; Ch.37). This statement recognizes nature’s importance in their lives and seems to acknowledge that for them the natural way is the most honest, pleasing, and fitting way.
The three events that mark Jane as an evolving dynamic character are when she is locked in the red room, self reflecting on her time at Gateshead, her friendship with Helen Burns at LoWood, her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and her last moments with a sick Mrs. Reed. Brought up as an orphan by her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is accustomed to her aunts vindictive comments and selfish tendencies. Left out of family gatherings, shoved and hit by her cousin, John Reed, and teased by her other cousins, Georgina and Eliza Reed, the reader almost cringes at the unfairness of it all. But even at the young age of ten, Jane knows the consequences of her actions if she were to speak out against any of them. At one point she wonders why she endures in silence for the pleasure of others. Why she is oppressed. "Always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned" (Bronte, 12). Jane’s life at Gateshead is not far from miserable. Not only is she bullied by her cousins and nagged by her aunt, but help from even Bessie, her nurse and sort of friend, seems out of her reach. In the red room scene Jane is drug by Ms. Ab...
Supernatural values and natural imagery are a major theme throughout Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre. This essay will examine the representation of natural and supernatural values that play an integral role in developing the story in Jane Eyre.
In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, it was love, and not age or education, that led Jane to mature and grow as a person. With the help of Helen Burns and Miss. Temple, Jane Eyre learned what it meant to love someone. Both these people influenced Jane to mature into a young lady by showing Jane their love and affection. When Jane left Lowood to become a governess, she met the love of her life, Mr. Rochester. With his love, Jane Eyre eventually matured fully and grew into a self-sufficient woman and left the hatred and anger behind.
Jane Eyre is born into a world where she is left bereft of the love of parents, family, or friends, but instead surrounded by hateful relatives. She resolves to attend school to begin her quest for independence. This theme is seen through Jane’s behavior when she renounces her relation to her aunt Mrs. Reed, ignoring the nurse’s orders and leaving her room to see Helen again, and when she acquires the courage to speak her opinion to Mr. Rochester.
“The night as Jane lays there thinking about everything Mr. Rochester has told her, when she thinks she hears a “demoniac” laugh. When she leaves her room she then finds a candle burning in the hallway. Jane sees Mr. Rochester’s door open and finds his curtains on fire. He is stupefied by Smokey air, but she wakes him by extinguishing the flames and dousing him with water”, chap 15. Then the actions that took place puts Mr. Rochester in a position of vulnerability as Jane douses water in Mr. Rochester’s room. The situation allows to show her growth as a grown woman in control and independent. The situation brings Mr. Rochest...
In conclusion, Jane Eyre’s painstaking journey to find a sense of acceptance, affection, and family was finally completed, attaining the things she yearned. She eventually discovered everything she was searching for through Mr. Rochester, forgetting her agonizing past and looking to what was ahead. As Jane looked for many different alternatives to make her feel as if she was complete, she found that Mr. Rochester was the only one who could make her feel
Charlotte Bronte makes use of nature imagery throughout Jane Eyre, and comments on both the human relationship with the outdoors and human nature. The Oxford Reference Dictionary defines "nature" as "1. the phenomena of the physical world as a whole . . . 2. a thing's essential qualities; a person's or animal's innate character . . . 4. vital force, functions, or needs." We will see how "Jane Eyre" comments on all of these.
The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.
Passion and reason, their opposition and eventual bringing together, serve as constant themes throughout the book. "Unjust!--unjust! Said my reason...How all my brain was in tumult, and all my heart in resurrection!" (Bronte, 17) Jane's passions are uncontrolled because she is not using reason. We see the dangers of nature and passion tempered by reason in the scene in which Rochester almost marries. Jane must get over her overwhelming passion for Mr. Rochester or Jane runs the risk of losing herself. In this case, passion nearly gains a victory over reason. Jane nearly loses her own personality in her overwhelming love. "Feeling without judgment is a washy draught indeed; but judgment untempered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition" (Bronte, 247). In other words, the individual must attain a balance between reason and passion, not be dominated by one or the other.
Moseley goes on to say, “Liberty and love are in some way at war in the lives of all of us.” It is not until Jane reaches personal liberation, that she is capable of loving someone else to a full extent. Throughout Jane Eyre Jane must learn how to gain love without sacrificing herself in the process. Orphaned at an early age, Jane becomes used to a lackluster lifestyle without any true value. It is not until she finds love and comfort in her friends at Lowood that her life begins to turn around. Upon meeting Rochester, Jane’s life was only as plain as she made it. She untwines in a world wind romance, ultimately finding the love she craved without losing her self-value.
At the beginning of the novel, Bronte presents Jane as a lonely, yet independent and intelligent child who faces difficult hardships at a very young age. At Gateshead, Jane is greatly mistreated by her family members which result in her attending a school for orphaned children called Lowood. Although Jane's life at Lowood is an improvement compared to life at Gateshead, she still feels as though she belongs elsewhere. Jane sends out an advertisement for a wanted governess after six years of living at Lowood and soon begins working at Thornfield Hall where she begins teaching a young French girl Adele Varens. Upon arriving, Jane is informed by the housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax that the owner of Thornfield Mr. Rochester travels often and has lived through a troubled life. After many months have passed at Thornfield Jane finally meets Mr. Rochester and he takes a great secretive interest in her. The relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester is the first non-abusive relationship Jane has with another man in the no...
The novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte consists of continuous journey through Jane’s life towards her final happiness and freedom. Jane’s physical journeys contribute significantly to plot development and to the idea that the novel is a journey through Jane’s life. Each journey causes her to experience new emotions and an eventual change of some kind. These actual journeys help Jane on her four figurative journeys, as each one allows her to reflect and grow.
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.
A Critical Evaluation of Jane Eyre Although Jane Eyre grows and matures, Margaret McFadden-Gerber views her as a relatively emotionally stable young feminist. Through the duration of the novel, Jane demonstrates her "self-love" that is often an influential emotion leading to drastic and hasty reactions. In the very opening few chapters, Jane takes a stand for herself and presents her bruised ego, pride and maturity. Sara Reed, her aunt, dismisses her place in the family as Jane is physically and emotionally removed from her "family's" activities.
a counteracting breeze blew off land, and continually drove me back." The gale is all the force that prevented Jane's union with Rochester. Later, Bront, whether it be intentional or not, conjures up the image of a buoyant sea when Rochester says of Jane: "Your habitual expression in those days, Jane, was. . . not buoyant. In fact, it is this buoyancy of Jane's relationship with Rochester that keeps Jane afloat at her time of crisis in the heath: "Why do I struggle to retain a valueless life?