Theme Of Gender In Jane Eyre

Jane searches for independence, but gender hinders her in every stage of her journey. Troy faces similar complications. Jane’s gender ties her to specific roles in her work as a teacher or governess. She only watches children; she can only aspire to be an educator. Jane is smart enough and works hard enough to be an architect or scientist, but cannot due to her time. Such roles were not suitable for female occupation, and society decreases Jane’s chances to become financially independent. Gender also inhibits her ability to travel to India, since she cannot “be forever together-- sometimes in solitudes, sometimes amid savage tribes” with St. John (Brontë, 474). Jane’s outcry at this statement matches perfectly with her denunciation of dependence-

Troy is financially poor, has always been financially poor, but is also morally weak. By cheating on Rose, he forfeits the heaven God offers and Gabriel promotes. Troy discards the one power all humans are born into that cannot be taken away: the power to make decisions with integrity and faith. This loss is what sets Troy apart from his goals. Jane remains steadfast in her pursuit of divine justice by staying loyal to God when she claims “Mr. Rochester, I will not be yours” (page 367). Jane does not succumb to romantic temptation in the way Troy does. Symbolically, her faith allows Jane to reconnect to her lost family and gain financial independence through them. Troy’s extramarital relations do the opposite, because he has to split his finances between Rose and Raynell, diminishing his income. Even disregarding their moral aptitudes, Jane always had the potential for success since she was born with rich relatives and simply taken from them at an early age. Troy was never going to have this luck, due to his race having far fewer rich families. No one could ever hand him riches on a silver platter. Without her heritage, Jane would not receive enough money and thus independence to reconnect with Rochester and marry him. The circumstances of birth control a character’s access to the powers and privileges of his time, almost