Jane Eyre, Part One

Laura Miron

Chizoba Ukairo

Kathryn Lazarchick

Jane Eyre Discussion Part One

Religion:

“‘Well, Jane Eyre, and are you a good child?...No sight so sad as that of a naughty child’ he began, ‘especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?’” “‘They go to hell,’ was my ready and orthodox answer.” “‘And what is hell? Can you tell me that?’ ‘A pit full of fire.’ ‘And should you like to fall into that pit and to be burning there for ever?’ ‘No, sir’” “...a good little child whose soul is now in heaven. It is to be feared the same could not be said of you, were you to be called hence” (91)

• The extreme nature of this conversation Mr. Brocklehurst has with Jane, who is only ten years old, whom he he just met, should be noted
• She is only 10 years old and already being condemned to hell.
• She does respond the “good Christian way” as she has been instructed
• The nature of their conversation shows how religion in this time period is very important
• Later Mr. Brocklehurst says Jane has a “wicked heart” solely for not liking Psalms and thinking it boring (92).

Helen, a dear friend to Jane in the boarding school, teaches Jane to “love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you” (120).

• This is important because Jane at this point only feels hatred to her only relations (Mrs. Reed, etc.)
• Helen offers a relief in Jane’s life
• Helen’s optimistic attitude shows how good of a person Helen really is. She is able to find peace in a seemingly impossible condition of the school (not enough food, poor quality everything, strict rules, etc.)

Children (Their role in society and expectations of them)

• Children were seen as things to be corrected
• “The fact is, I was a trifle beside myself; or rather out of myself as the French would say: I was conscious that a moment’s mutiny had already rendered my liable to strange penalties, and like any other rebel slave, I felt resolved, in my desperation, to go all lengths.” (69)
• “Loose Bessie’s hand, child: you cannot succeed in getting out by these means, be assured.  I abhor artifice, particularly in children; it is my duty to show you that tricks will not answer” (75)
• Jane’s opinions/ideas, as a child, were not taken very seriously    
• “Children can feel, but they cannot analyze their feelings; and if the analysis is partially [a]ffected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words” 81
• At the Lowood school, the orphans were taught very, very strictly.  Any wavering at all was dealt with harshly, and expectations were set very high.  Jane could barely comprehend how students like Helen Burns endured the treatment with resilience.
• Helen plays a seemingly large role in helping Jane adjust to the school, and rise to the high expectations of pupils there

The Poor Conditions at Lowood:

“My plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence, but to rather them hardy, patient, self-denying”(125). -Mr. Brocklehurst outlines the purpose of Lowood in regards to the students.

Strict Uniformity: Jane’s first impression of Lowood and the students: the girls “number to me appeared countless, though not in reality exceeding eighty; they were uniformly dressed in brown stuff frocks of quaint fashion, and long holland pinafores”(103). Individuality among the girls was further squelched as Mr. Brocklehurst is at dismay when noticing a student’s curly hair as he insists that “all those top-knots must be cut off”(127).

• Discipline: Lowood was an institution that not only taught academics, but also thrived in correcting the “faults” in the young women. For example, as Burns has unclean fingernails, Miss Smith scolds her and “instantly and sharply inflicted on [Burn’s] neck a dozen strokes with the bunch of twigs”(115).
• Alienation of Jane by Mr. Brocklehurst:
• Jane is ten years old, drops her slate on accident  
• Mr. Brocklehurst condemns the young girl through biblical references insisting that Jane “who might be one of God’s own lambs, is a little castaway:not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien”(129). It appears that Jane cannot escape adversities even in her new environment.

Condition of the school during the harsh winter: “Our clothing was insufficient to protect us from the severe cold: we had no boots, the snow got into our shoes and melted there; our ungloved hands became numbed and covered with chilblains, as were our feet”(122).

• Lack of Food: Jane reflects that “many a time I have shared between two claimants the precious morsel of brown bread distributed at tea-time”(122) as she swallows the remaining bit of her portion with an “accompaniment of secret tears, forced from me by the exigency of hunger”(122).
• Typhus Fever:
• product of “semi-starvation and neglected colds”(141)
• Jane vividly describes the fever at Lowood: “disease had become an inhabitant of Lowood, and death its frequent visitor; while there was gloom and fear within its walls, while its rooms and passages steamed with hospital smells”(141)  

Lowood after the Fever:

• “new regulations were made, improvements in diet and clothing introduced; the funds of the school were entrusted to the management of a committee”(149).

Jane Arrives to Thornfield

“What do I want? A new place, in a new house, amongst new faces, under new circumstances: I want this because it is of no use to want anything better”(152).

• Illustrates Jane’s restlessness to obtain a new status in life, explore new environment other than Lowood

Jane Addresses the Reader as she embarks on her new journey to Thornfield: “A new chapter in a novel is something like a new scene in a play”(160).

Why did Charlotte Bronte include this type of narration?

Description of Thornfield on her first morning as governess: “Everything appeared stately and imposing to me: but then I was so little accustomed to grandeur”(166).

Enigmatic Introduction to Mr. Rochester and His Life: Mr. Rochester is introduced through Mrs. Fairfax.

Questions and Points to Ponder:

1. How was Jane’s relationship with Helen Burn influential in Jane’s life at Lowood? What new perspective did Helen Burns reveal to Jane during Jane’s time at Lowood? How did the death of Helen Burns effect Jane?
2. Is Jane’s perspective as a narrator completely reliable at this moment in the book as she was only a young girl?
3. How did Jane find solace in these rough conditions? What does her time and success at Lowood reveal about Jane’s character?
4. Religion is a prevalent point in the novels we have read thus far. Does this have to due with the questionable nature people at the time have towards reading during one’s free time?
5. Is religion being prevalent in novels at the time just to make it an “acceptable reading source” or was religion that prevalent in society?
6. Does Eyre’s sense of restlessness in her situations seem to increase throughout the novel?