The 29th Annual Book Report Competition
For Secondary School Students
Class: 4A
Name: Mok Siu Ping
Title of the Book: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Bronte
Publisher: The Commercial
Charlotte Bronte, an extraordinary English novelist, has created an even stronger
character- Jane Eyre, who is an orphan living with her abusive aunt, Sarah Reed
and her brutal cousins, Georgiana Reed, John Reed and Eliza Reed at Gateshead
Hall. I found this novel to be very well-written by an intelligent female writer.
The author’s style is fairly appealing to me because of the use of first-person
narrative. When I was reading the novel, I felt like as if it was a movie flashing
in front of my eyes chapter by chapter. This style creates the deepest sorrow as
well as happiness in the readers. My favorite character is definitely Jane Eyre
since she represents the behavior of a good strong woman.
The cousins alienated her deliberately and forbid her from reading their books.
One day, as a punishment for hitting back her cousins, she got locked up in the
terrifying red room which her uncle Reed died. After allowing her to leave the
red room, she was sent away to the Lowood School for Girls where students
were given poor food and clothes apart from that, Jane had some unpleasant
experience, she was rebellious and against the school rules. She was punished to
stand on a chair for two hours in front of the whole class to humiliate her. At
school, she also faced discrimination and mean comments. Jane had made a very
best friend there, Helen Bruns, a mild girl. Jane felt a strong acceptance from
Helen. They had a really happy time being with each other. Unfortunately, many
girls fell ill, some even died, and Helen was one of them too. She died of Typhus
in the warm embrace of Jane. Although she had been through tough time there,
Miss Maria Temple, a warm-hearted teacher treated students with love and
respect. She played a role model for Jane.
When she completed her studies, she left Lowood and secured an occupation as
a governess at Thornfield to teach Adèle Varens, the master’s daughter.
Meanwhile, Jane found her master, Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester very
attractive and fascinating. They both fell in love with each other madly. Soon, he
proposed to Jane. Not until the wedding ceremony, Jane did not know Mr.
Rochester had a wife who lived in the attic. They could not be married according
to the law, so Jane left Thornfield grievously. After leaving Thornfield, Jane
travelled through England where she met St. John, a missionary. Once, Jane
fainted on a street, St. John Rivers, Diana and Mary's brother and a clergyman
saved her. St. John asked Jane to marry him, thinking she would make a proper
missionary wife but Jane refused. Jane had an illusion as if Mr. Rochester was
calling her name. She decided to return to Mr. Rochester again after all the
difficulties.
Jane Eyre was a prominent and irreplaceable protagonist in this novel. The
reason was crystal clear. Although the death of her parents and mistreatment of
her aunt and cousins caused her to have a lonesome childhood, all that tragedies
do not take away the love from her heart. Regardless of her misfortunate, she
chose to trust the others undoubtedly, like Helen, her best friend; she treated her
with all her sincerity. She did not merely gain knowledge from school but also
learnt to love one another. Turning from an obstinate girl into a soft-hearted
woman made her an excellent example of forgiveness. At the time when her aunt,
Mrs. Sarah Reed was on her deathbed, Jane prayed for her. In reality, once we
are hurt or cheated, we are often driven to hatred and mistrust everyone in order
to protect ourselves from being the victim again. But it is actually too exhausting
to hate, so the best thing we can do is to forgive. The greatest thing about
forgiveness is that it heals the broken-hearted. If we ever want to ease the pain
of being hurt, we better act by the famous saying” Forgive and forget”. This
means we not only forgive but also forget how we are being hurt. I can relate to
this from my personal experience. When I was in primary school, there was a
girl who constantly made fun of me. I had a strong dislike towards that girl and
had bad thoughts of her. However, my friends encouraged me to forgive her and
I tried hard to forgive her. To my surprise, I felt relieved and even tried to talk to
her. Not for a very long time, eventually we became friends. This unique
experience taught me the significance of forgiveness.
Though Jane is considered the lowest social class at that time, she strives to
work diligently whether as a student or a governess. She never disappoints those
who look up on her. Sometimes, people may feel inferior since they think they
will never be successful. Instead of feeling miserable, we ought to seize every
opportunity to strive for betterment. Like the renowned quote, “No pain, no
gain”. If you are eager to accomplish something prominent, you will have to
work especially hard. Achieving success is not always easy but for determined
people, impossible is nothing.
Mr. Rochester, however, is sort of dishonest. He hides the fact that he is still
married to his wife when proposing to Jane. I reckon it is a huge disgrace to
such a decent woman like Jane. No wonder she leaves him with grief and
indignation. Mr. Rochester can actually handle this matter before proposing to
Jane so that no one gets hurt. The only virtue I see in him is that he still takes
care of his wife despite the fact that she is mentally ill. Although there is a great
difference in social status between Jane and Mr. Rochester, he has never doubted
his love towards Jane. There are always boundaries when it comes to love, but
they can vanish if the love is genuine. He is a man with luck. Jane changes her
mind to reunite with him even though he is not only visually impaired but also
lost his properties in the fire. It is lucky to have Jane in his life whether as a
friend or a soul mate.
Miss Temple is not a main character in this novel but an important person in
Lowood School for Girls. Students at this school commonly feel lonely and
insecure because they are left without parents caring for them. Miss Temple does
her best to treat students with great compassion and love. If they can feel a little
love, they will know they are as significant as everyone else. She is admirable as
she takes care of her students by even providing free food to the poor ones; her
generosity is incomparable.
This novel also raises the issue on classism. People are classified as upper class
or lower class in the old days. Those from the lower class face inevitable
exploitation. Ironically, the upper class benefit from them. Like Jane she has a
sense of inferiority due to her lower social class status. We are all born equal so
why should we be classified? Even Albert Einstein said ‘Before God we are all
equally wise and equally foolish.’
I have read Jane Eyre several times in different versions. Every time when I read
it, Jane being such an outstanding character always touches my heart with her
firmness towards love. I would recommend this novel to anyone who wants to
find strength to overcome difficulties in life. I wish everyone could learn
something from Jane.