Melody Cribbs
Harward
English 1B
May 16, 2013
A Book about Jane
Jane Eyre was written in 1847 by Emily Bronte. This timeless novel has become
a beloved classic that teaches us the importance of holding to our values. Jane has many
struggles to endure and decisions to make, but through her experiences, she becomes a
strong individual with self-respect.
The exposition begins with the story of little Jane Eyre, living with her aunt and
three cousins because her own parents are both dead. Jane is a strange child, and she is
thoroughly disliked by those who live with her. She is bullied, unjustly punished, and
sent away to Lowood Institution. This unfortunate childhood instilled in Jane a desire to
seek out human affection: something she had evidently been deprived of since her earliest
memories. After eight long years of learning and teaching at Lowood, Jane moves on to
become a governess at Thornfield Hall. While at this new and beautiful location, Jane
finally learns what it means to feel at home. She has everything needed to be content.
However, her peace is disrupted when the master returns home after journeying and she
discovers a new kind of affection that she had never before known. Mr. Rochester
returns this love most fervently after discovering Jane’s feelings, and they are engaged to
be married. In the months before the wedding, Jane is plagued by a phantom woman who
tries to set fire to a slumbering Mr. Rochester and also rips apart Jane’s beautiful wedding
veil. On the morning of the matrimony ceremony, the union is disrupted by Mr. Mason
who declares that the wedding is illegal as Mr. Rochester is already wedded to his sister,
a mad woman from Jamaica who has been a burdening nightmare to Mr. Rochester for
the past fifteen years. As Bertha Rochester was still currently alive, the marriage between
Mr. Rochester and Jane could not take place. Deeply hurt, confused, and frightened, Jane
ran away the next day without any money or connections. She ends up in Morton where
she lives with Diana, Hannah, and St. John Rivers for awhile and then becomes a school
teacher for the daughters of poor farmers in the area. There, in that humble lifestyle, she
learns that her uncle has died and left her a large fortune and that the Rivers are her
cousins. With her newly found cousins she discovers the warmth of the embrace of real
family. Shortly after this discovery, Jane decides to return to Rochester and seek out the
man she still loves in order to satisfy her curiosity on his health and current condition.
After traveling to the house, she finds a burned-down ruin with no life in sight and no
sign of Mr. Rochester. Jane seeks out information about this startling discovery, and
learns that his dreaded wife had set the manor on fire and then jumped off to her death.
Unfortunate Mr. Rochester had gone up to save her and was so wounded from the flames
that his eyesight was destroyed. Hearing his location, Jane travels to his small residence,
a house tucked away in the woods out of the way of any roads and otherwise hidden from
the public eye. She finds her love there, trapped in his new colorless, dark world. Jane
presents herself to him as the servant, and he recognizes her tells her of his enduring love
for her. No longer trapped under a previous marriage, Mr. Rochester and Jane decide to
be married. It is a happy union, and Jane has finally found her place next to the one she
loves and who loves her.
Jane Eyre, the obvious lead of the story, is an average girl looking for the love of
a mother at first, and then later she searches for the love of others she esteems highly
which turns into a pure affection for Mr. Rochester. She is accomplished, intelligent,
respectable, but not very social when interacting with people. Most view her character as
strange, dull, and average. Mr. Rochester, nevertheless, sees the pure innocence in her
soul and the light she gives to things around her. He admires her conversation which is
straight from the heart. It is her whole character that he instantly loves, and he looks to
her devotion as a path to happiness. Mr. Rochester is usually seen as a proud, unyielding
man of great inherited fortune and rank. Although not easily loved, he is respected by
those who know him.
The conflict in this novel consists of the struggle Jane faces in searching for
human affection. She yearns to be loved, but her whole life has shown her nothing but
foreign attachments and distant relationships. During her stay at Lowood, Jane fervently
admired her teacher, Miss Temple. Miss Temple was the first individual to care, even
limitedly, about Jane during her childhood. At Netherfield, Jane learned friendship from
Mrs. Fairfax and respect from Adele. Not too long after, the affection she had known for
Mr. Rochester was returned and Jane experienced love. This new sensation was torn
from her life as the fateful wedding day revealed Mr. Rochester’s previous vows for
another wife. When she ran away, she found companionship with the Rivers and later
family love as she learned of their status as cousins. These events helped Jane to feel
accepted and more at place in the world; nevertheless, her feelings for Mr. Rochester
were still present and urged her to find him. This climax occurs when Jane refuses St.
John’s marriage proposal to be a missionary’s wife, and hears Mr. Rochester’s voice
calling out to her to come to him. In finally finding him, blind, crippled, and destitute,
Jane’s feelings for him confirmed that she loved him just as she had before running away.
At this moment, when Jane and Mr. Rochester finally find each other, the conflict is
resolved. Jane is no longer deprived to love and affection.
Charlotte Bronte used many rhetorical strategies in writing this book, such as
tone, imagery, and diction. The tone at the beginning of the book is very somber as it sets
a dreary mood for Jane’s depressing childhood. This dullness continues until she finds
Mr. Rochester. Here a feeling of confidence enters the story and Jane begins to open up
her heart to her master. A much happier mood is felt during the short duration of love
between the two, interrupted only by Bertha’s occasion appearances in Jane’s
bedchamber and finally by her recognition of existence. The mood settles back into
depressing and heartbroken desperation when Jane runs away. For the rest of the book,
the tone slowly brightens until the conflict is resolved and Jane is in a feeling of bliss and
complete satisfaction. The imagery Bronte writes with is used to describe the people and
settings Jane interacts with. Many pages are descriptions of the feelings she feels at the
different stages of the story. Diction, in this novel, helps to set the tone of a refined,
strict, and somewhat dispiriting era. The esoteric words confirm to the reader that Jane
was very proper and was faithful to the moral expectations of the time to retain her selfrespect.
Readers would enjoy this book because its unusual plot and time period give
reference to a totally different life. Jane is someone most people can relate to because of
the desire she feels to find love and affection.