The End: Critical Response

I agree with Frederick Ashe in saying that Jane's deprived and depressed childhood connects her to Mr. Rochester when she is older. Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, established the Hierarchy of Needs in the 20th century, which display that a person needs to satisfy their physiological needs before safety needs, and safety before love needs, and so on.

 

While at Gateshead, Jane received food and shelter, taking care of the bottom layer of the pyramid. However, she didn't have the sense of safety; Mrs. Reed and her cousins would frequently abuse her and she often felt hated and depressed. As Ashe talks about in his criticism, Jane does find some friendship at Lowood, but it doesn't satisfy her because there she is deprived of nutrition. The Jane of Lowood is the product of an absolute lack of love and affection, qualities critical to the healthy development of a growing child. 

Ashe touches on John Bowlby's work with motherless children, explaining that it frequently may lead the child to develop a model of attachment figures as likely to be unavailable, or rejecting, and will likely be doomed to failure. Jane bears out this observation. The mature Jane's need for romantic love is matched by her assurance that such love does not exist for her. Ashe is certainly right about this because, as he may not be aware, Harry Harlow also experimented on the effects of maternal separation on children which showed that children would rather go to the doll that was warm and comforting as opposed to the doll that had food. Because Jane lacked this motherly comfort as a child, she feels as though she is not worthy of love. Ashe describes how this mindset leads her to question her love with Mr. Rochester; she tells him: "It can never be, sir; it does not sound likely. Human beings never enjoy complete happiness in this world. I was not born for a different destiny to the rest of my species: to imagine such a lot befalling me is a fairy tale."

As Jane gets older, going through life at Thornfield and Moor House, she climbs up the hierarchy of needs pyramid. She finds more love and belonging when she meets her cousins, and she becomes confident and self-respecting while being a teacher and after she has inherited money. This leads her to run back to Mr. Rochester, as she finds her life to have a purpose when serving him; purpose being the top of the pyramid.

As Ashe states:  "Jane's happy ending must not be viewed merely as a proper or improper choice between right and wrong, but as the resolution of an intense psychological drama, wherein the degree of free will needed to make such a happy choice is finally attained." Jane finally finds her inner peace and is able to be happy.

Frederick L. Ashe, Jane Eyre: The Quest for Optimism, in Studies in the Novel, Summer, 1988, pp. 121-30. Reprinted in Novels for Students, Vol. 4.

Jane's Refreshing Character

Although I haven't read many books that were written in the 19th century, my best educated guess tells me that women were not commonly main characters, and all supporting women characters were seldom given such confident and strong a personality as Jane Eyre.

I love Jane's spirit; she sets out to do and say what is right while never being rude about it. Surely her manners are unexpected, but they are never disrespectful. She believes that women are equal to men and deserve the same treatment, which I applaud. She explains, "Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do: they suffer too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged  fellow creatures to say they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags." Go Jane! While she does perform "woman tasks" like playing the piano and teaching, she does so confidently and non-submissively.

One quote I love that shows her views: "I don't think, sir, you have the right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience." Here Jane says that simply because Mr. Rochester is older, male, and more worldly, he doesn't deserve to treat her as an inferior until he adequately learns from his experiences and acts as a leader. This is very brave of her to say; and its definitely part of the reason why Mr. Rochester fell in love with her!

While it seems cliche, I believe that women all around the world can learn from Jane. We deserve equal treatment as men receive, but it isn't right to be rude about it. People will respect you greatly if you stand up for what you believe in and put your woman power to work!

Point of View: Yay or Nay?

I truly can't decide whether I like the first person point of view or not. Jane does a great job describing what is going on, providing immense detail; however, the readers are only informed of what she knows, never about something that she did not experience. This has run me into much anger...I want to know what Mr. Rochester thinks!!!! One particular instance that I wish the reader was given more information about is when Jane is asking Mr. Rochester permission to leave Thornfield to see her dying aunt. After a lengthy conversation in which Mr. Rochester implies he doesn't want Jane to leave, I really thought he was going to finally tell Jane he loves her! But I was terribly annoyed when "The dinner bell rang, and suddenly he bolted, without another syllable." Jane didn't see him again before she left and the readers are left hanging, wondering what his feelings truly are! It is really aggravating to be left with doubts!

Luckily, Jane is a curious person and easily gets people to reveal what they are thinking, so the reader is finally told how Mr. Rochester feels later on. If this wasn't the case, I would go crazy and would definitely dislike this book. Do I enjoy being left hanging and having to wonder about his feelings? I really can't decide. It's extremely annoying at the time, but when we are told later on, I feel very relieved and blissful. It's extremely bittersweet.

I am currently reading the section where St. John has revealed Jane's true identity and Jane is longing to know what became of Mr. Rochester. While I desperately want to know if Mr. Rochester is brooding over Jane's absence or has already moved on, I believe that Jane, in time, will seek the answers. So I am forced to read on in suspense and find out later!

Jane Eyre & Helen Burns' Relatioship Revealed

Jane hadn't talked to anyone, nor did anybody seem to take notice of her when she first arrived at Lowood Institution. The first student she mentions during her stay there, which doesn't happen for several days, is Helen Burns, who she quickly comes to admire. As a child, Jane loved reading books, so when she saw Helen reading during the girls' free time, Jane felt a connection with Helen and proceeded to bombard her with questions about the institution and Helen's life. These Q&A sessions happened a couple more times between Jane and Helen, and the two girls quickly became good friends. Helen helped Jane become more confident and self-loving; Jane provided Helen with happiness and hope when she was dying.

Helen cheers Jane up and provides her with much-needed comfort when Jane feels alone, telling her "If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscious approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends." Jane clearly takes this to heart and becomes much more independent of others' opinions, as she basically repeats the same words in chapter 27 to Mr. Rochester. Jane explains, "I never tired of Helen Burns, nor ever ceased to cherish for her a sentiment of attachment, as strong, tender, and respectful as any that ever animated my heart." Jane clearly feels loved by Helen, which is very important because it is the first real loving relationship Jane has. Helen helps Jane open up and realize that Jane is an enjoyable human being not subjected to the constant hate that she felt when she lived at Gateshead.

The friendship is not a one way street, however. Unfortunately, Jane and Helen's time together was cut short due to Helen being ill; yet Jane is there for Helen in this time of need. When Helen is on her death bed, Jane sneaks out to see her, desperate to talk with her dear friend again. With Jane lying next to Helen, Helen announces "How comfortable I am! The last fit of coughing has tired me a little; I feel as I could sleep; but don't leave me, Jane; I like to have you near me." This shows that Jane too provided comfort to Helen and both girls were very happy to be friends.

Explication of the Opening Sentences

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so somber, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question.
I was glad of it; I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed."

These opening sentences reveal that Jane, the narrator, feels inferior to her cousins and submits to Mrs. Reed, her hateful and abusive aunt. These lines reveal a tone of submissiveness and unworthiness; however, Jane still is very adept in reasoning and thinking. Despite feeling inferior and witnessing the terrible weather, she doesn't let herself get very dragged down, which gives the readers hope.

A large theme in Jane Eyre is that of inequality between social classes and genders. Jane later reveals her position on gender equality, but we can see a hint of the social class problems in these sentences. Mrs. Reed and her children Eliza, John, and Georgiana are of a highly regarded family that posses a large sum of money while Jane is an orphan left with nothing. Because Jane is living in the Reeds' house, she answers to their needs and frequently gets abused for no reason. This submissiveness and inferiority that Jane feels shows a bit of the social class distinctions that will more fully be talked about within the novel.

Jane also includes parenthesis within the second sentence of the novel. This reveals that she often has a lot of things running through her mind and believes that she needs to include every detail of the situation, which becomes much more prevalent throughout the novel. So far, these miniscule details seem to be a bit much, although it is nice to be informed of everything that is going on.

Determining Literary Merit

Much arrogance was felt throughout my senior English Literature class when we were told to ask ourselves: "As an AP student, is this book worthy of my attention?" I know that Mrs. Klefas, my freshman English teacher and quite possibly the sweetest woman in the world, would answer with a resounding yes! However, her opinion alone is not enough to establish merit; I had to resort to criticisms and quality reviews as well as my own reading of the beginning of the novel. After this research, I have determined that Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, is surely meritorious and worthy!

From the first chapter, I can tell that Jane is a very independent and honest character; surely one of the strongest women characters in 19th century novels. In the introduction written by Joyce Carol Oates, the novel is described as "a work of stubbornly idiosyncratic intelligence" with particular "strengths in passages of introspective analysis." This novel has been transformed into nine big-screen movies, four made-for-TV movies, and three mini-series, which shows me that is widely loved and worthy of my reading.

The 1996 movie adaptation of Jane Eyre, given 4 stars

Also, while inspecting a blog of teenagers who had read the book, I noticed that some absolutely adored Jane while others completely despised her. This shows me that the novel is up for much interpretation, giving way to different opinions depending on how you look at it. I believe this characteristic of the novel gives way to AP-worthiness, as the students must do their own critical thinking of the novel in order to really form an opinion of it.

Lastly, I have noticed that Bronte takes her time when explaining setting and details, never to leave out the name of a flower or forget to include details of a persons' features. This lengthy writing style requires the reader to be patient, appreciative, and able to paint a picture in their minds. AP students possess these qualities, making Jane Eyre further meritorious.