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.