I am rereading Jane Eyre. This novel, recommended, and then given to me by a friend a few years back, started me up again on my journey to become more familiar with the wealth of classic literature out there. In the more than four years that have passed since then, this will be the first work I’ve gone back and re-read. But I listened to Michael Knowles Book Club review of the work with Madeleine Kearns, and thought I should go back and read it. I’m reading the Chiltern Publishing version, which has a beautiful hardback embossed flowered cover. I’m about 100 some pages in and wanted to review some things that struck me. 

I am kind of dividing the novel into sections based on where Jane is living. 

The opening chapters find 10 year old Jane Eyre at Gateshead Hall. Gateshead hall is the home of her maternal Uncle’s family. Her mother, from a more well-to-do family, had married a cleric, considered beneath her, against her family’s will. Her parents both died when she was very young and her Uncle took her in. Shortly after, he too was sick, and on his death-bed, wrung a promise from his wife that she would watch over Jane. Her aunt, Sarah, does so, but as minimally as possible. She prefers her 3 children, Eliza, John, and Georgiana, and excludes Jane under a constant stream of criticism. John, 14 bullies her constantly, but they all act as if she is barely worth tolerating. 

In the catalyzing event, John hits her, and Jane strikes back by bloodying his nose. He claims she struck him for no reason and Jane is subsequently banished to the ‘red room’, where one of the maids, Miss Abbot spells it out:  

“They will have a great deal of money, and you will have none: It is your place to be humble, and to try and make yourself agreeable to them.” 

That is about as straightforward as it comes. Jane will need to eat, be clothed, and sleep someplace, and that is only had by money, of which she has none. The Reeds (her adoptive family) do. So it will be Jane’s place to humble herself and do whatever needs to be done in order to ensure she can continue to receive what she needs to live. But Jane is not built to suffer injustice, and she sees the way she is unjustly treated, at least in comparison with the aunt’s children, and she hears the unjust accusations leveled against her.

Her aunt, looking for a way to unload the charge she has been given, contracts to have Jane sent to an orphan’s institution where she can learn some practical skills and gain an education. When the director arrives, he is told that she is deceitful and in need of discipline, which Jane knows to be unjust.

After the interview, Jane unloads her feelings on Mrs Reed, discovering a freedom and strength in speaking the truth. 

Soon after, Jane arrives at the Lowood institution. Mr Brocklehorst is the owner/director. Miss Temple is the manager. She meets another student there, Helen Burns. Miss Burns, a mild soul, is disciplined publicly for some trifling matter, which angers Jane. When she asks Helen why she submits to this injustice, Helen tells her that it is better to suffer it, since it hurts her alone, whereas if she rebels, it would cause trouble for those that sent her here for an education. Jane is mystified by this attitude of endurance but considers Helen may be correct. Helen tries to see her own faults and doesn’t bother with the faults of others. 

Helen has a conversation with Jane where she clearly shows an understanding of a text she has been considering on Charles the First. She is clearly a bright girl. The things Helen is chastised for are being disorderly in keeping her things in her drawer, forgetting to do certain tasks, etc. The faults that her teacher sees are really due to Helen’s inability to fit into a mold. Rather than nurture her strengths, the school, on direction from its director, Brocklehorst, is trying to ‘mortify the flesh’ and train its pupils to deal with hardship. There is some merit to the idea, after all, there is some truth to the sense that life will not be easy on these girls, but it’s too rigid. These ideas of education seem to be recurring in some of the books I’m reading, particularly Hard Times. Must have been something in the air in England at the time. 

There is an interesting dichotomy between Helen and Jane. Jane sees the injustice and feels she must speak out about it, but she has a blindspot for the good that was given to her too. She only sees that she is mistreated in relation to the other children at Gateshead Hall. She doesn’t recognize that even though that’s true, she was nonetheless given a nice place to live and stay. This is of course a very human trait. We all see things relative to what is around us. People will consider themselves very poorly off if they deem many others around them have much more than they do, even if they themselves have more than they need. It’s relative, and having glimpsed what others can have, they want that same amount and will consider themselves hard done by if they don’t have it. This of course isn’t true, but it’s nature to see it that way.

Helen recognizes this and doesn’t worry about what she doesn’t have. But she does it for a specific spiritual reason: she is a Christian.

The conversation between Jane and Helen goes on with Jane stating that she must stand up for the injustice she suffers and fight against those that give it. Helen answers that pagan cultures do so, but Christian ones do not. Love overcomes hate, violence does not. 

This is not something Jane can understand at first, but who of us can? It’s not a work of the flesh that transforms in this way, it’s a work of the Spirit of God. 

I’m paying more attention to these aspects of the novel this time than I did the first. But I really love this counterpoint that Helen gives, and how Jane is able to begin to learn from her example.