I thought I’d break down the sections of the book according to where she was living, a list of the characters, and then a summary of the struggle that Jane faces in the particular time she lives in that place.
Each of the places brings new circumstances and new challenges, and Jane’s growth is in how she responds to those challenges.
Characters
Gateshead Hall
Jane– 10 year-old. Her father had been a poor clergyman and her mother had married him against her friends wishes, who considered the match beneath her. Jane’s grandfather cut the mother off of all support. A year later, both parents dies of typhus.
Mr. Reed- deceased for 9 years. Jane’s maternal uncle. In his dying moments he extracted a promise from his wife to raise Jane as one of her own children.
Mrs Reed– 36-37 years old. Solid build, but proud and dismissive of Jane. Is put upon by having to have Jane in the house.
Eliza Reed- headstrong and selfish
John Reed– 14 year-old. Large and stout, imperious, cruel, and a bully.
Georgiana Reed- spoiled and indulged, acrid spite, and insolent. But very pretty.
Bessie Lee– gets after Jane and tries to get her to mind, but also sympathizes with her plight.
Miss Abbot- Bessie’s maid. She is partial to Georgiana because she is pretty, but dislikes Jane because she is not.
Mr Lloyd- apothecary, which served as a doctor of sorts. He questions Jane about what happened.
Sarah- another servant in the Reed household.
Mr Brocklehurst- Patron of the Lowood School.
Jane’s Struggle
From the moment we meet her, Jane has a solid core of self-respect. Each of the phases of the book represent some struggle for Jane. At Gateshead Hall, it is spoken out loud by Miss Abbot, “you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed, because Misses kindly allows you to be brought up with them. 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.”
They will have money and you will have none, therefore you must make yourself agreeable to them. That is the idea that she rebels against. She understands innately that she is not less than the Reeds because of money, and in fact, their belief in their superiority makes them feel they are not bound to treat a fellow human well. She resists this pressure to buckle to their financial superiority and in so doing, accept that whatever they do to her is justifiable. She refuses to accept that obviously morally deficient view, even in the face of everyone telling her she should. That is extraordinary in a ten year-old, and particularly in this time and place, a ten year-old girl.