Jane Eyre by: Charlotte Bronte
(pg. 5-40)
Summary:
As I began to read Jane Eyre, it tells us about the setting of the novel. It is November and along came a cold winter and a the hardest rain. Jane Eyre lives with her family the Reeds. Jane is an orphan and in the Reed family there are Mrs. Reed who is her aunt, John, Eliza, Georgiana who are her cousins. Mrs. Reed did not want Jane to play with her cousins. John and Jane had conflicts since the beggining. John would always come towards her with violence and Jane feels as if her aunt is blind and death because she never sees him hitting her at least once. John makes fun of Jane because shes an orphan and thinks that the only reason she is here is because her mothers charity. Jane is usually a quiet and calm girl , but since John kept chaffing her she gae in they start fighting. Mrs. Reed uses nepotism when picking who started the fight and always thinks that Jane srted the fight. Afeter they fight Mrs. Reed sends her two servants Miss Abbott and Bessie Lee to lock her up in a room. When Jane goes in the room she looks at herself in the mirror, she starts having flasblack to when her Uncle Reed brought her Gateshead, his house after her parents died. Uncle Reed ordereed his wife to raise Jane and if she were of her own children. In which Jane is not treated very kindly. Jane's thought start playing with her mind and see's the ghost of her Uncle coming to punish Mrs. Reed because she has not done what she promised him. Jane screams because she has seen a ghost and the aunt does nothing because she thoguth she was trying to get out of her punishment. Jane faints because of how scared she is. When she wakes up shes in the care of Mr. Lloyd who is the family's kind apothecary. Jane isnt well and stays in bed the next day as well. Then they suggest to the aunt to send Jane to school where she can find felicity. Jane starts finding some family history.
Jane is going to attend an all girls school Lowood run by a man called Mr. Brocklehurst. But before Jane went to school Bessie tells her stories ans sings her songs. She arrives in school and its a dark and rainy day she gets to know her new land. The next day she meet her classmates and she meets a girl named Helen and Helen tells Jane that the Lowood is a charity school maintained for female orphans. The Reed family made her believe that they were paying for the school and infact they paid nothing to get her there. Jane felt unloved but she was happy she was no where near them.
Quote:
"I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalge" (Bronte 12).
Reaction:
My reaction of the novel was that Jane lives a very sad and dreary life. Both her parents died, the only family that loved her died which was Uncle Reed and she has family that is alive that hate her and dont give one bite about her. Before her uncle Reed died he told his Wife Mrs. Reed to take care of Jane like she was her own. Mrs. Reed didnt she treated her badly locking her into rooms and not thinking that she would actually be in trouble after she cries and yells for help in a room. Mrs. Reed contradicts herself because how is she going to be apart of charity which deals with helping people and treat family so badly. That's inhumame and Jane deserves happiness, she hasnt been happy since. As she goes to a new school, she hought her school was a rich school but after having a chat with one of the students she finds out that it is a charity school and she feels very betrade because she thought that finally she was gien something worth being happy. Jane struggles to much in her life. She reminds me of Cinderella a little bit except she isn't considered as a maid in the Reed household because there are serants there already.
