My Thoughts of “Jane Eyre”
參賽者：李自軒（企管系四A）
名次：優等
書名：Jane Eyre
得獎作品：
After reading ‘Jane Eyre’, a beautiful novel written by Charlotte Bronte, I have found that the novel not only shows a girl’s mind through the heroin- Jane, but also expresses how the author views the world. In the story, it can be observed easily that Jane’s wisdom and bravery didn’t waver because of being a governess or her poverty; instead, these only strengthen that her faith of love should be based on mutual trust between each other.
Next, let’s see what ‘Jane Eyre’ talks about:
Having lost her parents, Jane was adopted by Mrs. Reed when she was very young. Though Mrs. Reed had been told to take care of Jane; however, Jane was not treated well. One day, in a fierce quarrel with her cousins; she hit him powerfully so that she was locked in the red house by Mrs. Reed. Owing to her overwhelming fear, she just fainted. This was a crucial event during her growth—a scar in her mind but potential for her to strive for self-esteem in the future.
In Lowood, an orphanage, Jane was not treated well, either. Mr. Brocklehurst, the administrator of Lowood, always spared no efforts to find out ways to abuse the orphans there mentally and physically, and Jane was no exception. During the years in Lowood, Jane met her best friend Helen and Miss Temple, the only teacher that was nice to Jane. Unfortunately, the typhoid widely spread in Lowood and therefore caused quite a few students to die, including Helen. This event forced the authority to improve the sanitation of Lowood. After graduating from Lowood, Jane continued staying in Lowood and taught in Lowood for two years. And then she was hired by Mrs. Fairfax in Thornfield.
Jane met Mr. Rochester, the hero of this novel when she was taking a walk. At that time, Mr. Rochester fell off from his horse, and Jane helped him out. This was their first meeting.
Jane found that her employer, Mr. Rochester, was a strange man. He was sometimes sincere but sometimes cold. He praised Jane for teaching Adele well and told her that Adele was born by a French dancer. However, she cheated Rochester and abandoned Adele. Jane thought the reason why Rochester was melancholy was not simply because of that.
One night, Jane was waken up by a weird laughter, and then found that Rochester’s room was burning. Though Rochester was not hurt, he asked Jane to keep this secret. The only thing she knew was that there was a woman who lived on the third floor, and Jane doubted that it was the woman that set the fire.
In my opinion, the climax of the novel is in volume 2 chapter 4. Rochester was disguised in a gipsy sybil and did fortune-telling for the guests in Thornfield. Jane was the last one who went into the room and she identified Rochester at last. The reason why Rochester did so was because he wanted to know how Jane viewed him and her emotion to him. This chapter was dramatically important because this was the first time they spoke their mind mutually.
Soon, Jane was informed that Mrs. Reed was dying, wanting to see Jane before she died. Mrs. Reed told Jane the truth that she was qualified to succeed to a great amount of money; however, she could not get the money because of her lie. Getting back to Thornfield, Jane told Rochester what happened, and they planned to get married soon. However, Bertha, who had been locked in the garret of Rochester’s house in Thornfield, was Rochester’s legal wife, and therefore she became the biggest obstacle between Jane and Rochester. On the day of their wedding ceremony, Rochester was accused of being married ‘twice’ for he had married to Bertha, and their wedding became invalid. It seemed that Jane came to the turning point in her life again, and I think this is another climax of the story.
After leaving Thornfield, Jane met St John, who saved her life in the wild. After days of interactions, they found they were relatives, and Jane was in succession to a great amount of money, which was from her uncle. At that time, St. John was going to do a missionary work, wanting to make Jane his wife. However, it was not because he loved her, but because he admired her. One night, while St John was waiting for Jane’s decision, Jane heard Rochester was calling her desperately. Thus, Jane decided to come back to Thornfield.
When she arrived in Thornfield, all she saw was the debris of the house. The neighbor told her that it was Bertha that burned the house. Rochester’s eyes were damaged in saving Bertha, and then became blind. Jane looked for him at once, expressed her emotion to him, and married him soon. Though it would be a little bit strange for Jane to hear Rochester miles away, we can still regard it as the sixth sense between their minds.
My opinions:
Charlotte Bronte shaped Jane as a pale and short girl, with plain appearance. Compared with heroines in other novels, Jane was not relatively beautiful. Despite the fact that her appearance was not outstanding, Charlotte gave Jane the following characteristics: brave, wise, independent. Moreover, with outstanding temperament and rich emotions, she could still stand for her faith and morality when facing Rochester. They sought to match spiritually. Indeed, so lively and dramatic is the story that the readers might not be fully conscious of all the thematic strands that weave through this work.
Just like Cinderella, Jane was born in a poor family and not treated equally. Both Jane and Cinderella strove for their lives. During the process, they encountered their ‘heroes,’ reached the climax in their lives and then downturns. But fortunately, both of them could have the ideal outcome eventually. In addition, in these two stories, the people’s characteristics were depicted vividly, especially ‘the competition among the women’. Blanche Ingram, one of the guests invited by Rochester, was as beautiful as an angel. However, she was stuck-up, regarding Jane as ‘nothing’. What the guests focused on was the material comforts. In contrast, Jane pursued the spiritual life. Like Ingram, Jane also loved Rochester, but the way they used to draw Rochester’ attention was totally different. Coincidently, in order to catch the prince’s heart, Cinderella’s sisters tried ways to show how good they were so that they could defeat the other competitors. When Cinderella showed up at the party, she was suddenly highlighted, and her sisters could do nothing but only stood there watching Cinderella and the prince dancing.
The difference between ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘Cinderella’ was the atmosphere. Through Charlotte’s portrait, Thornfield was far away from downtown, and the critical events, such as the leading characters’ first meeting and the fire all happened at night time, thus the gloomy feeling was built. On the other hand, the castle, where the aristocrats lived, was full of the lively atmosphere. Parties were held daily, and aristocrats need not to worry about their daily lives. There was always a contrast between poor and rich, day and night.
Last but not least, ‘Jane Eyre’ was a classical feminine literature. In this story, through the character, Jane, Charlotte said the following words:
Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; the need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer……(subtracted from volume one, chapter 12)
Charlotte thought that women were treated unfairly in the society. From the sentences above, it can be observed easily that Charlotte was femininely conscious. She spoke for women by this book. With time passing by, this was accepted gradually by people throughout the world, and ‘Jane Eyre’ became thus the book that the feminist researchers must read.
Now, ‘Jane Eyre’ is one of the top 10 world classics. From the time ‘Jane Eyre’ was completed, it has been existed more than 150 years and is still popular now. As an ordinary priest’s daughter, Jane, I think, would never have thought of this. Like ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ ‘Jane Eyre’ was definitely a successful masterpiece for ever.
