Jane Eyre Your Choice Blog

Jane is an outsider. Her parents are dead and left her no money. Her aunt and cousins, the Reeds, treat her like servant. From the beginning of the novel the reader sees how Jane is left out. On page 8 Jane says, “She really must exclude me from my privileges intended for contented, happy, little children.” (Bronte 18)This quote shows Jane feels excluded from her only family. She should be loved or at least included by her aunt but is not. In chapter one the reader sees all the Reed children sitting by their mother and feeling happy. Jane does not get to lie with them and sense the feeling of love and acceptance. The feelings of neglect as a young ten year old can and most likely will affect Jane’s’ life as an adult. Luckily Jane has a comfort, books. She feels pleased when she is reading. On page twelve Jane states, “With Bendwick [the book] on my knee I was then happy: happy in my own way.”( Bronte 12) When Jane is reading it makes her feel better. She can imagine better lives and create dreams for herself. Sadly John Reed, Jane’s older cousin, his horribly mean to her. John is Jane’s “master”. She is supposed to treat him with respect and not talk back to him. When he catches her reading one of his books he screams and yells at her. He says on page seventeen, “You are a dependent! Mama says: you have no money your father left you none, you ought to beg, not live here with gentleman children like us!” He even hits her after saying this. Nobody would feel good about themselves after that. Jane tries sticking up for herself, but ends up getting in trouble. She gets banished to the red room and is locked up there alone. She feels lonely, unloved and an outsider.

This is imprtant to Jane as a protagonist because it is the reason she is different and unique. This is important to the reader because it makes Jane seem more real. It also makes her relateable to readers of Jane Eyre.

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Margaret Smith. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.