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//Jane Eyre// By: Charlotte Bronte
Author Biography

 Charlotte Bronte’s life was far from blissful. Born April 21st 1816, Charlotte was the third of six kids. Her father, Patrick Bronte, was a clergyman and full time caretaker. After having her sixth child, Maria Bronte died of cancer, leaving Patrick to care for the six children. He sent the kids to a boarding school by the name of Clergy Daughters School. Poor conditions at this school lead to the death of the two eldest. Charlotte finished her schooling at a different boarding school, Roe Head. For three years following the end of her education she taught. Her passion for writing began at an early age. It is known that her brother and her would write fiction stories about the country they made up named Angria. May 1846 was when Charlotte, along with her two remaining sisters, published poetry under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, and Action Bell. Charlotte kept this alias for her next two publications. Critics were wondering whether Currer Bell was a female or a male. Many believed it was a female, and shortly after Charlotte’s second publication they had evidence. She had come clean and proclaimed that she in fact was the author. By 1849 Charlotte and her father were the last of the family. She married Arthur Nicholls and got pregnant. Unfortunately, Charlotte and the unborn child died March 31st, 1855 from lack of food and water ([|Hansen] ). If you would like more information [|click here.]

Plot Synopsis

Jane Eyre is orphaned at a young age and is sent to live with Mrs. Reed, her aunt, and her cousins John, Georgina and Eliza. John and Jane get in a dispute ending with Jane being locked away in the red-room. The red-room is the room where her beloved uncle died. While trapped in this room Jane believes she sees her uncle's ghost and faints. When she awakens a few days later Dr. Lloyd is called in to further examine Jane. After failing to get better, he suggests that Jane should be sent off for schooling. Mrs. Reed is enthralled by this idea since she despises Jane, and sends her to a boarding school called Lowood. Lowood's living conditions are tragic, the girls are not adequately dressed for the weather or properly fed. The poor living conditions assist in spreading typhus, which kills many of Lowood's students. After completing her education at Lowood, Jane remains there as a teacher. Two years later Jane wants to explore the world a little bit more and advertises to be a governess. She soon hears back from a lady named Mrs. Fairfax. Excitedly Jane leaves behind Lowood in pursue of the next chapter in her life, Thornfield.

At Thornfield Jane is a governess to a young, French girl, named Adele. One night on the way into the post office Jane comes across a man that has fallen from his horse and hurt his ankle. She does not know who the man is, but she helps him get back on his way. Later the next day she realizes that the stranger she had helped the night before was in fact the man that owned Thornfield, and was Adele's guardian. She soon meets Mr. Rochester and falls head-over-heels in love with him. Mr. Rochester does not feel the same way. He has his eye on another lady by the name of Blanche Ingram. She is a woman of high class, and comes from a wealthy family. Everyone expects Mr. Rochester to purpose to Blanche, but is shocked when he purposes to Jane instead. On the day of the wedding a secret is revealed and the wedding postponed. The next day Jane is on the run. What is the secret? Why is Jane running? Will Jane find true love again? If you would like those questions answered I highly recommend reading this book. The ending takes quite a few unexpected twists and turns along the way which makes it such an interesting book.

Literary Information

Jane Eyre falls in the romance genre, but do not be fooled. It is not a heartwarming, sappy tale many people associate romance novels to be. This novel falls in the romance category because the main conflict occurs due to romance. This story is told from first person point of view. Jane tells this story ten years after the last event in the story occurs. While re-telling the story, Jane goes back and forth, telling it as if she was experiencing the events for the first time to reflecting back upon the event(s). Charlotte Bronte conveys a mysterious, secretive and even a slightly ghastly tone in // Jane Eyre //. This is magnified by the unexplained events that occur, and the secrets that are kept until the ending of the book. Bronte also uses formal diction in her writing. This novel was written in the mid 1800s so the diction of it at the time might not have been formal, as that is they way they spoke. However, in our day and age it is considered formal diction because it is not the way the majority of people speak.
 * The length of this novel is 524 pages.

Literary Analysis

Adele is a very important character in this story. As a child Jane never experienced the comfort of family and love. At a young age she was orphaned, and eventually cut off from her family. All of Jane's "Vacations had all been spent at school....[her family] had never been to visit" (101) and Adele mirrors this similarly. She, like Jane, is orphaned and her closest thing to family is Jane, as Adele is Jane's closest thing to family. In addition, Adele and Jane both have nowhere to call home other than Thornfield, and no family besides each other. However, Mr. Rochester sends Adele off to boarding school, against Jane's wishes when she is absent. As soon as Jane finds this out, she goes and visits Adele. When she arrives she finds Adele "pale and thin" (521) and "the rules of the establishment too strict" (521). This is exactly what Jane had gone through 10 years previous, and she did not want Adele to suffer as she did. She brings Adele home with her so that she does not have to suffer any longer. Up until she met Adele, Jane and never experienced love. Adele also brought another level of love to Jane's life. If she had not been in existence, Jane would have never met Mr. Rochester, her true love. In conclusion, Adele plays a huge role in this story. Not only does she provide the family Jane was stripped of, she supplies the love Jane had never had.

Criticism

The only negative criticism I have for // Jane Eyre // is the lengthly conversations that occur between Jane and Mr. Rochester. Often during these conversations I would be reading the text, but not comprehending it. Since I did not see an importance in the full conversation, I had a hard time truly engaging with the text. Typically the beginning of each discourse contained the importance of that conversation, but it is the continuation of the discussion that I found uninteresting. The engagement between Jane and Mr. Rochester had little influence on the story, only developed the connection between the two characters. I feel that Charlotte Bronte could have enhance the relationship of the two in a different, more interesting way than the two incessantly talked.

On the other hand, I felt that this novel has wonderful descriptions, which keeps the reader mesmerized until the ending. Each character was described in great detail. None of the character's features escaped Charlotte's Bronte mind. In addition, the setting was grandly portrayed. Her clever use of words allowed for pictures to clearly transfer from paper to the mind's eye. "[Mr. Rochester's]colorless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth" (207) is just one of the numerous examples used to paint pictures through the use of words throughout the book. This story is like riding a roller coaster blindfolded. You can tell when your climbing the hill and when you are descending down it, but you cannot predict the twists and turns. Like a roller coaster for many people, it provides excitement until the lap bar lifts, or last sentence occurs.

Extra Information

//Jane Eyr//e was first a television show in 1983, then turned into a movie in 1944. In 1996 Franco Zeffirelli made a newer version of the movie. Another television mini series about //Jane Eyre// aired in 2006 ([|IMDb] ). If you would like more information about these movies and television shows [|click here.]

// If you would like more information on this novel I recommend these wikis: // Readers that enjoyed //Jane Eyre// also enjoyed:
 * Ian's Wiki //Jane Eyre//
 * Tatum's Wiki //Jane Eyre//
 * Ellen's Wiki //Jane Eyre//
 * //Wuthering Heights// by Emily Bronte [|click here for more information.]
 * //Pride and Prejudice// by Jane Austen [|click here for more information] // . //
 * //The Odyssey// by Homer [|click here for more information.]