Jane Eyre

Book, 1847

Premise - The life story of one of fiction's most well-known heroines, Jane Eyre. Beginning her life as an underappreciated orphan child, she continues to face a lifetime of sorrow and misery until she reaches Thornfield Hall, where she falls madly in love with her master.


Review - You know, I was really, REALLY enjoying this novel... until just about the very last chapter. Maybe I'm just sadistic and prefer sad endings, but (spoiler alert) the happily-ever-after just didn't sit well with me considering the set-up of the entire novel. I just found it frustrating.

I actually first read this book way back in ninth grade. At the time, I really enjoyed it, though admittedly much of the sophistication of the novel went over my head. There were a few key elements that stuck with me:
1) There was a lot of misery and a lot of orphans
2) There were excessive descriptions of the mundane British countryside
3) Mr. Rochester was controlling and a liar
4) Mr. Rochester kept a crazy lady in his attic and literally deprived her of any quality of life
5) That lady used to be his wife and then went crazy as she was forced to marry some stranger and then got worse as she was stuck in an attic
6) The crazy lady was also part-black and from Jamaica so there was some racism/exoticism involved
7) Mr. Rochester gets what's coming in the end as the crazy lady sets fire to the mansion and blinds and disfigures him.

Here's what didn't stick with me for some reason:
1) Jane marries Mr. Rochester in the end and they get a happily-ever-after
2) Mr. Rochester regains some of his sight over time

It's like my mind completely erased the ending.
My mind also erased the fact that Mr. Rochester didn't want to marry Bertha (his Jamaican wife) to begin with. He was forced into it by his family for financial reasons, and was unwilling to deal with her mental health problems. I thought he elected to marry her or had an affair with her first, which would put more of the blame on himself rather than his family or his circumstances.

Even with these missing details, I still maintain the fact that Mr. Rochester is no prince. Of course, the novel makes this very clear by highlighting the fact that he was not traditionally handsome. However, I don't think his personality was all too great either. He definitely was not villainous, by any means. He was just an entitled, ignorant, possessive, domineering, and dismissive man. In his mind, he did no wrong. And truly, he didn't intentionally cause any harm. He was also just too conditioned by his wealth and gender to understand himself objectively.

This book, as Wikipedia calls it, is a sort of "proto-feminism." There is a lot of successful leaps made in feminism, as Jane Eyre starts to put gender differences out in the open to be analyzed, and creates a heroine who speaks her mind and stands up for herself. The book is not just revolutionary for gender (though that's where my focus was), but also religion, class-ism, and mental health. At the same time, this was a very early stage in Western feminism, and in order to avoid even further scrutiny by critics (who already thought Jane was too independent), there was a lot in the novel that is still painfully complacent with sexism.

Maybe I was thinking that if the book were truly revolutionary, Jane wouldn't need to marry to get her happily-ever-after. That's where the book was headed, I thought, as Jane obtains her own wealth and finds her own family members. Instead, she marries Mr. Rochester in the end, but still has the upper-hand in the marriage, as he is blind, crippled, and powerless, so that alone was hugely controversial. Yet still, she dedicates her life to caring for this man who really did wrong her and, more importantly to me, Bertha. I am all for redemption and change, 100%, and I believe people are inherently good, though may commit wrong actions that need to be rectified. I am also 100% all for good romance stories, and having love as a prize of sorts for changing one's actions. While Mr. Rochester does suffer some form of punishment, what bothers me is I'm not necessarily sure he takes any blame or has any awareness of his wrongdoings. He feels incredibly guilty for what he did to Jane, yes, but there's no remorse for Bertha. No justice. She just kills herself and they're like, "Oh, well that problem's gone now!"

Of course, there's one more thing to consider - what Jane wanted. Forget politics and social rights and wrongs, Jane for some reason loved Mr. Rochester. She got what she wanted in the end, and she obtained her own wealth and family. I'm very happy for Jane, at least, and she's our heroine, so I suppose that influenced the story's ending. And, overall, this was an incredibly well-written and powerful story for its time (87/100)

Quote -  “No sight so sad as that of a naughty child," he began, "especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?"

"They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer.

"And what is hell? Can you tell me that?"

"A pit full of fire."

"And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?"

"No, sir."

"What must you do to avoid it?"

I deliberated a moment: my answer, when it did come was objectionable: "I must keep in good health and not die.”

If you liked this book, I'd recommend Great Expectations!

Author: Charlotte Bronte
Publisher: Smith, Elder & Co.