This book really gets into that black and white mindset when it comes to individuals deciding/thinking Jane Eyre is a bad child or a good chile.
Everything below are all things Mrs. Reed, some of the staff, Mr. Brocklehurst, and even Jane thought/said of her. Due to the fact that she did not fit in with all the other children, she rebelled and would not stand for actions done by others that were not right.
“…she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children.” (63)
“And you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed, because Missis kindly allows you to be brought up with them. They will have a great deal of money, andyou will have none: it is your place to be humble, and to try to make yourself agreeable to them.” (70)
“It must have been most irksome to find herself bound by a hard-wrung pledge to stand in the stead of a parent to a strange child she could not love, and to see an uncongenial alien permanently intruded on her own family group.” (74)
“Mrs. Reed surveyed me at times with a severe eye, but seldom addressed me: since my
illness she had drawn a more marked line of separation than ever between me and her own children;” (85)
“From every enjoyment I was, of course, excluded:” (86)
“”My dear children,” pursued the black marble clergyman, with pathos, “this is a sad, a melancholy occasion; for it becomes my duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God’s own lambs, is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien” (129)
The reasoning behind all of these statements and thoughts of Jane came from the ideaology of the time. “A
woman had no rights of her own and; she was expected to marry and become the servant of her husband” (Anderson, 2). In addition, “Women were not expected to express opinions of their own outside a very limited range of subjects, and certainly not be on a quest for own identity and aim to become independent such as the protagonist in Charlotte Brontë‟s Jane Eyre” (Anderson, 2). The individuals that considered her to be a bad child only thought so because she was not following uniform of women during this time period she would act out instead of stay in line. They did not like the fact that she would rather question the duties given (as it made things difficult for them) than to follow them without any rebuttle.
Even though Jane was described and separated so often because she was considered to be a bad child she found lights in life that helped her keep going to truly find who she is.
“With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy: happy at least in myway.” (65)
“Ere long, I became aware that some one was handling me; lifting me up and supporting me in a sitting posture: and that more tenderly than I had ever been raised or upheld before.” (76)
“I wandered as usual among the forms and tables and laughing groups without a companion, yet not feeling lonely:” (116)
“a girl came up and passed me: in passing, she lifted her eyes. What a strange light inspired
them! What an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through me! How the new feeling bore me up! It was as if a martyr, a hero, had passed a slave or victim, and imparted strength in the transit. I mastered the rising hysteria, lifted up my head, and took a firm stand on the stool.” (130)
“We shall think you what you prove yourself to be, my child. Continue to act as a good girl, and you will satisfy me.” (134)
“The teachers then shook hands with me and kissed me, and a murmur of pleasure ran through the ranks of my
companions.” (138)
Jane is able to find the light from a few others and herself because “[she] fights convention by resisting the male dominance, on her quest for identity and independence she remains true to herself by putting herself first and caring for her own wellbeing, even though she is longing for love and kinship” (Anderson, 2). As she turned a new page in realizing who she is during the night she spent in the Red Room. “When Jane looks into the mirror she sees herself looking like “a real spirit” which makes her think of one of the characters, “tiny phantoms, half fairy, half imp”, in Bessie‟s ghost stories (Brontë 9)” (Anderson, 7). In terms of finding the light from others, the love can be felt when Bessie, Miss Temple, Helen are there in times of Jane’s low confidence to boost her up and aid her in her self discovery.
Source: Angela Anderson, “Identity and Independence in Jane Eyre.” http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:463653/fulltext01.pdf
