Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a book written by Charlotte Bronte, and it is very much based on Charlotte's own life. Some of the things that happen in the book were personal experiences. It is a fictional story, but because it contains these experiences it is also considered an autobiography.

Jane Eyre, the representation of Charlotte, is a young girl at the beginning of the book who is living with her aunt because both her parents have died from typhus. Jane is not very beautiful, but she is very smart and quick witted. She is a very moral person and has a very high regard for herself. Jane is educated over the years and ends up being a governess at the age of 18 for Mr. Edward Rochester.

Mr. Rochester is a very rich gentleman who is conceited, and despises everyone. He is use to always having his way with things, and he is about twenty years older than Jane.

St. John is one of Jane's unknown cousins that she meets later on in the book. He lives with his two sisters Diana and Mary and plans to become a missionary to India. He is represented as a very cold, hard hearted person.

The setting is the early nineteen hundreds in Northern England. About the same time the author was alive.

The author has many themes that are expressed in this book but two of the main ones are being independent, and doing what is right. However, the main character, Jane, doesn't do what is right because she holds to a specific religion, as much as she does it because she must keep her self-respect. Forgiveness is also a big theme is this book. Jane forgives many people who had wronged her in her childhood years.

Jane ends up falling in love with Mr. Rochester; and he, unknown to Jane, falls in love with her. He proposes to Jane, one summer night, to her great surprise and they plan to be married. At the church, on the day of their wedding, and man shows up and claims that his sister is married to Mr. Rochester! Mr Rochester confesses to everyone that he is married, but claims that his wife is mad and has tried to kill him many times. Jane runs away that night and ends up getting lost with no money.

She is found by St. John Rivers, who ends up being a distant cousin of Jane's, and who wants to be a missionary. During her stay with him, he starts to see her and her skills as things he could use in his missionary work. He proposes to her but she realises that she still loves Mr. Rochester! She returns to find that his house was destroyed by a fire started by his mad wife; she also committed suicide during the fire.

She finds Mr. Rochester a few miles off at a cottage he owns, and she notices he has become blind. She reveals herself that night when she pretends to be one of his servants. They would both confess that they still loved each other, and they would marry shortly after.

I really enjoyed reading this book, because the author was so good at describing places without giving an overwhelming amount of detail. I felt like I understood all the settings well enough to envision it, but not so much that it becomes dreary. It still had a fantastical, (or fantasy like), feel to it. The author was also very good at describing the character's emotions, but I felt like she didn't give the character Jane enough emotion. Jane would become emotionally numb when bad things would happen. Bronte, I feel, is a very good writer because she doesn't waste words. I never felt the book was confusing or that there was too much information.

The ending was short, which I normally don't like, but I felt that it was the proper way to end this book. There was so much tension going on for so long that the short ending made it feel like a burden was removed after running with it for a long time. The short ending was able to gave the characters instant relief that they each deserved because of the trials they each had gone through.

-Kole