How Does Jane Influence On Identity

The Impactful Influences on Identity As stated in the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of identity is “the characteristics determining who or what a person is”. From the time a person is young, he or she has many influences of his or her identity. For example, parents are often a child’s first example of how to behave, and as that child grows, he or she will often behave as their friends or role models do. Furthermore, the environment a person lives and whether it nurtures him or her can influence a person’s identity. Finally, the experiences he or she encounters also serves as a deciding factor in someone’s identity. Great tragedies, amazing successes, and even small moments all accumulate to shape who a person is. As art often
When Jane arrives at the Lowood Institution, the first of her schoolmates she interacts with is Helen Burns, who has a contrasting disposition. While Jane is fiery and rebellious, Helen is calm and obedient. She always accepts the punishments that she deserves without pause and never harbors ill-will towards those who seem to despise her causing Jane to wonders how she does this. Helen informs her that she has a creed, which allows her to “distinguish between the criminal and his crime; [she] can so sincerely forgive the first while [she] abhors the last, revenge never worries [her] heart, degradation never too deeply disgust [her], injustice never crushes [her] too low. [She] lives in calm, looking to the end” (Brontë 71). This is completely shocking to Jane because she had always hated the Reeds for how they treated, and their every injustice crippled her. However, Helen’s influence and creed change this entirely. While the more childish Jane was fiery and bitter the more mature Jane is calm and forgiving. This translates to her treatment of the Reeds when she returns to their home at Gateshead Hall after her cousin commits suicide. With Helen, she no longer harbors resentment towards them, and this allows her to become closer with Georgina and Eliza, her cousins. More importantly, it also allows her to forgive considering how while Jane was at Lowood, her uncle wrote to her aunt saying that he wanted to adopt her. However, due to Mrs. Reed’s enmity for Jane, she only reveals this to Jane on her deathbed saying, “‘For you to be adopted by your uncle, and placed in a state of ease and comfort, was what I could not endure. I wrote to him; I said I was sorry for his disappointment, but Jane Eyre was dead…’” (Brontë 280). Despite having every right to be, Jane is not angry with Mrs. Reed and immediately forgives her due to Helen’s doctrine, which grants her