Traumatic Childhood In Jane Eyre
In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses Jane’s traumatic childhood experience to contribute the entire meaning of the story. Jane’s horrific and terrible childhood shaped the meaning of the work into being about someone who experienced a traumatic childhood and having the whole world against her, but yet still coming out on top.
Throughout her childhood, Jane was raised by her cruel and unfair aunt, Mrs.Reed, she also grew up with her bratty cousins, John, Eliza, and Georgiana. One day Jane decides to read a book and her cousins decide to mess around with her. This leads to a physical altercation which ends with John throwing the book and Jane slapping him due to self-defense. Mrs.Reed blames everything on Jane and decides to send her
to the red room. Jane is locked in this creepy room where her uncle died in for hours without food or water. She sees herself in the mirror and is shocked at how sad and depressed she really feels and this leads to her witnessing a light that scares her half to death which causes her to faint. Even at a young age Jane had to defend herself against her own family, also not having a mother or father figure can be traumatic within itself, but imagine not having a single family member to love you unconditionally can lead anybody to insanity.
Furthermore, Jane eventually escapes the cruel and unloving environment of her family and goes to receive an education at Lowood to better herself and her future. At arriving at Lowood cruel acts are already being acted upon her. The owner of the facility, Mr. Brocklehurst, embarrasses Jane in front of the whole student body just for accidentally dropping some plates. Embarrassing and humiliating moments like these can affect that person’s outlook on life drastically. Jane moved away from her family to get away from cruel actions like these, and yet they still occur to her. These traumatizing moments don’t stop there they continue on when her one and only friend, Helen Burns, dies in her own arms due to typhus fever. The only person that ever showed Jane any kind of love dies right in front of her. No child should ever experience the loss of a loved one, especially if that loved one was the only one they had.
Nevertheless, all these traumatic and terrible experiences doesn’t discourage Jane whatsoever.
Throughout her childhood, Jane was raised by her cruel and unfair aunt, Mrs.Reed, she also grew up with her bratty cousins, John, Eliza, and Georgiana. One day Jane decides to read a book and her cousins decide to mess around with her. This leads to a physical altercation which ends with John throwing the book and Jane slapping him due to self-defense. Mrs.Reed blames everything on Jane and decides to send her
to the red room. Jane is locked in this creepy room where her uncle died in for hours without food or water. She sees herself in the mirror and is shocked at how sad and depressed she really feels and this leads to her witnessing a light that scares her half to death which causes her to faint. Even at a young age Jane had to defend herself against her own family, also not having a mother or father figure can be traumatic within itself, but imagine not having a single family member to love you unconditionally can lead anybody to insanity.
Furthermore, Jane eventually escapes the cruel and unloving environment of her family and goes to receive an education at Lowood to better herself and her future. At arriving at Lowood cruel acts are already being acted upon her. The owner of the facility, Mr. Brocklehurst, embarrasses Jane in front of the whole student body just for accidentally dropping some plates. Embarrassing and humiliating moments like these can affect that person’s outlook on life drastically. Jane moved away from her family to get away from cruel actions like these, and yet they still occur to her. These traumatizing moments don’t stop there they continue on when her one and only friend, Helen Burns, dies in her own arms due to typhus fever. The only person that ever showed Jane any kind of love dies right in front of her. No child should ever experience the loss of a loved one, especially if that loved one was the only one they had.
Nevertheless, all these traumatic and terrible experiences doesn’t discourage Jane whatsoever.