Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a novel set in the 1800 in England. It's about emancipating yourself, and finding the love you deserve. It’s motivating, it’s about tenacity, about not giving up on doing right.
On a foggy evening, along muddy streets, Jane Eyre arrives at Thornfield Hall. She is eighteen and she doesn't know that her life is at a turning point. She is an orphan, she was raised by an aunt that was anything but loving and then sent to boarding school, where she stayed for eight years, first as a pupil, then as a teacher. Her strong and independent character, the same one that earned her the reputation as a rebellious girl during her childhood, prompted her to leave the oppressive walls of Lowood to seek work as a nanny. At Thornfield Hall, Jane will take care of little Adele, Mr Rochester's protégé, a man in his forties, with hard features and an authoritarian appearance. For Jane, this becomes a new home. She knows independence and a tranquility never enjoyed before. But she especially discovers her love for Mr Rochester, an overwhelming and inevitable love from the first meeting. However, Jane's dreams soon turn out to be impossible, destined to be suffocated by Rochester's dark past, a past that tries to return...
"Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex."
Jane Eyre also incorporates an astounding amount of feminism (see, for one example, the quotation above). Jane tries to strike a balance between her love life and her desire for independence, between her desire to marry and her concern about what it would mean for her future (possibly personified by a certain individual I won't reveal who it is here). She would, in fact, rather remain alone than being with someone for the wrong reasons.
So, to sum up, we can say that a little bit of everything can be found in Jane Eyre, a novel set in the Victorian era. It's gothic, makes commentary on social class, and occasionally gets a little spooky with fortune tellers, omens, and a touch of the paranormal.
Compared to most books written at the period, I thought it was less stilted, more plot-driven, and more engaging. Definitely a recommend!
Kaur Jasmeen
