The Life Journey of A Young Feminist in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte (1847)
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you.”
Women’s issues are endlessly interesting to be discussed. From the time when patriarchy was still widely practiced worldwide, especially in England in the Victorian era around the 18th century, even up to the present time, women’s inequality is still nourished in some places.
Charlotte Bronte was a British novelist. She is the eldest out of three famous Bronte sisters; Emily Bronte and Anna Bronte whose novels become standards for English literature. The legendary Jane Eyre’s story shall not be questioned again. It consists of 686 pages which are worth to be read in every word, phrase, and page.
The story begins with Jane’s childhood who lives with her wealthy and cruel Aunt, Mrs. Reed. The novel shows a full process of how someone develops from a young age whilst experiencing many events that make her stronger and wiser. During her life journey from childhood until adulthood, Jane is constantly experiencing hardships. She became used to living in a world that is unapologetic-ally cruel to an orphan like her.
When Jane lived with her Aunt and her cousins. She experienced bullying. However, Jane defended herself bravely and insisted that her cousin’s attitude was wrong. Even as a young man, Jane’s cousin feels powerful just because he’s a man and physically bigger than Jane. In fact, young Jane was aware that she must be strong and fight against inequality which was taboo at that time for a woman to fight against a man.
Jane defended herself from being bullied by her cousin, but Mrs. Reed was stand still with his son. Young Jane was finally sent to a boarding school. This put them both at ease, Mrs. Reed was finally able to get rid of an orphan like Jane who feels like a burden to her. It is because Jane is not her biological daughter. Moreover, in her point of view, Jane is a rebellious kid and dangerous. Thus, it’s better to send her far away from home. Whereas Jane is happy because she can live apart from her toxic family who even treated her like a stranger.
Jane is excited to meet new friends, teachers, and learn new things. She won’t be living in a narrow bedroom in Reed’s family ever again. But, this is actually just the beginning of her story of life. During Jane’s life as a student in a boarding school, her life is a series of misery. She has a tight schedule to study new knowledge as well as religion. However, Jane and her friends only acquire a small amount of food. In addition, they also get poor-quality blankets, snacks, water, and health care.
Children are known to grow up so fast, it is a golden time to fully maximize their energy and potential and then turn these entities into a positive impact on children’s future. On the contrary, Jane and her friends aren’t well treated at a boarding school. As a result, many children died due to cholera. Luckily, Jane survived. After a few years of studying hard and becoming an excellent student, Jane is finally offered to become a teacher in her school. She took that chance. However, Jane is naturally an adventurous person, she demands change and development in her life after quite some time. So, she decided to leave the school and look for a job as a private teacher for a young rich lady.
After Jane offered her service as a private teacher in a newspaper column, she got an offer. This decision brought Jane into Mr. Rochester’s home. Soon, she became close to her student who is a foster kid of Mr. Rochester’s. Life is full of surprises, and so with Jane’s life too. She gradually fell in love with Mr. Rochester and so did he.
The next phase, is still a long complicated storyline of Jane’s life. If you are curious about how the story ends, please do read the novel. I promise you won’t be disappointed. I adore this novel so much because Charlotte used the pronoun “I” or the first point of view. So, it creates a deep intimacy for the readers to relate to Jane’s perspective.
Furthermore, this novel not only presents an image of an ordinary romance story, but it also has a mystery and gothic genre. Within the story, the symbolization is also found in the elements of monster, weather, and quiet home. Each symbol reflects a certain meaning. For example, in the opening of the story when Jane lived at Mrs. Reed’s home, the weather outside was gloomy and rainy. This reflects Jane’s feelings that feel alienated, afraid, and angry living with the Reeds.
From such a young age, Jane has shown a characteristic of someone who is willing to be independent, wise, and responsible. She is not the type of person who take everything for granted, especially the error patriarchal norm that is practiced in England’s society in the 18th century. Growing up, Jane constantly demands a change and challenges herself to become independent in terms of her liberating her mind as well as becoming financially independent. She doesn’t want to rely on men’s or anyone’s shoulders, because she has felt how hurt it was to rely hope only on humans who are constantly changing their minds.
Jane has faced bitter feelings from a young age; thus, she does not give up easily in facing life challenges. She is also willing to learn something new every day. It can be seen whenever she encountered a new environment. She would definitely learn things around her passionately and in no time become good at it.
Honestly, I am amazed by how modern Charlotte Bronte’s idea was for a woman who lived in the Victorian era. Where a lot of female writers were afraid to write a story of a woman as the main character, where other female writers were afraid to express their ideas on how women react to an inequity world, and other female writers have followed the male style in writing, Charlotte Bronte was extremely bold to write a story about Jane Eyre. Within the story, it consists of mixed feelings such as anger, hatred, frustration, sadness, and happy feelings when a person finally meets a true friendship once in a lifetime.
For me, Jane’s story is almost the same as a two-sided coin, it is indeed, beautiful and touching that complement each other.
The most feminist message that I found from Jane is,
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you” (p. 257–258).
In this context, Jane tries to show her true quality as a feminist. Women should be able to be independent and can stand on their own feet. No women are worth being limited by men’s rules. Women must be able to fully optimize their ability as humans who know what’s best for their life. Women must have a chance to choose what they wanna be and that is real freedom.
