The changes that took place in Jane Eyre’s life when she moved from Lowood Institution to Thornfield Hall

In the story of Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre is written as a very strong self assured, determined young woman who is rebellious against society. A story that shows against the culturally subversive path of feminine independence. Jane’s life began when she was separated from her family and sent to live with her ‘Aunt Reed’ and her cousins. Jane didn’t enjoy her stay at ‘Gateshead’ with the ‘Reeds’ she was I suppose the runt of the litter. Janes Aunt Reed was constantly trying to find faults with Jane as she thought no child could be more perfect than her precious little children.

One example of this would be one rainy day at ‘Gateshead’ when Jane and her cousins were playing outside in the rain, as her cousins returned inside to see there mother Jane thought she would explore the house, she found a book shelf on which she picked out a book that she would like to read… sure enough she found a quiet spot to read it by the window behind some curtains. Jane loved to read; it helped her explore her emotions and made her feel that she was more at one with the world. Jane’s cousin secretly saw Jane reading this and told his mother that Jane was still outside playing in the rain!

For some reason Jane got in serious trouble when her aunt reed found her for reading a book! Surely that is not a crime! Jane was made to stay in her uncles old room against her will. Jane swore she saw a ghost and could feel her uncle around her and being only 10 yrs old she was very frightened and so she screamed hoping someone would come and rescue her. Bessie the nicest one of the lot was the maid at Gates head opened the door and Jane clung to her and weeped”Let me out Bessie please, I don’t like it in here” and was sensitive towards Jane but aunt reed just slammed the door and locked Jane back in there.

As you can probably tell by this Jane barely had a relationship of whatever kind with her Aunt and Cousins. After a lot of cunning and persuasion from Jane, they received a visit from “Mr. Lloyd” regarding Jane’s plead to attend Lowood institution for Girl orphans. Thankfully for Jane she was accepted into Lowood Institution! Her aunt wasn’t to pleased about this but now she couldn’t really do anything about it! This was one of the most important changes in Jane Eyre’s life and in my opinion it was for the better!

Jane arrived at Lowood feeling very nervous which is not really surprising turning up to a big institution not knowing anyone and only being 10 yrs old, to me I think it was a very confident and brave thing Jane did and she is to be admired! Miss Temple one of the teachers at Lowood was very welcoming towards Jane and made her feel quite secure and not so lonely, there was still a little insecurity Jane felt as it was all still quite mysterious! After Jane had settled in a bit and unpacked her belongings in her new room, she took a little walk around to institution to get familiar with her surroundings and put her mind at ease.

On her walk Jane came across a young girl, the name of Helen Burns, and a girl slightly older than Jane herself, sitting on a bench in the institutions gardens reading a book, and as Jane liked to read she thought it would be the ideal opportunity to strike up a conversation, “what are you reading? ” Jane asked Helen then told Jane. Jane then said how much she loves to read and Helen said when she had finished reading her book Jane could Borrow it, there friendship began!

One of the strongest friendships in the story I think! Jane Eyre and Helen Burns became very good friends and spent a lot of time together while they were both at the institution. In a way I think that Helen was a sort of motherly figure to Jane someone that Jane could look up to and get advice from, they became very close. Helen would tell Jane all about the world and stories of Helen before she cam to lowood, Jane was very curious about the world and she admired Helens stories a lot, she was fascinated!

Jane and Helen were both very similar characters they were both willing, determined young woman that wanted to do well and do the right things for themselves and others around them. Throughout Lowood their friendship grew a lot and got stronger, they were always there for each other, no matter what!! An example of how strong their friendship was would be when Helen had gotten a question wrong in her work and was getting severely punished for this by Miss Scatchered, which I think must be one of the most evilest woman I have ever read about!

She said to Helen “Hold out your hand” so she did, you had to obey them or you would be in even more trouble, Miss Scatchered Caned Helens hand very violently twenty time not even a flinch from Helen she was so brave but you could see feel the pain yourself! Jane watched her friend being punished you could see the pain that Helen was feeling running through Jane’s eyes, Jane was almost in tears she knew it was wrong and wanted to stop it but there was nothing she could do but fear for her friend, this shows how close Helen and Jane really were, to feel such great pain for your friends torcher.

Lowood was a huge part of Jane’s life, she matured a lot here thanks to the help of some of the teachers and her good friend Helen Burns, Helen Taught Jane a lot most importantly how to be, independent, confident and how to bring her dream of being able to help people to be reality. Mr. Brocklehurst on the other hand didn’t Jane many Favours he knocked her confidence a lot. He was the headmaster at Lowood and he used this power to be a bully! All of the girls that attended the institution were absolute angels never did a thing wrong, and put in maximum effort for everything they did…

Brocklehursts expectations of the orphans were some what too high! They were expected to complete every last thing without slight failure, this is impossible even for the best! If they did make an error they were not given a second chance, that wouldn’t even cross his mind! Jane was one of the most intelligent and determined young girls at the institution, there was one time at Lowood where she got one answer incorrect, Mr. Brocklehurst stood her up in front of the entire population at the institution and made out that Jane was a liar and as all the pupils were afraid of Mr.

Brocklehurst they felt they had to believe him and not speak to Jane because she was a liar, even though they knew that it was untrue! Miss Temple even looked shocked and at disbelief at this point, you could tell by the look on her face that she admired Jane and couldn’t bare to see her upset and getting a false name put by her pretty little face! Miss. Temple decided to do something about it. After Mr. Brocklehurst had left Miss Temple got all of the students together again and announced” Jane is not a liar in fact she’s far from it, she’s one of the kindest people I have ever met and is one of the best students ever to attend Lowood.

The students all cheered and Jane was very thankful, this made her remaining time at Lowood a lot easier! About two years into Jane’s time at Lowood Institution Helen Burns Jane’s best friend came down with a disease, today we call it T. B, Jane was mortified she couldn’t believe that one of the nicest people she had ever met could get such a killer disease. Inside Jane knew it was going to kill her friend eventually, how was she going to cope without her best friend, her mother figure, and most importantly the girl that welcomed Jane into her life taught her so much and now she was going to be taken away from her.

Sadly Helen Burns died from her disease a few weeks later after discovering what she had, Before this Jane was determined to go and comfort her friend regardless of the fact that she could catch the disease the most important thing to Jane was to see her friend and she did! Helen told Jane not to grieve when she had gone but to make both their dreams reality, to get out in that world and explore for them both, make both their dreams come true! At the age of 16 Jane became a teacher at the institution. She wanted to help the children learn, but in a different to what she was taught.

Jane taught her children with manners and kindness mostly; she made a huge difference to the institution. Jane wanted the children to fell loved and wanted the way Miss. Temple had made her feel, She wanted to make a future for her children at lowood and protect them from all types of badness including Mr. Brocklehurst!!! Jane was a teacher at Lowood for two year and when she reached the age of 18, she decided it was her time to leave. Jane applied and was accepted to a job at a household called “Thorn field Hall” for the job as a nanny to a young girl called “Adele”, Adele was French and it was Jane’s job to teach her the English language.

Jane arrived at Thorn field Hall at about 8,o, clock at night just in time to meet everyone before they all went to bed. Thorn field was the biggest turning point in the story and most important change in Jane’s life, also for the better in my opinion. At Thornfield Jane met a Man called Mr. Rochester, a very handsome young man, but yet full of mystery. The living conditions at Thornfield were a big improvement on Lowood; Jane got her own room with a double bed her own wardrobe, and everything she could ever want. The maid served Jane breakfast, lunch and dinner, it was a great change for Jane and she much appreciated it.

Jane’s job of teaching young Adele the English language as very important to her as her dream was to help others and by doing this she was completing her dream. We didn’t think Jane would be in contact with her Aunt Reed any more in the story but she was she found out her aunt had become very ill so took it upon her self to go and visit her for peace of mind. Mrs. Reed didn’t really appreciate it but at least Jane felt she had done the right thing. Sadly Mrs. Reed passed away. She wanted to give Adele the love and chances that she was never given herself.

It also gives her freedom this is something that Jane has never really experienced herself and I think the most important thing to Jane at Lowood is Mr. Rochester, she had never really felt love for any one of this kind before and I suppose it was strange for her to experience this. Jane first saw Mr. Rochester when she was on a walk exploring her new environment and he came galloping up on his horse and his horse started bucking and he fell off, so Jane helped him, he didn’t seem to appreciate it much, maybe he was just shocked by her beauty!

Jane later arrived back at Thornfield only to see Mr. Rochester there being the man that had fallen off of his horse, Jane was stunned, it must have been fate. In the video version that we watched of Jane Eyre you could tell that they liked each other by the way they spoke and communicated with each other. I preferred the video to the actual book of Jane Eyre because I found it easier to understand and it made the emotions between the characters more obvious. To begin with Mr. Rochester treat Jane just like one of his normal employers.. Doing all of his work for him…!

One night at Thornfield Jane and Mr. Rochester sat up talking and I think this was when most connections were made they were both clear of the feelings they had for each other but neither of them wanted to admit it, they were both cowards. Understandably for Jane though as she had never been in love before it was a whole new experience for her and she loved it! Gradually Jane and Mr. R spent more time together and enjoyed each other’s company.

Later on in the play Mr. R asked Jane for her hand in marriage and Jane being head over heels in love accepted, they were both so happy… ntil, Jane had heard screams coming from a room upstairs but whenever she questioned someone about it they would blame it on another maid, so Jane being just as gullible and the next person believed them as she had no reason not too. One night she woke up in the middle of the night from the smell of strong smoke she jumped up and ran to Mr. R’s room his room was on fire so she dragged him out of bed and they managed with difficulty to put the fire out.

It soon came to Jane’s attention that Mr. Rochester had been married before and was still married to Mrs. Bertha Mason who had slowly turned insane, that was when Mr. Rochester kept her locked upstairs in the loft away from public and he would go and see her often. Jane was shocked and upset but still was filled with anger! She wanted to know everything and right away. Mr. R tried explaining it to her but Jane was having none of it. It was very difficult for her she felt she had been betrayed, the wedding was off and so was Jane. We didn’t think Jane would be in contact with her Aunt Reed any more in the story but she was she found out her aunt had become very ill so took it upon her self to go and visit her for peace of mind.

Mrs. Reed didn’t really appreciate it but at least Jane felt she had done the right thing. Sadly Mrs. Reed passed away. This is when Jane came in contact with her real family a truly amazing miracle that couldn’t have made Jane’s life any better. Jane had been with her family now for a few years, she thought about Mr. Rochester a lot and was still in love with him of course so one day she decided to go and visit him. She turned up at Thornfield only to find it burnt down into a heap of ashes on the floor, Jane was horrified so many awful thoughts were rushing thought her head ” what’s happened?

Who’s hurt? Did anyone die? Is my love alive? ” Imagine the loneliness Jane must have felt it must have been terrible. Jane was looking around the wreck and a man approached her asked her what she was looking for, she said, ” I used to live here”. ” Where has everyone gone? ” so the man gave Jane directions to Mr. Rochester and his maids new address. Jane got there slowly but eventually and nervously knocked on the door, the maid recognised Jane and was so shocked she hugged her and then the smile on her face wilted into a frown.

She knew what was coming. And sure enough Jane asked for him, he was alive!!! Relief for Jane she was pleasantly surprised. After a lot of persuasion Jane was welcomed in but Jane demanded that Mr. Rochester wasn’t to know. Un be known to Jane Mr. Rochester had lost his sight in the fire and when Jane found out she was mortified but she still loved him none-the-less. Her love for him was unconditional and that’s how it should be. She walked through to the living room with the coffee he had asked for from the maid.

She gave it to him and held his hand, he knew who it was straight away he was delighted but embarrassed by the state of himself he felt he had lost all of his dignity but Jane did not see it like that, she wanted to be there for him to look after him day and night, she wanted to prove her love to him and was sorry she wasted all that time away from him when clearly he had reasons for keeping the biggest secret of his life from her. He accepted her request and they moved in together formal what it was a ‘Perfect couple’.

After a few months of living together they got married and to everyone’s including there self’s amazement produced a child, which made them the happiest people in the world. They had brought a beautiful cottage in the country in which to bring their child up. And this was brilliant it got better. Mr. Rochesters vision became to regain itself he could now see the colours of the world and his precious daughter growing up and most importantly of course his amazing wife that had helped him through everything and loved him no matter what!

Surely this just shows what a miracle Jane Eyre was and how she made so many peoples lives one hundred times better than what it would be if they had never met. A story of true miracles and what seemed to be the sad life of Jane Eyre but turned out to be everything she had ever dreamed. She kept her promise she explored the world for Helen Burns and herself and if you ask me she did it so well and with so much pride and kindness. If only there were more people in the world like she.