Jane Eyre: Bullying and Freedom
On the very first pages in the book Jane Eyre, I was introduced by the fact that even in the early days, bullying is common, and the privilege of the rich is evident.
“He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, but continually…”
I was grinding my teeth as I read the first few pages (and I know you would too). At the tender age of ten, Jane Eyre was already being severely oppressed by her older cousin John Reed. The little girl, having accustomed to abuse, both physically and verbally, often can only brace herself for the blows.
Jane was innocently reading a book when John Reed came to not only insult her, but also hit her on the head. The worst is that the family of the bully is blinded by the so called “favoritism”. Blinded, this is what I first thought of Mrs. Sarah Reed, the aunt and “benefactress” of Jane. As she saw Jane already bleeding from her head, she sided with her son and imprisoned poor little Jane to the Red-Room. Even the maids, Bessie Lee and Abbot, were no better.
It broke my heart as I read Jane’s thoughts as she sat alone in the dark. She asked herself why she was always suffering and scared. What did she do to deserve being beaten and blamed at every turn? Why can’t she please anyone even though she tried so hard? Jane compared herself, her cousins; Eliza Reed (selfish, but was respected) Georgiana Reed (spoiled, but was often indulged because of her beauty) and, lastly, John Reed (a sociopath [in my opinion] and disrespectful even towards his mother, but still her favorite child). She, Jane, who just wanted to defend herself from further bullying was the one confined in a scary room and her tyrant not just escaped punishment but was justified.
"Unjust!"
It certainly is! No girl- no one should be troubled by such thoughts. NO ONE should be treated so cruelly! Here, let’s take a pause for a moment. I want you my dear non-existent readers to reflect with me (I know you have a lot of time on your hands as I’ll be publishing this post amidst Home Quarantine due to Covid19). Are you someone who turns their back to the truth like Mrs. Reed, who I thought was only blinded by favoritism, but because of her pride, jealousy and hatred? Or like the two sisters Georgiana and Eliza, who just stand by and watched because they aren’t affected by such cruelty? Or are we like the servants, who see the unjust, but sided on what is easy and follow what their lower status dictates them to do?
Are we scared to stand up for what is right and be damned of the consequences?
Later in the night, little Jane had thought that her uncle’s ghost (sister of Jane’s late mother and in his death, bed made his wife promise to continue caring for his niece) had come back to hunt Gateshead. Oh, how Jane begged to her aunt to be let out because she was terrified, but again her cries fell into deaf ears.
This was the turning point of Jane’s life. As she was filled with so much horror, she had some sort convulsion and to be taken care by an apothecary named Mr. Lloyd. He helped shaped the Jane’s future by suggesting to Mrs. Reed to let Jane go to school. And I thought, finally! Jane can get away from that hell of a house. And then I was introduced to Mr. Brocklehurst and at the very beginning I knew I would hate that scumbag. More of him in later.
One good thing happened before Jane sent to school, she was able to find the courage to speak her mind. It was the last straw when her aunt told Mr. Brocklehurst, master of the Lowood Institution, that she was deceitful. Jane emptied out her suffering heart and spoke of the cruelty she has experienced, that she never felt loved, kindness or even mercy and if anyone asked, she will not be afraid to speak the truth. She vowed never again will she return to Gateshead and never again will she call Mrs. Reed aunt (you go girl!).
I want to bang my head as I read the responses of Mrs. Reed as she claims that “I desire to be your friend.” Which part?! But it was a hard-earned, well deserved victory, and a good way to end Jane’s last days at Gateshead Manor.
Lowood Institution, where to start? It was said to be a charity school managed by a greedy clergyman, Mr. Brocklehurst whose twisted beliefs with humility led Jane and her fellow students to be deprived with adequate food, decent clothes, instructional materials, and even health care, while he and his family lived in luxury. Although these hypocritical traits made me dislike the guy, the one thing that made me despise this character so much is when he singled out Jane and discredit her in front of the whole school. Who does that to a ten-year-old? (He made me think of Miss Trunchbull in the Movie Matilda). He even encouraged everyone not to befriend Jane and punish her! No wonder Jane was devastated to the point that she wished to die. My heart cried for Jane. She had hoped to have a new beginning at Lowood. A fresh new start away from the bullying and yet she was utterly humiliated and wrongly accused!
I can say that you find your true friends when they are there at your worst. Jane found hers in Helen Burns. Helen reminds me of Beth March in Little Women. She was described as smart, kind, patient, caring and very religious. Helen was a comfort to Jane, and she certainly calmed Jane by saying
“You think too much of the love of human beings.”
Which by the way, hit me hard. Are we not guilty of this every day? We know that we are doing is wrong, but we do it anyway too. At work we gossip about Karen, whom we consider an incompetent boss. You don’t necessarily hate Karen, in fact, you empathize with her as she is not having someone to properly show her the ropes. Yet you join the office gossip since it’s a trending topic. Who do you want to please? It’s the little things we often miss, and we don’t bat an eye since everybody is doing it and why shouldn’t you too? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to preach, but sometimes we need this reminder that we are living in a temporary world and it’s okay not to be liked by all since we can’t please everyone! We only need to please the One who will greet us with an embrace when we finally return to our eternal home in heaven. I didn’t also mean to make this too religious, but whatever religion you may be in, you know that this is the truth.
Spring came and it should have brought happiness and sunshine, instead it brought forty-five of the eighty girls in Lowood the Typhus Fever and sadly it ended Helen’s life too soon like Beth’s did. They say every cloud has a silver lining, and the many deaths caused by the illness, draw public scrutiny which leads to the discovery of how poorly the school was managed. I have hoped that Mr. Brocklehurst would be sacked, which he certainly deserves, but he retained the post of treasurer (which I thought, no!!!) but at least he was not left to his own devices and had someone who knows how to balance kindness and strictness (again, a privilege of the rich).
Eight years passed, and Jane becomes a well-educated young lady who even became a teacher in the school for two years. When Miss Temple, who became her friend, mentor and mother, left to start a family of her own, it served as an eye opener to Jane. For many years, she lived a uniform life inside the four walls of the school. Jane felt the stirring of discontentment. She wanted change and freedom!
‘A new servitude!’
But how will she achieve it?
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End of Part 1
Click me for Part 2
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