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I'm not judging this book bases on how progressive it was at the time, since I'm not informed enough on the topic. I'm judging it based on how interesting the plot, the characters and the setting are. Sadly, not at all.
Jane is the most developed character in the book (naturally) but I don't feel a thing for her. It seems to me she exist solely so the plot would move around someone. She is numb. She is quiet. She is boring. And so is the plot. We are moved from place to place, where a small number of anything exciting happens —just to be quickly forgotten—without a clear goal. Jane is abused in her aunt's house, Jane is sent to a boarding school, Jane skips 8 years of her life and moves on to be a governess in someone else's house. Meanwhile side characters come and go, adding very little to the story. So when Jane loves or hates someone, I can't feel the same, because ultimately nothing really matters. We follow Jane around, and that's just it: follow.
And so, "Jane Eyre" is not entertaining, not exciting, not intriguing, not new (to the modern reader) or informative. It just is.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization
Minor: Child death, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Religious bigotry
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism
Moderate: Suicide, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting
Minor: Alcoholism
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Sexism, Suicide
Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Confinement
Jane Eyre truly revolutionized fiction and paved the way for modern day literature. Most books were not written in first person perspective, but Charlotte Brontë used it to create a sense of intemacy.
Jane Eyre tells the story of a female protagonist looking for agency and meaning.
“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!”
Jane Eyre is active and fights back and stands by her values.
“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”
And although I am not a big fan of Rochester (
“Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear.”
It's just so beautifully written.
“If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, Colonisation
Minor: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Abandonment
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury