Outcasts in “Jane Eyre” Member: Christian Lewandowski

Prompt Topics: Alienated Character Impact on Story Choose a character that plays a significant role and show how that character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions or moral values. Topics: Alienated Character Impact on Story Insights into surrounding society

Relation to Novel Story revolves around an outcast (Jane Eyre) Finds someone who cares for her Isn’t afraid to give up belonging for her own code of honor

Jane Eyre as an Outcast Ex: 1 – Gateshead “’And you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed, because missis kindly allows you to be brought up with them. They will have a great deal of money and you will have none: it is your place to be humble, and to try to make yourself agreeable to them.’” (8) Shows their society places more value into family name than character They assume that Jane will never be as great as the Reeds simply because she does not come from as well-known a family

Jane Eyre as an Outcast Ex: 2 – Among the nobility at Thornfield “One of the gentlemen, Mr. Eshton, observing me, seemed to propose that I should be asked to join them; but Lady Ingram instantly negative the notion. ‘No,’ I heard her say: ‘she looks too stupid for any game of the sort.’” (194) Idea that Jane’s character and intelligence are indicated by her place in society It is assumed that because Jane is of lower social standing, she is lesser as a person.

Literary Device 1 - Setting Initial description of Lowood when Jane is emotionally alone “We set out cold, we arrived at church colder: during the morning service we became almost paralyzed.” (60) After Helen’s consolation in Miss Temple’s office “We went: following the superintendent’s guidance, we had to thread some intricate passages, and mount a staircase before we reached her apartment; it contained a good fire, and looked cheerful.” (71)

Literary Device 2 - Metaphor “I knew by her stony eye – opaque to tenderness, indissoluble to tears – that she was resolved to consider me bad to the last; because to believe me good would give her no generous pleasure: only a sense of mortification.” (247) Comparing Mrs. Reed’s eyes to stones show the lack of compassion and overall emotion that she expresses regarding Jane. This coldness serves to alienate Jane, and it reveals Mrs. Reed’s cruel and selfish nature.

Literary Device 3 - Anaphora “Sometimes, for a fleeting moment, I thought I caught a glance, heard a tone, beheld a form, which announced the realization of my dream: but I was presently undeceived.” (336) Rochester describes his time outcast from society as an aimless search for something he could never find. This aimlessness is highlighted by anaphora such as in this quote.

Mr. Brocklehurst Analysis Though Brocklehurst appears only briefly in the novel, his impact on Jane is prominent in that he serves to enhance her feelings of alienation. Being rich and extremely self-righteous, Brocklehurst is symbolic of the nobility which Jane struggled against for much of her childhood. His appearance just as Jane adjusts to her new life at Lowood is particularly jarring as she fears that things will quickly return to the way they were at Gateshead. This character show’s that Jane fears being ostracized and alone, which makes her choice to leave Rochester later all the more impressive.

Pivotal Moment 1-Death of Helen Burns Death of Jane’s only friend leaves her emotionally alone Going through her formative years in this manner contributed to her feelings surrounding being alienated later in the novel Losing her friend in this way gives even more weight to the friendship she later develops with Rochester.

Pivotal Moment 2-Leaving Thornfield Climax of Jane’s story as an outcast “Who in the world cares for you? or who will be injured by what you do?” (342) Jane recognizes the fact that if she leaves Rochester she will return to a life of loneliness, perhaps even further alienation. Her decision to leave despite this shows that she not only conquers the temptation of love, but her fear of being ostracized to maintain her honor and morals.

Works Cited Blogspot, http://janeeyremasterpiece.blogspot.com/. Accessed 7 January 2018. Blogspot, http://pgenglish2015.blogspot.com/2016/07/bertha-mason-as-madwoman-in-attic.html. Accessed 7 January 2018. Blogspot, http://thoughtsandstuff12.blogspot.com/2012/11/jane-eyre-1983-ep-1-3.html. Accessed 7 January 2018. Nerdist, https://nerdist.com/7-cold-weather-movies-to-help-you-beat-the-summer-heat/. Accessed 7 January 2018. Students of the World, http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/sites/book/janeeyre.php. Accessed 7 January 2018. Terra Informa, https://terrainforma.ca/2014/04/07/cold-and-warmth-2/. Accessed 7 January 2018.