How Does Charlotte Bronte Use Food In Jane Eyre

Chapter seven sees Jane slightly more experienced to the ways of Lowood School. She has come to accept the poor conditions laid down by Mr. Brocklehurst, however has not yet learnt to ignore them and Bronte describes Jane suffering a lot in this chapter. This lack of food and appalling living conditions are down to the head of the school, Mr. Brocklehurst. This man uses his apparent strong beliefs in Christianity as an excuse to provide the children of Lowood with the absolute bare minimum. Brocklehurst claims his “mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh”, presenting the idea that perhaps Brocklehurst is simply a man that has a immensely firm grasp of his

The novel in which Jane Eyre stars in can be seen criticizing many aspects of those times such as the role and nature of women, child negligence and social hardships for those in a lesser class. Jane Eyre’s alienation from society allows for a greater reveal of the story’s culture, values, and assumptions. It’s presented through the use of gender, class and character conflicts throughout the story. On multiple occasions, Jane is judged for the presented factors reflecting the type of society Jane lives in and what the times were like at that time.

Throughout the novel, Jane narrates and looks back on her story as an adult. In this sense she has a better understanding of how she was affected by her changing place in the class system and is able to provide a clearer picture of how she has since shaped her beliefs from childhood. When Jane recalls finding out that she had possible relatives in the lower class, her immediate response was to denounce their existence and to stay with her abusive guardian, Mrs. Reed. Jane explains her reaction by noting that “poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children” (29). While she admits that as an adult, poverty appears dreadful, she claims that this reaction is exaggerated in children. Firstly, Jane’s comment reflects the fact that she has since grown from her childhood disdain for impoverishment and this growth is hers alone; no other adult in the novel has exhibited maturation in thought such as this because they are stuck in their rigid class structures. Secondly, Jane’s comment on the difference between child and adult views on poverty

In Jane Eyre the food and drinks featured in the novel are slim. This is due to Jane’s low social status. Jane Eyre does not receive or eat a lot of food, but when she does, she cherishes it. For example, while at Lowood, Jane repeatedly receives a measly slice of bread as dinner. This only goes to show how horrible and somber life at Lowood actually is. The bread symbolizes the baleful treatment that she endures while at Lowood. She never truly escapes from this mistreatment, not even at Thornfield Hall with Mr. Rochester as she rarely receives more than bread from the rich man.

It is difficult to argue with this interpretation as perhaps the fear experienced by Jane evoked her defiant nature. Furthermore, this perhaps foreshadows her future residences, one being Thornfield as she later portrays the moors as ‘barriers of separation from the living world’ confirming her ever-growing struggle within hostile environments and

Throughout the novel, the person who physically serves Jane a plate of food is seen as a character that she (Jane) looks up to. In Gateshead, Bessie is the one person who sympathises with Jane, sings her songs and tells her stories. Bessie takes on the role of the mother/god like figure to the neglected child that had not felt acceptance from her blood relations. While food provides comfort to the body and soul, the provider of the food becomes the mother-like/god-like figure of the situation. Food and those associated with serving food to the physically starved become the ‘saviours’; the figures that most religious people aspire to be. Thus, food and the nourishment that it provides is connected to several other religious concepts like god’s grace, spiritual kindness and happiness. This indicates that the nourishment of the body is needed for the enlightenment of the

Temple's magnanimity, and Jane's personal nourishment are indicative of food. Considering Jane Eyre, it says, “burnt porridge is almost as bad as rotten potatoes... I saw each girl taste her food and try to swallow it; but in most cases the effort was soon relinquished” (Bronte 44). Hunger symbolizes inhumanity and the absence of nutrient in the girls of Lowood because it is a “charitable institution” for the poor. Bronte illustrates the wickedness of Mr. Brocklehurst's religious hypocrisy and emphasizes the indigent conditions the girls suffer each day at Lowood.

Not only does this make Jane feel embarrassed and defeated, but now her peers also this less highly of her. In addition to the irrational treatment of the students, children at schools similar to Lowood were often starving and dying of neglect. By including this aspect of 19th century life

While Jane’s time at Gateshead demonstrated her immense sadness, Jane’s time at Thornfield reveals her sadness through depression, as it begins to evolve into anger and an internal struggle. Her correlation with madness and anger begins to appear when she goes into the attic. She states “I climbed the three staircases, raised the trapdoor of the attic, and having reached the leads looked out afar over sequestered field and hill, and along the dim skyline- that then I longed” (Bronte 114). Jane is trapped inside herself. She longs to escape from her emotions and internal struggles, yet cannot. The attic, the abode of Mr. Rochester’s insane wife, houses Jane’s emotions. She climbs up to the attic and views the world beyond it. She

When Jane is sent to Lowood (an all girl's school), she finds the first true love shown by an adult. Miss Temple, the school's superintendent) treats all of the girls with extreme kindness and gentleness. When the girl's breakfast is burned, she arranges for them to have the luxury of white bread and cheese to make up for it. Also, even while some of the other teachers like Miss Scatcherd and even the school's headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst, are mean to the girls, she is always there for them with a hug and a smile. When Helen falls deathly ill, Jane sees how motherly and unfaltering Miss Temple is towards Helen. Another character who shows Jane love at Lowood is Helen herself. She is the first person Jane's age who is nice to her. Jane grew up with the Reed children's spiteful actions and attitudes toward her and never experienced a peer's kindness until she met Helen.

In a life full of mishaps and dilemmas, the social ladder is a hard object to climb, but one person defied it all and rose to the top. Charlotte Bronte composed a Victorian style novel entitled Jane Eyre. Starting off her difficult life as an orphan, Jane begins to grow and excel once she was offered new opportunities. Although she is not wealthy, she has the mentality of the rich, which gives her plenty of potential. Her life struggles of being a part of the lower class eventually begins to turn in her favor. The issue of social class influences Jane’s life in several ways: she is an orphan living with the upper class, she is among the wealthy at Thornfield, and she moves up in social class after receiving an inheritance.

In the novel, Jane Eyre, the author Charlotte Brontë’s real life experiences influence the novel heavily throughout. Some of Brontë’s life events are paralleled through the novel and are morphed to fit the main character, Jane Eyre, with a similar but better life compared to Brontë’s. There are three major experiences that Jane encounters through her life in the novel that have a few correlations with Charlotte Brontë’s which are their childhood life and her experience in an impoverished school, and her work as a governess.

Jane in her younger years was practically shunned by everyone and was shown very little love and compassion, from this throughout her life she searches for these qualities through those around her. Due to Jane’s mother’s disinheritance she was disowned by Mrs. Reed and her children, and was treated like a servant consistently reminded that she lacked position and wealth.

Jane Eyre is a story of a quest to be loved. Jane searches, not just for romantic love, but also for a sense of being valued and belonging. However, this search is constantly hindered by her need for independence. She starts of as an unloved orphan who is desperate to find love and a purpose. For example, Jane says to Helen, “to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest”. However, over the course of the novel, Jane learns to gain love without harming herself in the process. Although she is despised by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, she finds parental figures throughout the book. Miss Temple and Bessie care for Jane and give her love and guidance. However, Jane does not feel as though she has found

Perhaps as a result of her upbringing, which was full of cruelty and abuse, Jane developed a strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. As a child, these traits translated to insolence as she disobeyed and spoke out against the wrongdoing of adults that were so used to children being seen and not heard, resulting in Mr Brocklehurst warning her that “wicked” children go to hell . However, her moral compass develops and as an adult Jane begins to relish her own freedom and independence. She has been under other people’s care for so long – for example Mrs Reed, Miss Abbot and Mr Brocklehurst – that when she is able to start anew at Thornfield she values her ability to control her own life and does not wish to become a possession of Mr Rochester. This can be seen when Mr Rochester takes her to Millcote to buy new dresses following their engagement and her cheek “burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation” as she “never [could] bear being dressed like a doll by Mr Rochester” , and would value the money from her uncle in Madeira as it would give her a sense of independence from Mr Rochester. Her desire for independence and freedom is further stressed when she leaves Thornfield following the