Miss Temple displayed to Jane the importance of trust. Jane has had an unfortunate childhood. Between the emotional abuse she has endured from her aunt and the brutality of her cousins. When her aunt sends her to a boarding school called Lowood, Jane meets Miss Temple, the superintendent, whom is very nice to Jane. The reason why Jane was sent to Lowood was because her aunt, Mrs. Reed, accused her of lying. When Jane tells Miss Temple about how she has been falsely accused, Miss Temple believes Jane. Jane recounts it as the following: Exhausted by emotion, my language was more subdued than it generally was when it developed that sad theme; and mindful of Helen's warnings against the indulgence of resentment, I infused into the narrative far
At Lowood, a school which Jane is sent away to, she is again given the
She realizes that this wrongdoing would eliminate Miss Temple’s promise to teach her drawing and to learn French. Jane descends from the stool in search of Miss Temple, her beloved superintendent, who often “listens to Mr. Brocklehurst’s sermonizing in ladylike silence with her mouth ‘closed as if it would have required a sculptor’s chisel to open it’” (Gilbert 784). Miss Temple kindly allows Jane to speak in her defense, such an unfamiliar concept coming from the Reed residence. Once Jane’s story is corroborated she is rewarded with beginning lessons in drawing and French.
Having found a new strength in rebellion, Jane is placed in another oppressive situation: Lowood School. In this situation, there is little opportunity for her to resist; she has a different lesson to learn. Shortly after her arrival at Lowood, Jane meets Helen Burns, who teaches her patience and rationality. Helen is in many ways a Christ figure, accepting what happens to her as God's will and speaking often of heavenly rewards. When Jane is falsely accused and humiliated by Mr. Brocklehurst, her instinct is to lash out in anger, and she finds it difficult to deal with her emotions. When Miss Temple asks her to explain why the accusations are false, it is Helen Burns' words that allow Jane to present her side of the story fairly. "...mindful of Helen's warnings
Jane's childhood trauma results as a product of her times at Gateshed and Lowood. There were a series of irreversible problems that Jane had to deal with. She was born an orphan into a house devoid of love or respect for her. It is not overly emotionally healthy to live with the "ostracism by the Reed family and the unrelenting anxiety over the chidings of the servants, the violence of John Reed, and the punishments and berating of Mrs. Reed." (Ashe 10) Evidently, Jane had this lifestyle since she was little. This can be inferred from Mrs. Reeds loving statement "I hated it the first time I set my eyes on it-a sickly, whining, pining thing" (7)
The author of Trust Matters, Megan Tschannen-Moran is a professor at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. She teaches courses in educational leadership and conducts research about relationships in school settings, specifically related to trust and efficacy. http://wmpeople.wmedu/site/page/mxtsch
The character Jane starts off as an orphaned young girl. Jane was born into the poor class, she lives with her aunt and cousins that torture her. Jane is then sent away to a school called Lowood where she is taught how to become a woman. Jane remains as a student at Lowood until she is sixteen years old. When Jane reaches the age of Eighteen she then moves up to the working class and becomes a teacher at Lowood. Jane works as a teacher for a good amount of time and teach girls that were just like her. When a disease outbreaks, everything at Lowood falls apart. When an Mrs. Temple, a teacher who has helped Jane, leaves lowood to get married Jane realizes that she should leave and search for a new job. When Jane come across a job at a place called Thornfield she leaves Lowood for good and sets off to her new journey.
has a soft spot for Helen Burns and appears to be one of the strongest
Following this dramatic scene, there are many situations in which her individualism can again be sensed. During her stay at Lowood Jane is emotionally subdued and her personality is in many ways suppressed. It is not until after Miss Temple, the person that seemed to shine light on the school, leaves that Jane realizes the restrictions that she is under. It is at his point that she has the sudden urge to leave the confinements of the school, seek a job as a governess, and experience the “varied fields of hopes and fears,
Miss Temple has a lasting effect on the girls because she genuinely cares about them and shares their trials. Mr. Brocklehurst, on the other hand, is a hypocrite who lives well while lecturing the girls on their need for humility and austerity. He doesn't see them as fully human, is insensitive to their needs, and doesn't genuinely care about them. While Mr. Brocklehurst specializes in humiliation, such as making Jane stand on a stool while he tells the whole school she is a liar, Miss Temple is kind and merciful, putting her arm around Jane after the ordeal, kissing her and saying she believes Jane's side of the story. Helen Burns says of her: Miss Temple is full of goodness; it pains her to be severe to any one, even the worst in the school:
Eight years later, when Jane travels from Lowood to Thornfield, she is much more contented. She has come to be respected by the teachers and pupils at Lowood, largely due to the influence of her teacher, Miss Temple, to whose instruction she "owed the best part of her acquirements" and who had stood her "in the stead of mother, governess, and latterly, companion". Jane has found in Miss Temple what Mrs Reed always
Jane Erye's next home emerges as the Lowood Institution where she spends six years of her life learning to become intelligent and morally stringent, while remaining visibly plain. Her lesson of physical and mental humility comes at the hands of Mr. Brocklehurst, the institution's main benefactor. Upon seeing a girl with natural curls in her hair, he proclaims: "My mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh, to teach them to clothe themselves with shamefacedness and sobriety" (pg. 96). Such a strong influence on Jane, at such an early age, greatly persuades her opinion of her own physical image. She feels her status in life always remains as a humble and inconspicuous servant with a sharp mind and strict morals. In spending six years of her most impressionable years of her life at such a repressive institution, she learns a great deal of humility.
At Lowood Jane is repulsed by Mr. Brocklehurst and his “two-faced” character. Even so, Jane fines her first true friend. Helen Burns, another student at the school. By instruction, Helen is able to prove her messages. When Jane is punished in front of the whole school, she tries to accept it. But Jane still dreams of human affection and is deeply hurt when she is scolded. Jane goes as far to say, “If others don’t love me, I would rather die than live.” Helen’s response, “You think to much of the love of human beings,” (69). Through example Helen teaches Jane too. Helen is punished by, Miss Scatcherd because her finger nails were not clean. Jane wonders why she just took it and did not fight back. Jane says, “When we are struck without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should . . .” Helen replies, “Love you enemies; bless them that curse you . . .” (56). When Helen is dying of Typhus she reminds Jane, “I believe: I have faith: I am going to God,” (82). Jane is able to draw strength from Helen’s faith, making her stronger. Helen’s messages guide Jane through her turbulent life. This is how Jane learns not to worry so much how other think of her.
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.
Mrs. reed was very cruel to jane but that paid off in the long run because it made jane inot a strong woman. On the other hand, Bessie loved jane and played a motherly role for jane. Helen burns, filled jane with knowledge and showed her kindness and the way to god. Miss temple served as an emotional support system as she stood up for jane when she was falsely accused and was there for her when her best friend passed away.Diana and Mary helped jane made smart choices and became close
Her influence in Jane's adolescence and early adulthood teach her to have harmonious thoughts, and to give "allegiance to duty and order" (Gilbert 347). Here, Miss Temple teaches Jane to suppress her wild emotions and become compliant under the "superior" male, but still maintain an inward anger that can never be expressed. Jane, however, cannot conform to the lesson being taught to her; through Miss Temple, she learns that her journey into maturity and freedom requires her to be more independent and passionate than Miss Temple instructs. Miss Temple is not only like a mother figure to Jane, but she is also "encouraging of intellectual growth" (Rich 466). Temple's impact on Jane's education allows her to become stronger in character, which will eventually bring her to complete independence. Kathleen Tillotson finds in Miss Temple a sign of hope for Jane: "the warm fire and the cake from the cupboard in Miss Temple's room are assertions of individual loving-kindness, though also of it's limited power" (Tillotson 60) In spite of this, Tillotson writes that Jane at Thornfield is "submitting to virtue in lovable form, as she had once submitted to Miss Temple" (Tillotson 60). In other words, Tillotson argues that although Miss Temple may have positively influenced Jane in certain ways, ultimately her call for repression and submission instigates Jane's realization that she must discover her own place in life,