What Is The Theme Of Bird Imagery In Jane Eyre

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

The link between Jane and birds is strengthened after she leaves Gateshead and moves to Lowood Institution. Bronte foreshadows poor nutrition at the school through a hungry bird whom Jane gives the remains of her breakfast. "My vacant attention soon found livelier attraction in the spectacle of a little hungry robin, which came and chirruped on the twigs of the leafless cherry-tree" (41; ch. 4). This description of a hungry bird allows the reader to understand Jane’s compassion for others, and her willingness to give. It also seems to foreshadow Jane’s struggle at Lowood with poor nutrition and moreover how she is forced to share her meals with other students:

Jane stays inside the walls of Lowood for eight years. She has learned a great deal but all she finds for herself, when she does finally decide to leave, is "a new servitude." The idea that she might be free in an unbounded world is not yet part of her experience -- in a sense, it never will be.

The vulnerability of Jane Eyre's childhood, loss of innocence and exposure to death, rejection, abuse and disease at such an early age due to her initial complicated family background, being an orphan and thus avoiding poverty through her aunt’s charity, shows the initial 'violent' gothic convention used in this novel.

When Jane enters Thornfield she thinks she is going to work for a woman named Mrs. Fairfax, but she does not. She works for a mysterious man name Mr. Rochester. This man is going to be an import aspect of Jane’s life. Jane works as a governess to a young girl named Adele. Jane encounters Mr. Rochester when she goes for a walk and runs into Rochester, whose horse is injured. After the encounter Jane and Rochester start to gain interest into each other. Mr. Rochester is a man with a large amount of money and Jane is a woman with very little money, the fact that she works for Mr. Rochester defies their unprofessional relationship. “Like governesses, these marriages between older men and younger women were viewed with great ambivalence during the Victorian period”(Godfrey). Both characters develop strong feelings for one another and become close to getting married but a discovery of a secret puts the marriage to a halt. After

As author Charlotte Bronte pens Jane Eyre, Bronte manipulates the readers emotions through diction and imagery. These tools make the reader bring sympathy towards the protagonist, as if she were confined or imprisoned. As the main character goes to her place or retirement, she does not walk or strut in, but rather slips in. This demonstrates the author application in diction or word choice.

In Bronte’s writing, the message is at times, quite clear, and at other time, relatively subtle. Jane questions the status of woman. Yet, she does so mainly through her writing. A woman, at that time, should not be free to have opinions and to manifest her feelings. However, through her writing, she is able to treat certain taboo subjects, at times quite openly and at other times in a subtler way. A woman is expected to follow the path which has been carved out for her. There is no room to be passionate and to have opinions. Bronte, however, allows Jane to do so. The description of the weather in several instances reflects the protagonist’s state of mind. The beginning of the novel is a perfect example to illustrate the way in which the narration sets the tone for what is to be expected by the reader:

Jane begins her life in isolation at Gateshead, abused and misunderstood by her Aunt Reed and cousins. She is constantly reminded of her worthlessness to them and the fact that they view her as a burden, and is literally

Thomas Foster encourages readers to look at authors’ works with inquisitive lenses, observing and analyzing small details. In Jane Eyre, readers note Charlotte Brontë’s dramatic descriptions of the weather, each scene’s climate tailored to the intended mood, which help readers predict and connect to the novel. Many scenes open with vivid descriptions of the weather before introducing characters or dialogue. These passages do more than set the scene; they are heavily symbolic. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë deliberately uses weather to set the mood, mirror Jane Eyre's emotions, and as a means of foreshadowing.

Several times the narrator talks of feeding birds crumbs. Perhaps Brontë is telling us that this idea of escape is no more than a fantasy; one cannot escape when one must return for basic sustenance. The link between Jane and birds is strengthened by the way Brontë adumbrates poor nutrition at Lowood through a bird who is described as "a little hungry robin."

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.

The relationship between the environment and characters in literature played a large role in Victorian novels. This relationship is extremely evident in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, where Jane’s journey to freedom is reflected by her environment. However, Jane’s goal of freedom and equality symbolizes Victorian women struggling to gain these same values. According to Jennifer D. Fuller in “Seeking Wild Eyre: Victorian Attitudes Towards Landscape and the Environment in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre”, Jane’s passion for freedom is reflects the passion for freedom in Victorian women who have not achieved equality yet. Although Jane’s environmental surroundings symbolize Jane’s future, Fuller effectively asserts that the weather instead symbolizes the harsh constraints of women’s gender roles in Victorian society.

“I am no bird and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will” (Bronte, Jane Eyre 293). In the Victorian time period Charlotte Bronte lived the unequal life as a woman, like many others. The only difference is Bronte did not believe in living in inequality, and she wrote about her hardships in her literature. In her book, Jane Eyre, the reader can see many similarities in her main character’s life and her own. Jane Eyre has many ways of showing how Victorian women were expected to be and act, included in the life of Jane. Bronte also continues her portrayal of the inequality of women and the decision of love versus autonomy through two of her poems, “Life” and “The Wife’s Will.” Charlotte Bronte displays the inequality in life of women in the Victorian era by taking her life and revitalizing it into themes of her works, by providing a journey of discovery of love or autonomy.

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is presented in the Victorian Period of England. It is a novel which tells the story of a child's maturation into adulthood. Jane's developing personality has been shaped by her rough childhood. She has been influenced by many people and experiences. As a woman of her time, Jane has had to deal with the strain of physical appearance. This has a great effect on her mental thinking and decision making. Jane Eyre's cognitive and physical attributes have been affected by her environment throughout her life.

In Jane Eyre, Jane constantly seeks books to escape the indoor torment caused by her family on days that she must remain inside due to poor weather. When she is trapped inside by bad weather and unable to go outside, Jane seeks privacy by seeking “. . . images of natural landscape in her book, Bewick’s History of British Birds. Yet even in the pages of fiction, nature appears cold and forlorn.” (Fuller 153). Even In the book she reads, Jane is drawn to the “. . . shores of Lapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland,” (Brontë 7). Jane is drawn to places full of icy, dreary weather as opposed to places that seem warmer and comforting. This shows that Jane does not view the cold and undesirable landscapes as a reflection of her inner affliction, but instead as an inspiring and moving exhibitions (Fuller 153). The inability to leave Gateshead at this point in Jane’s life forces her to be inspired by the nature in books she reads, as she has little exposure to the outside world. As Jane imagines a new