Gina's Book #15: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I consider the Bronte sisters two of my favorite authors and am also fascinated by their own personal stories. Charlotte and Emily were two of six siblings and became the most famous of the family. Charlotte is most known for writing Jane Eyre, and Emily for Wuthering Heights. At an early age their father encouraged the sisters to read as much as they could, and soon they began having writing competitions against one another. They would spend hours each night walking around their parlor table and explaining the plots of the novels to come. They planned to open a school together but failed to find students, and their father, who they doted on, died at the age of 31 from drugs and alcohol addiction. To me it does not seem they had a very happy life.

An interesting thing Charlotte said about Jane Austen's writings was that they were more real than her own, but not more true. I think think shines though in Jane Eyre. The main character Jane had a horrible childhood as an unloved orphan, was not considered pretty by any means, and was not social and at ease with people. The man she loved was not handsome, not particularly charming, and had a horrible secret living in the upstairs of his house. The ending is somewhat happy but with a definite sad and depressing spin on it.

Jane is a complex and really somewhat dark character. As a child, everyone around her is always saying how she is a strange, solitary, frightened, and shy thing. She cannot force herself to be happy and sociable like the other children, but she does have a need to be loved and belong. She finds a sense of belonging with Mr. Rochester and Thornfield, and that plays a huge role in her falling in love with him.

I don't feel like going into a full summary. It isn't the easiest read, but a good one. It is a little dark but a definite love story. Those who don't like love stories probably shouldn't read this.