I was intrigued that Jane Eyre could seem so strong while simultaneously seeming so weak. Many times in the beginning of the novel the narrator describes herself as weak or inferior. In fact, the first thing the narrator tells us about herself is that she is “humbled by the conscious of [her] physical inferiority.”(1) Jane’s mental strength seems at times to compensate for her physical weakness. Despite the fact that she is a young child, she is able to defend herself intelligently against Mrs. Reed’s accusations that Jane is deceitful. Jane “gathered [her] energies,” and then launched into a bold and logically sound argument against Mrs. Reed.(43) She defends herself by cleverly claiming, “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you. I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world.”(43) Later, in a conversation with Helen, Jane articulates the personal philosophy that motivated such a response to Mrs. Reed. She says that “I must dislike those who … persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly.”(74) Such an attitude is in direct contradiction to the Christian ideal of “turning the other cheek,” and is one that I believe takes much more courage. I am impressed that despite Jane Eyre’s meek physical stature, she still possesses the courage to put such a philosophy into action.
Regarding emotions, I sympathized greatly with the intense fear and anxiety that Jane Eyre feels as a child. After being locked alone in the red room, Jane is overcome with “frantic anguish, wild sobs,” and “such dread as only children can feel.” (17, 20) I found this description of a form of dread unique to children to be both interesting and something that I vividly remember experiencing as a child. I can remember lying in my bed and being overcome with intense anxiety and dread about what I now see as irrational thoughts and fears.
One such strange anxiety that I remember is lying awake as a young child—no more than 6 years old—and being terrorized by the thought that my parents were going to light me on fire and that I would die. This memory is one that I haven’t called up in a long, long time, but is something that I remembered after reading Dr. Bump’s article on teaching Jane Eyre. I’ve tried to analyze what would have caused such a strange yet terrorizing fear but I’m completely stumped. Perhaps it was somehow related to a nightmare I once had. Regardless, I remember that such a thought would pop into my head when I couldn’t sleep, and then over a little bit of time the thoughts would spiral into increasingly intense and terrorizing scenes in my mind. I think this downward spiral of intensity is the same thing that Jane Eyre experienced in the red room, and is perhaps caused by the fact that “children can feel but they cannot analyze their feelings.”(25)
I find the idea intriguing that the ability to analyze emotions is what differentiates adults from children. I’m not sure it is correct because surely many adults cannot analyze their feelings, and it’s very possible that some children can. I would be interested to hear what others think about this.