**Hello book friends!**
Ask a person, "What is one of your favorite books in your life?" If you read the book in the answer you will receive when asked, I can say that it will definitely add something to you. After receiving the answer “Jane Eyre” after such a question, I opened this book by saying that if this book can touch a person's heart, it is definitely worth reading, and I started to read it. The book was originally published under a male name, as female authors were not highly valued in the Victorian era. If even JK Rowling had only the initials of her name inscribed on her book, thinking that if the readers who saw my novels when they first published her books in the last quarter of the 20th century understood that the author was a woman, my books could not reach the readers she deserved, we can easily understand that this problem has continued for centuries, but this is when readers of this prejudice read Jane Eyre. I am sure they will get rid of their attitude completely. Jane Eyre, a female character who was so successfully dressed in flesh, could not have been written by anyone but a female writer. Especially if Jane Eyre's realism in this character increases a little more because she offers inspiration from the life of the author. Charlotte is a woman who lost her mother to cancer and her two siblings from tuberculosis at the boarding school they were given. Therefore, we see the traces of his painful life story in his novel Jane Eyre. It is said that Jane was given to a boarding school by her aunt, the loss of her close friend as a result of the epidemic, and the death of her sister Maria. While reading this scene, I found myself crying ..
**Let me briefly talk about the subject of the book;**
>Jane Eyre, an orphan at the age of ten, has a difficult life with her aunt, who never loved her, but took care of her husband's will. She has a bad day at the strict boarding school she was sent to (actually the school in Lancashire where Charlotte Brontë spent a year). But Jane Eyre is not as lucky as Charlotte Brontë; She stays at school for ten years and graduates as a teacher. Edward gets a job as a governess at Rochester's estate. He falls in love with Rochester, the mysterious master of the house; But hardships and pain await him that he cannot even imagine.
The suffering she suffered despite her young age makes Jane a strong character who stood up against the social structure that believed women should live as a "worthless being" at that time.In this work, which tells Jane's life story since childhood, Bronte supported the path leading to the independence of a woman's inner stronghold with the struggle she has given against all the cruelty that an orphan girl has experienced. The inner fortress that Montaigne defended in her tower away from chaos turned into a citadel in the real sense that they had to think about how they could continue their lives, just like Jane, who tried to live alone in the Victorian Age.
The first of these special areas in Jane's life is Gateshead Mansion, where her aunt and her children are subjected to various bullying. The cruel behavior of her aunt's three children, Georgiana, Eliza and John, and their mother's tolerance of this cruelty make Jane's life unbearable. The primary reason for his exclusion is that he is a different child. Because she is despised and accused of being naughty just because she questioned and wondered. Eliza, one of the two sisters, is noted for her tendency to trade at a young age, such that she even receives interest from her mother. Georgiana, on the other hand, is very fond of her beauty, playing with little house toys that Jane doesn't allow to touch. As a child, Jane learned to somehow deal with her loneliness. She is excluded for being an inquisitive girl who does not conform to traditional conventions. Another reason that supports this result is Jane's appearance, which is far from charming and cute. Montaigne's "avoid being striking in appearance as much as possible" (p.26-27) in order to "find the way to himself" (pp.26-27) is a concrete reality rather than a preference for Jane. Later on, Jane is sent to an orphans' school full of girls like her; Moreover, even the most beautiful girl in this school loses her beauty in the clothes given by the school. Jane grew up in solitude among people who did not show intimacy because she did not find her cute, and there is no one who should love, protect, or be willing to show a child. Her solitude in the face of her difficulties pushes Jane to struggle from an early age, making her alone with her loneliness and the ability to listen to herself.[source](http://www.mevzuedebiyat.com/jane-eyre-uzerine/)
All this frees Jane in a sense. This freedom, perhaps in one aspect under the conditions of the period; that is, it may be possible with the independence of the citadel, but it will be the commands of his soul that encourage Jane to push the boundaries. Jane's experiences at Gateshead Mansion push her to be a lonely boy. He enjoys spending time alone in nature during this period, because it is the only place where he can be away from others. Jane is a sensitive child who even thinks about the possibility of nature calming her. Later in her life she is not afraid to be alone and on her own, because she had the most painful experience of such an experience as a child. One of them is that Jane, who leaves the mansion to go to the boarding school, will travel a long way in the mail car in the early morning, without any companion. Moreover, no one from the household can see Jane, except Bessie. Thus, the process leading to Jane's self-creation and individualization becomes possible when she is tested with the various troubles she had to endure and struggles with them 'alone'. After Gateshead Mansion, Jane's second stop will be Lowood School. This school is also nothing short of Gateshead Mansion in bullying and brutality. Moreover, the target of the bullying is all orphans and girls who are deprived of support, like Jane. As a matter of fact, most of these girls will die in the typhoid epidemic that occurred at school as a result of poor care. One of these girls is Helen Burns, a close friend of Jane. The reason that drives Jane to befriend this girl is that Helen Burns caught her attention while reading a book in a corner of the garden away from everyone else. Moreover, this book is not one of the "light, childish things" (p.37) that Jane likes to read, but serious books. In the next lesson, the teacher unfairly punishes Helen Burns and forces her to stand in the middle of the classroom, publicly. What surprises Jane is that while she thinks about how humiliating this situation is, Helen Burns does not blush in shame without showing the expected reaction from her. Thus, it is understood that the elements that make Jane feel closer to a person are the reflections of a struggling, solid character who knows how to stand alone. No matter how hard she studies, Helen Burns is constantly punished for meaty reasons instead of being appreciated more than her teachers. In fact, this is because Helen Burns is not content with the scarce information given to her, but her desire to learn more, producing her own thoughts, especially on the subject of faith and God. These make her different from other girls.[source](http://www.mevzuedebiyat.com/jane-eyre-uzerine/)
The main purpose of Helen Burns' disorganization constantly punished and forcing her to be clean and neat is to try to somehow penetrate the defended inner castle and the spiritual world, to detach independent thoughts from where they germinated and to bring the spiritual world under the control of authority. This system, in which not only Helen Burns, but all the girls in the school are forced to follow certain rules of order and educated, is based on the vicious circle of routine surrounding the inner castle and ultimately destroy it. Even if Helen Burns holds a bird with her mouth, she cannot be of any use to anyone because of her difference. Thus, the absence of the submission and sweetness that a girl should have in girls like Helen Burns and Jane causes them to be unwelcome and punished by the authority because of their differences.
At the top of these authority figures is the owner of the school, Mr. Brocklehurst. He asks all the girls in the class to turn their backs while he is supervising the school, and his goal is to check all of their hair. Going mad with the detection of a red and curly-haired girl, Mr. Brocklehurst, with his fanatical and conservative approach to the Christian faith, begins to put forward unimaginable reasons and speeches. Thus, the head of any sign of individualization is crushed by the authority, poor and orphan girls are shaped and uniformized in a bigoted, malevolent manner. Most importantly, the "devilish" passions attributed to women are tried to be restrained from an early age, and everything they cannot control, even if this spontaneous curly hair, is destroyed.
Indeed, at Mr. Brocklehurst's school, children are also taught with hunger. In this way, girls will not surrender to the deterrence of the worldly and will learn to ignore worldly desires and condemn bodily experiences. Not only will the inner castle be destroyed by conservative education and intimidation, but when these children become adult women in the future, they will be content with the roles assigned to them and internalize the masculine discourse. But the principal of the school, Miss Temple, escapes this pressure by trying to protect the students in some way and gains the love of the students who are subjected to all the persecution Mr. Brocklehurst systematically applies at the school and the warnings of conservative teachers. As a matter of fact, Miss Temple also gets her fair share of Mr. Brocklehurst's bullying.[source](http://www.mevzuedebiyat.com/jane-eyre-uzerine/)
The domination of a woman's body not only minimizes options for her, it also prevents her from aspiring for more, no matter how solid her inner stronghold is. But Jane Eyre can't ignore her independent spirit manipulating her body and pushes the boundaries as much as possible. Jane, who sees the only way to leave Lowood as a governess, has to get permission from Mr. Because Jane, who is eighteen years old, needs her parents' permission to work in whatever job she wants (or the only remedy). In her letter, Mrs. Reed states that she can do whatever she "wishes" (p.117) by throwing Jane away from her head.
The conditions put forward to move from one slavery to another explain why the desire for freedom is indeed an impossible idea for Jane. As a matter of fact, when Jane finally arrives at Thornfield Mansion, after all her struggles, worries, and distress, the house where she will be going governess, she kneels down and prays to God because she has found a safe haven (p.127) unharmed. But for Jane, who started working at Thornfield, her monotonous days away from movement will not satisfy her desire for change. The feeling of being trapped between the walls of an enclosed space will not leave Jane behind, in the face of the triggers of the citadel, which will be fully liberated by the experiences of the body.
Another prominent theme is the uncovering of basic body motives in the axis of a female character. The female character, who tries to overcome the restrictions of space in the Victorian Age, will face the realities of her body in the most extreme stages. In this context, the passion and hunger generated by love appear as the main bodily drives in the book. What makes Jane Eyre different in this respect is that a young woman feels the wishes of her body with all her might and sees no hesitation in speaking them. [source](http://www.mevzuedebiyat.com/jane-eyre-uzerine/)
Jane has an interesting encounter at Thornfield Mansion that enlivens her monotonous days. This encounter with the master of the house, Mr. Rochester, excites him. Because he is a new face added to human profiles in his limited social environment, Mr. Rochester and his encounters are a different movement that breaks the routine. In Jane's words, "It was neither an important, neither romantic, nor interesting event." (P.151) But the excitement of this encounter illuminates Jane's world of emotion seeking change to some extent. Just like Jane, Mr. Rochester has no remarkable beauty. Moreover, he has rude attitudes, but also does not display any artificial courtesy.
Jane senses that the handsome men who gather all the beauties in her "soul (na) are not familiar in any way" and "avoids them." (P. 148) Thus, by playing with the illusion of beauty in the first place, there is a male-female love affair that destroys conventional conventions. . As a matter of fact, it is far from the male imagination that a young woman was supposed to imagine, who would pull herself out of that still life in which she was imprisoned, the description of Mr. Rochester, who does not understand politeness. Anyway, Jane's thinking about how this would happen for a night alone to leave Lowood and trying to reach her goal no matter what, disrupted the 'savior man' imagination from the very beginning.
Beyond being a flawed man with his appearance and demeanor, Mr. Rochester is also a person who has completed half of his life, unable to find peace as a result of the wrong decisions he made in his life, far from understanding, and a flawed person with his tough nature. But he tries to solve the mystery in Jane's soul and thinks if it is possible for him to start a happy life, to be a good person. The youth of Jane's age overlap with her desire to envision Mr. Rochester's remaining life as a new beginning. As a place, Jane feels breathing in Thornfield Mansion, by connecting to Mr. Rochester as her soulmate.[source](http://www.mevzuedebiyat.com/jane-eyre-uzerine/)
It was natural for them to be shocked by the love that Jane Eyre heard and did not hesitate to speak out. Young girls in the middle of the 19th century were considered to be free of such euphoric feelings. They could only glance at the men they liked - if this guy was single - from afar. Excessive feelings of love would suit adventurous women rather than gentle young girls, but… It was an inexcusable shame that the love between Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester had a physical side. ”(Pp.1157-1158),“ The couple in love in Jane Eyre, Many critics consider this book to be the first modern romance novel in English literature, since they deny all the Victorian traditions of male-female relationships ... ”
During her engagement with Mr. Rochester, Jane becomes uncomfortable with Rochester's compliments and financial promises and turns them down. In fact, Mr. Rochester's response to him, after a compliment once again, is the objection of a young woman who attaches importance to the independence of her inner castle and does not internalize the masculine discourse: “I'm not an angel! I cannot be an angel without dying… I myself, Mr. Rochester, neither expect nor ask for such heavenly things from me, because you cannot obtain; Just as I don't expect you to behave like an angel or anything. ”(p. 336)
Thus, we can say based on what Gubar and Gilbert quoted in Mad Woman in the Attic; The prototype of women in masculine writing, in which women were taken to an ethereal, inaccessible floor, drawn to an angelic appearance and endowed with virtues, created a muse, an object of desire, was satirized in Jane's meaningful words. As a matter of fact, Jane will leave Mr. Rochester, leave Thornfield Manor because she thinks she cannot act against her principles, and try to survive in a place she does not know, Whitcross.[source](http://www.mevzuedebiyat.com/jane-eyre-uzerine/)
His friendship with Mary, followed by his job as a village teacher, causes him to stay at Whitcross for a long time without hearing from Mr. Rochester. This intimacy is reinforced when Jane finds out that she is actually related to the Rivers. At this point, we should talk a little bit about St John. A character in many ways opposite to Mr Rochester, St. John is a pastor at Whitcross. But he actually wants to be a missionary and looks forward to the time he will go to India. He is quite narrow minded, restricting himself mentally and physically, and beyond tolerating all worldly things; He is someone who despises the passions, love, affection and enthusiasm that enrich the human spirit.
St. John has great ideals of spending his life in the service of God. He seeks a helper to assist him in his sacred mission, which he has determined with clear lines like his flawless facial features. So St. John's proposal to Jane is just a planned proposal that has been thoroughly thought out, options eliminated and ultimately decided to be the best candidate Jane.
St. John's insistence that there is no choice but to marry Jane to be a helper under his yoke in fulfilling his great ideal will reveal Jane's inner vicious girl who has long gone. As a matter of fact, Jane wanted to go to India, to St. She is willing to help him with John's missionary, but she cannot understand why they have to marry for that. But St. Jane will not refuse to refuse the offer, given John's insistence on marrying and accepting it as his natural right to ask for a wife to obey under his command: “But as his wife - always beside him, always under his rule - to keep the fire of my soul low, not being able to say gık while holding on to smoldering… This was unbearable. ”(p.524)
St. John repeats his offer for the last time and wraps his "arm ... as if to love (her)" (p.538) Jane to accept. In this moment of awe, such an atmosphere is established that it is expected that Jane, whose last solid will is destroyed, will give her answer with a divine sign. Almost Jane will agree to marry. But the expected divine sign occurs in the form of a call of passion and love. Mr. Rochester called Jane by name three times. Jane is then shaken by the call of love, recovered and St. He'll blow John away. Now his mind idea wants to reach Mr. Rochester as soon as possible.
Thus, we can say that this ethereal moment is destroyed by the shock of the passion, the transcendent, the earthly. One of the bodily responses that Jane's spirit strives to remain independent finds in her body is hunger. Unlike the passion for the body mentioned here, Jane Eyre's experience of starvation in Whitcross before meeting the Rivers is conveyed in a much more striking and effective expression. When Jane leaves Thornfield, she goes to the farthest place she can, and she has neither a clothes nor a penny. They sleep in the steppes for about three days and two nights, although sometimes the weather is rainy and humid.
Despite all his hunger and heartlessness, he still has full faith in God; He does not refrain from praying and taking refuge in God. For Jane Eyre, God is not an absolute authority to which personality can be sacrificed. In her inner fortress, where she reaches the value of her soul and the consciousness of her desires, Jane envisions God as a being that relieves the troubles of her soul and calms the longing. Moreover, she does not get angry with the people who turned her back. Because she experienced the brutality of the conditions of the period against women in the most extreme situations.
She is aware from Thornfield that as a result of a major internal conflict between the difficulty of making her own decisions and surrendering to Mr. Rochester's will, she will get her fair share of all the constraints that the period imposes on the woman as she sets out to not lose her self-esteem. So, during these three days, miserable, hungry, exhausted and desperate, Jane wanders around the town, asking people for food and a place to sleep. It goes into situations that the masculine mentality does not suit a lady.
Ultimately, she is not an "angel", she is a young woman who is just a young woman with her strong will to make decisions about her life and her resistance to obey those decisions under any circumstances, her strong will and her inner fortress that she tried to maintain her independence in an age of collective insanity. The desires, changes and miserable conditions of the body are not ignored, as the space provides its inner freedom under all the restrictions; constitutes the strongest aspect of the text's narrative.[source](hhttp://www.mevzuedebiyat.com/jane-eyre-uzerine/)
***If you haven't read the book, you should definitely read it because;***
Jane Eyre's character firmly clung to the principle of personal freedom in both childhood and adolescence and early adulthood, never compromising the personal values that she embraced and built on solid foundations. For the longest part of his life, he had to struggle against many people and situations he encountered, because he did not have economic power and a respectable social position, and because he did not play the passive role ascribed to women in Victorian society; this gradually strengthened his will. As a matter of fact, Jane Eyre, who had a stronger principle of freedom than most women of her period, even many men, continued her determination by sacrificing her soul and emotions for this principle when necessary, and formed an unusually strong and willed female figure in Victorian literature.
Read this book and have your girls read it. Do not be afraid when they are alone, let them know that when they feel like it's all over, they won't end until they say it's over. Because of their; They do not need anyone but themselves and the strength within them, and the one who gives them that power.
**Personally, Jane became one of the female characters that I was inspired by in the literary world.**
Love,
hiveblocks