Jane Eyre Volume 1 Revisited
volume one reading guide: chapters 1-15
Welcome to Reading Revisited, a place for friends to enjoy some good old-fashioned book chat while revisiting the truth, beauty, and goodness we’ve found in our favorite books.
Happy Autumn, readers!
I hope that you are enjoying Jane Eyre and that she’s giving you all the fall vibes we hope for this time of year. This novel feels autumnal for many reasons, not least of which is the strong atmosphere and some pretty spooky vibes (I’m looking at you, “Grace Poole”). There’s also this autumnal sense that comes from the form of the novel. This is a coming-of-age story, a “bildungsroman” as the Important Literary Folks would say. We are offered the story as a “looking-back”, from an older, wiser, benefitted-by-hindsight Jane, and it seems that the Autumn, harvest time, is just the season for such a looking-back and reaping what we have sown.
Last week we did a quick run-down on features of the Gothic novel and I mentioned a few things we should be looking for, so let’s do a quick check-in and see if this section fits the criteria…
Spooky old house?
“It [Thornfield] was three stories high…battlements round the top gave it a picturesque look. Its grey front stood out well from the background of a rookery, whose cawing tenants were now on the wing…Farther off were hills: not so lofty as those round Lowood, nor so craggy, nor so like barriers of separation from the living world; but yet quiet and lonely hills enough, and seeming to embrace Thornfield with a seclusion I had not expected to find existent so near the stirring locality of Millcote” (vol 1, ch 11).
Bad weather?
How about this unforgettable opening line:
"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.” And later, “the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question” (vol 1, ch 1).
Also, let’s recall the scene in chapter eight, after Jane’s humiliation by Mr. Brocklehurst. Jane, being comforted by Helen, is comforted by the arrival of Miss Temple. Notice how the weather outside is often a mirror of the interior world:
“We had not sat long thus, when another person came in. Some heavy clouds, swept from the sky by a rising wind, had left the moon bare.” (vol 1, ch 8)
Intense emotions/internal turmoil
Jane’s intense passion and strong imagination are well on display in this section. On describing her first day at Lowood, she says:
“Probably, if I had lately left a good home and kind parents, this would have ben the hour when I should have most keenly regretted the separation: the wind would then have saddened my heart; this obscure chaos would have disturbed my peace: as it was I derived from both a strange excitement, and reckless and feverish, I wished the wind to howl more wildly, the gloom to deepen to darkness, and the confusion to rise to clamour.” (vol 1, ch 6).
(we see here, again, the external world as a mirror of Jane’s internal world)
Later, in considering her shame after Mr. Brocklehurst’s punishment, she says:
“here I lay again crushed and trodden on: and could I ever rise more? “Never,” I thought; and ardently I wished to die.” (vol 1, ch 8).
Damsel in distress?
I mean, the first five chapters of this volume could rightly be subtitled: Jane in Distress.
I also love that we see Charlotte Brontë playing with this tradition in the relationship between Jane and Rochester. Not only does she “rescue” him at their first meeting, she also does so yet again at the end of volume one. I’m watching to see how this dynamic plays out going forward in the novel.
Deceptive appearances?
How about Mr. Rochester hiding his identity from Jane at their first meeting?
“You live just below — do you mean that house with the battlements?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Whose house it it?”
“Mr. Rochester’s.”
“Do you know Mr. Rochester?”
“No, I have never seen him.”
Ghost/monster?
Need we recall the chilling experience of the Red Room?
Also, we can’t forget Jane calling to mind the “gytrash” upon hearing the approach of Rochester’s horse:
“As this horse approached, and as I watched for it to appear through the dusk, I remembered certain of Bessie’s tales wherein figured a North-of-England spirit, called a “Gytrash”, which, in the form of a horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways, and sometimes came upon belated travelers, as this horse was now coming upon me.” (vol 1, ch 12).
Let’s dig in! This book has a lot to offer. My plan is to provide some quick section summaries, share a few “things to note” and perhaps end with a few questions I’m considering as we move in to next week’s section! Our podcast episode with Eleanor Bourg Nicholson provides some helpful background as we get started. She points out that a central theme of the novel is feelings vs. reason. Let’s keep that at the front of our mind as we open this first volume!
Chapters 1-5
We open with an excluded, lonely Jane being tormented by her older cousin, John. Jane’s punishment for defending herself is a solitary stint in the “Red Room” - the eerie room in which her uncle died. Jane is overcome with fear and emotion at the thought of being visited by a ghost and eventually faints. She is attended by Mr. Lloyd, local apothecary, who suggests she go to school. Mrs. Reed, eager to be rid of Jane, takes his advice and has Jane sent to Lowood, a charity school for girls, run by the puritanical Mr. Brocklehurst.
things to note:
I noticed right away, this time, a specific part of John Reed’s torment of Jane. When he enters the breakfast room in pursuit of Jane, he says:
“Where the dickens is she? Lizzy! Georgy! Joan is not here: tell mama she is run out into the rain — bad animal!” (vol 1, ch 1).
This “renaming” is subtle, but important, and has me paying attention to Jane’s perception of her own identity.
The incident of the red-room is fascinating. Not only is Brontë’s prose in that section simply brilliant, but the themes it raises are extremely significant. Note the religious language she uses to describe the room:
“A bed supported on massive pillars of mahogany…stood out like a tabernacle in the centre”
“it was in this chamber he breathed his last…since that day, a sense of dreary consecration had guarded it from frequent intrusion”
“I thought the swift-darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world.”
I also love the moment in which her mind is drawn back to stories she has heard/read:
“I began to recall what I had heard of dead men, troubled in their graves by the violation of their last wishes…”
Jane’s vivid, story-formed imagination is on display here, and will be throughout the rest of this volume, and I love the child-like progression of thoughts she has here.
Something that I love about this book, and the Brontë’s writing in general, is the way in which it serves as a mirror of my own folly and vice. So many times throughout the novel I find myself “rooting” for the wrong things. The first instance of this is in chapter four when Jane confronts Mrs. Reed.
“People think you a good woman, but you are bad; hard-hearted. You are deceitful!” (vol 1, ch 4).
A resounding, AMEN to this, and the subsequent dialogue in which Mrs. Reed realizes that Jane could sully her reputation and pretends to “play nice”…
“Jane, you are under a mistake: what is the matter with you?…Is there anything else you wish for, Jane? I assure you, I desire to be your friend.”
I believe the admittedly-overused word “gaslighting” could aptly be used here. But before we can get too excited at Jane’s victory, she recognizes her error and repents:
”Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed on swallowing…its after-flavor metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned.”
Every accusation hurled at Mrs. Reed was true, but even the child Jane had a sense that her victory was won at the expense of her duty, and that her unbridled passions had won the day.
Chapters 6-10
Jane acclimates to the extremely harsh conditions of Lowood. She befriends a kind, pious girl named Helen, who is often punished for her carelessness. Mr. Brocklehurst, on a visit to inspect the school, publicly humiliates Jane by publicly denouncing her as a liar (a charge that was suggested to him by Mrs. Reed). Jane is later vindicated by Miss Temple, the kind and motherly head teacher. Conditions at Lowood improve after a deadly bout of Typhus claims the lives of many students, including Helen. Jane remains at Lowood for eight years until Miss Temple leaves the school to marry. Jane, ready for a change, accepts a position as governess and prepares to travel to her new home.
things to note:
So much of the dialogue between Jane and Helen is worth mentioning. When Jane declares that she “could not bear” the punishment Helen received, Helen answers:
“Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.” (vol 1, ch 6).
The idea of “duty” is coming up a lot in this first volume. Definitely something we should keep our eyes out for going forward.
Also note, a few pages later in chapter six, Helen’s soliloquy about forgiveness and loving one’s enemy which closes with her affirming “another creed” (i.e universal salvation) which, interestingly, represents Brontë’s own view:1
“We are and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world: but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies…and only the spark of the spirit will remain…whence it came it will return…Surely it will never, on the contrary, be suffered to degenerate from man to fiend? No; I cannot believe that: I hold another creed…in which I delight, and to which I cling; for it extends hope to all: it makes Eternity a rest — a mighty home, not a terror and an abyss.” (vol 1, ch 6).
And one last Helen quote…this one is golden and may rightly be considered one of the central ideas of the novel:
“If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guild, you would not be without friends.” (vol 1, ch 8).
Now a brief word on Mr. Brocklehurst. He certainly fits the stereotype of the wicked schoolmaster (he actually seems quite a Dickensian character to me), but more than that, is a perfect example of the religious hypocrisy that Brontë is so good at calling out. Not only does he expect the students to endure nearly unbearable physical conditions, his obsession with their appearance is quite ridiculous. Even Miss Temple can’t keep a straight face when Brocklehurst, after being told that the hair of one student “curls naturally”, exclaims:
“Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature: I wish these girls to be the children of Grace.” (vol 1, ch 7).
Mr. Brocklehurst and Mrs. Reed are both examples of people who clearly despise those of a lower social class, and I’m curious to see how this theme continues throughout the novel. (I.e, Jane is shocked that Mrs. Fairfax, whom she believes at the time to be mistress of Thornfield, treats her as an equal.)
I’ll mention, finally, the brief, but redemptive visit of Bessie to Lowood. I love the way that Bessie’s characterization has unfolded in these sections. This visit really reminds me that what we’ve previously known of Bessie has been from the point-of-view of an older Jane recalling her feelings and thoughts towards (also very young at the time) Bessie. Bessie’s real affection for Jane is very evident here, but Bessie’s approval is clearly important to Jane. Bessie says before leaving:
“Oh, you are quite a lady, Miss Jane!” (vol 1, ch 10)
Jane recalls this moment later in the volume when she lacks confidence.
Chapters 11-15
Jane travels to Millcote to take up her post. She meets the housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax, and learns that her employer is a Mr. Rochester who is rarely at home. She gets along well with her pupil, Adele, a little French girl who is Mr. Rochester’s ward. While walking to town one afternoon, Jane stops to help a man who has been injured after a fall on his horse. The man, though he hides his true identity at the time, turns out to be Mr. Rochester. In the coming weeks, he and Jane develop a friendship - he confides in Jane about his shortcomings and even some regretted sins from his past, including an affair he had with Adele’s mother. One night Jane is awakened by an eerie laugh outside her door. She leaves her room to find smoke coming from under Mr. Rochester’s door. After dousing the fire and waking Mr. Rochester, Jane learns that the eerie laugh belongs to one of the servants, Grace Poole, who was presumably responsible for the fire.
things to note:
One small point I’ll draw out here is the fairy-tale imagery often used for Jane and her circumstances. It is ALL over this volume. At times it is subtle, like Jane sharing her bread crumbs with a hungry little robin in chapter four. Other times the fairy-tale themes are shouted loud and clear, like in chapter thirteen when Mr. Rochester recounts their first meeting:
“When you came on m in Hay Lane last night, I thought unaccountably of fairy tales, and had half a mind to demand whether you had bewitched my horse.” (vol 1, ch 13).
The many conversations between Jane and Rochester in this section are worth considering. Rochester has this interesting blend of openness and obscurity which adds to the mystery of his character. There’s a particular conversation in chapter fourteen that we should keep in mind as Rochester’s character continues to unfold in the coming volumes:
“Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre: remorse is the poison of life.”
“Repentance is said to be its cure, sir.”
“It is not its cure. Reformation may be its cure; and I could reform — I have the strength yet for that — if— but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may.”
“Then you will degenerate still more, sir.”
There are many things we could unpack in the budding relationship between Jane and Rochester, but I just want to point out something that I found SO brilliant in this section. Early in chapter 15, while telling the story of his love affair with Céline Varens, Rochester says to Jane:
“You never felt jealousy, did you, Miss Eyre? Of course note: I need not ask you; because you never felt love…You think all existence lapses in as quiet a flow as that in which your youth has hitherto slid away. Floating on with closed eyes and muffled ears, you neither see the rocks bristling not far off in the bed of the flood, nor hear the breakers boil at their base. But I tell you — and you may mark my words — you will come some day to a craggy pass of the channel, where the whole of life’s stream will be broken up into whirl and tumult, foam and noise: either you will be dashed to atoms on crag-points, or lifted up and borne on by some master wave into a calmer current — as I am now.” (vol 1, ch 15)
Now fast forward to the end of the same chapter. After Jane has rescued Rochester from a fiery death, he has bidden her to say nothing about the incident and gives her his warmest thanks, (my turn to swoon), and they say goodnight. Now we come to the final paragraph of the volume, not the imagery she uses here and how it takes us right back to Rochester’s words quoted above:
“I regained my couch, but never thought of sleep. Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but unique sea, where billows of trouble rolled under suggest of joy…” (vol 1, ch 15).
Questions I’m asking…
Will Jane be “renamed” again as she was by John Reed?
Why is Mr. Rochester “irrevocably denied happiness” and what is the “law” he passes to justify his motives and aims?
“I know what my aim is, what my motives are; and at this moment I pass a law, unalterable as that of the Medes and Persians, that both are right” (vol 1, ch 14).
Jane has rescued Mr. Rochester twice now…is this going to be the nature of their relationship going forward?
Finally, who is Grace Poole and what role is she going to play in the remainder of the novel?
Until next time, keep revisiting the good books that enrich your life and nourish your soul.
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Margaret Smith, ed. of the Oxford World’s Classics, points out that Brontë wrote in a letter to a Margaret Wooler in 1850: “I am sorry the clergy do not like the doctrine of Universal Salvation; I think it a great pity for their sakes, but surely they are not so unreasonable as to expect me to deny or suppress what I believe the truth!”
I never noticed the renaming of Jane-100% going to look for that moving forward. I’ve also been paying a lot more to the weather on this reread-I want to sit down at the end of the book and have a table of key events and their corresponding weather/natural elements to see what patterns emerge
Wow I loved reading this post. I just finished Jane Eye and I’m loving to revisit it again in depth.