Jane Eyer

Summary
It is a cold, wet November afternoon when the novel opens at Gateshead, the main office of Jane Eyres relatives, the vibrating reeds. Jane and the Reed children, Eliza, John, and Georgiana sit in the drawing room. Janes aunt is irascible with her, purposely excluding her from the rest of the family, so Jane sits alone in a window seat, reading Bewicks History of British Birds.
As she gently reads, her cousin John torments her, reminding her of her precarious position within the household. As orphaned niece of Mrs. Reed, she should not be allowed to live with gentlemens children. John throws a book at Jane and she calls him a murderer and slave-driver. The two children fight, and Jane is goddamned for the quarrel. As punishment, she is banished to the red-room.
Analysis
This opening chapter sets up two of the primary themes in the novel: class conflict and gender difference. As a poor orphan living with relatives, Jane feels alienated from the rest of the Reed family, and they certainly do nothing to make her feel more than comfortable. John Reed says to Jane: You have no business to beat our books; you are a dependant, mamma says; you have no coin; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live present with gentlemans children like us . . . .



John claims the rights of the gentleman, implying that Janes family was from a lower class. She appears to survive in a no-mans land between the upper and servant classes. By calling John a murderer, slave-driver and Roman emperor, Jane emphasizes the corruption that is inherent in the ruling classes. Her class difference translates into somatogenic difference, and Jane believes that she is physically inferior to the Reed children.
Janes argument with John in any case points to the potential gender conflicts within the text. Not wholly is Jane at a disadvantage because of her class status, but her position as female leaves her vulnerable to the rules of a patriarchal tyrant. John is an over-indulged only son, described by Jane...If you want to get a secure essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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