Jane_Eyre_Essay

Jane Paralleled Not having a family to love you is a hard thing. Jane is in this situation of not having a family because both of her parents are dead. Also her uncle who she had gone to live with is dead. She is in a house with three other children who are very cruel to her. Her aunt who should love and care for her does not. She won’t listen to Jane’s side of the story ever if there is a scuffle which brings us to our first scene. Mrs. Reed and her children are cruel and mean to Jane. They say that she is inferior to them, and should not think of her as being on their level. This climaxes to a point when Jane decides to retaliate against the young Mr. Reed’s cruel abuse. This event brings upon her a most horrid punishment. She is sent to the red room. The red room, as described on page 21-22, is a cold and dreary place. It is said that it is rarely frequented, no fire burns there, and that maids only come rarely to clean the room. To put it simply, the red room is abandoned. This parallels Jane’s life. She feels abandoned and unwanted by the family that she was sent to live with. In fact, Mrs. Reed never intended to take care of Jane. Her husband told her that he would take care of Jane, but his death changed things. Now Mrs. Reed is stuck with a child that she has not affection for. The room also is described as a tabernacle, or a church. The room’s physical appearance reminds me of old churches in Spain. Each church was beautiful on the outside; however, it was dark and cold on the inside. In the passage, there are other descriptions that illuminate the idea that the room is like an old and abandoned churches. First, this was the room where Mr. Reed died, so like a church, the room carried a haunting thought of death. Second, the footstool that is said to look like a pale throne is symbolic of the throne that Jesus sits on next to God. Third, the crimson color of the room is also symbolic for the blood that Jesus shed. However, the similarity to a church is also full of irony. In the Bible it states that Jesus came to free the oppressed and befriend the outsider. However, in this room Jane feels even more lonely, abandoned, shunned, and hurt. Jane is a victim in this house of horror. She feels abandoned and unwanted by the family that she was sent to live with, which is very similar to the red room. That parallel between the two connects the theme in the book of Jane Eyre. Throughout the book Jane has to deal with hardship after hardship never knowing when her last problem will be. Even on one the happiest occasions of her adult life, her marriage, her veil is ripped by an evil woman. Jane has a hard time finding a nice place to live in.