“I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again as long as I live […] You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity […] People think you a good woman, but you are bad; hard-hearted. You are deceitful!” (49)
“Ere I had finished this reply, my soul began to expand, to exult, with the strangest sense of freedom, of triumph, I ever felt. It seemed as if an invisible bond had burst, and that I had struggled out into unhoped-for liberty.” (49)
In this passage, we see Jane defy her aunt, or as we would say in the 21st century, “drag” her. This stood out to me as especially significant because up until this point in literature (for the most part, I don’t want to discount any other works that may be less well-known or that I’m forgetting), we haven’t seen a female character speak her mind as bluntly, or to the extent that Jane doing in this passage. After so many years of being controlled by her aunt, Jane defies the role of women, and also children in this narrative—normally, women were supposed to stay silent and obedient, much like children.
What is interesting here is that even though Aunt Reed is a woman, most of the qualities Jane attributes to her are ones that wouldn’t have been used to describe a female: “without one bit of love or kindness,” or “you are bad, hard-hearted.” As shown in another text from this time period, Daisy Miller, women were supposed to maintain an image of being kind, gentle, and nurturing. However, Jane and her Aunt go against these traditional female roles here—but for different reasons. As mentioned previously, many of the adjectives used to describe Aunt Reed are not the typical “feminine” descriptors. Rather, Aunt Reed is taking on a more masculine, authoritarian role through her oppression and control of Jane.
In the second passage, where we hear an older Jane muse on her outburst, she seems liberated by her own actions. As a young female, Jane shows the reader her strong-willed, determined, and simply put: badass self. Whether it was meant to be a feminist statement or not, I, for one, felt that this passage would have opened up the 19th century reader to the notion that yes, school girls are capable of defending themselves too.
Great analysis. I want to connect your post to Hannah’s post “Rochester – rather raunchy!” because I think that, although you both raise different points, you both allude to something significant: that is, class and gender relations.
Whereas in Hannah’s post she talks about keeping desires separate due to the barriers between Jane and Mr. Rochester, you highlight one of the moments in Jane’s life where she has a fiery moment of passion. Here, she is not constrained by societal expectation, behaving properly and attentively to the woman “in charge” of her. Rather, she “drags” her, as you beautifully said, declaiming her emotions and stating her position. This is a significant moment because it is one of the first moments where (I believe) she begins to understand what freedom is – which is something that she has been searching for quite awhile. In connection to Hannah’s post, Jane begins to understand freedom when she realizes that putting your heart first – your passions and desires – are more important than what other people expect of you. Because when you follow your passions, that is when you are truly free. In the moment that you mentioned, that is exactly what Jane is doing: not remaining subservient or quiet, but vocal and vehement.