{"id":203,"date":"2017-03-03T19:58:01","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T19:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=203"},"modified":"2020-08-31T20:39:01","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T20:39:01","slug":"jane-eyres-doll-an-effigy-of-her-fragile-self-esteem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2017\/03\/03\/jane-eyres-doll-an-effigy-of-her-fragile-self-esteem\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Eyre\u2019s Doll\u2014An Effigy of Her Fragile Self-Esteem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c To this crib I always took my doll; human beings must love something, and in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow.\u00a0 It puzzles me now to remember with what absurd sincerity I doted on this little toy; half-fancying it alive and capable of sensation, I could not sleep unless it was folded in my night-gown; and when it lay there safe and warm, I was comparatively happy, believing it to be happy likewise.\u201d (Bront\u00eb 43)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Upon first reading Jane Eyre<\/em>, the motivations of the titular character appear to be a mystery to the reader.\u00a0 What does Jane want?\u00a0 Why is she telling us this story?\u00a0 This passage from her childhood provides a brief moment of clarity in terms of how she regards herself.\u00a0 Like many of us, we can see that Jane has spent her life searching for a way to love and be loved.\u00a0 Toys are a way for children to love when they are alone. This passage demonstrates the influence of Jane’s doll on her interpersonal development, especially as it relates to her own self-esteem.<\/p>\n

The most significant part of this passage lies in Jane telling us, the reader, that \u201chuman beings must love something\u201d (Bront\u00eb 43).\u00a0 She does not say she must, or some must, but human beings <\/em>must, making this an extending belief of hers.\u00a0 We know she still holds this belief as she says that she \u201cremembers\u201d how she doted on her doll, showing reflection on the past but also distancing her from her past self.\u00a0 The other people who surrounded Jane in Gateshead Hall (Bessie, the Reeds, etc.) were less worthy of love than her doll.\u00a0 Given Jane\u2019s troubled childhood past, her doll was the only object worthy for her to love.\u00a0 However, she seems to make fun of this, for loving a doll so \u201cshabby as a miniature scarecrow\u201d (Bront\u00eb 43). This seems to ridicule her own starved emotions, showing a distinct lack of self-compassion.\u00a0 Even though Jane says that humans must love something, she then deems her sincerity toward her doll absurd, as if contradicting what she had just said.\u00a0 This makes Jane come across as quite conflicted, self-critical, and unsure of the sense of her own values.\u00a0 Thus, even if what she says is true, she still doesn\u2019t fully trust herself. \u00a0Jane is always present, but considers there to be \u201cworthier objects of affection\u201d (Bront\u00eb 43).\u00a0 This seems to indicate that Jane does not love herself.<\/p>\n

We see further significations of Jane’s destructive lack of self-esteem.\u00a0 Helen Burns assures to young Jane that \u201cif all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends\u201d (Bront\u00eb 80).\u00a0 Helen could be evoking the spiritual realm, but it also seems to suggest that Jane needs to be capable of being her own friend.\u00a0 In fact, she is the only friend she can always rely on.\u00a0 Jane dislikes herself and thinks very little of herself, which is frequently conveyed through her narration.\u00a0 At one point Jane calls her present self \u201ca defective being, with many faults and few redeeming points\u201d (Bront\u00eb 88).\u00a0 Even when she shows Mr. Rochester her paintings, she says they are \u201cnothing wonderful\u201d (Bront\u00eb 132), yet goes on to describe them in extreme detail.\u00a0 Here we see Jane Eyre is inconsistent in her values, in her narration, and in her own self-worth.\u00a0 What does all this mean?<\/p>\n

It seems to show that the present Jane still has a great deal of growth left to do.\u00a0 Rather than recounting to us some exciting tale or a story of how she arrived where she is, she still seems to be narrating in the rut she started in.\u00a0 Jane does finally express her need to love (as she did for her doll) to Mr. Rochester (Bront\u00eb 278), but little change appears to come over the narrator\u2019s own view of self.\u00a0 As I continue reading Jane Eyre, I will be paying very close attention to see if there is any progression, not only in Jane Eyre the character but in her as the narrator.\u00a0 She seems to have very conflicted beliefs regarding her own self-esteem, going all the way back to her love for her doll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c To this crib I always took my doll; human beings must love something, and in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow.\u00a0 It puzzles me now to remember with what absurd sincerity I doted on … Continue reading Jane Eyre\u2019s Doll\u2014An Effigy of Her Fragile Self-Esteem<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138876,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2017","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}