How Does Bronte Make You Feel Sympathy For Jane Eyre? Essay

This story is written in a first person narrative, so it helps us sympathize with Jane as you share her thoughts and feelings. Jane was an orphan. Her maternal uncle looked after her, but later died. She then lives with her Aunt Mrs. Reed and her three cousins. (Mrs. Reed is Jane’s uncle’s widow.) There is a lack of relationship in the family in which she now lives in. Mrs. Reed made a promise, on Jane’s’ uncles’ deathbed that she would look after Jane, but because they weren’t maternally related there was no love and warmth from them. Bronte first makes you sympathize for Jane as she is sent to the Red Room, where her maternal uncle died, as a punishment, for retaliating to John, as he hit her. Despite her injury, her aunt has no sympathy for Jane. All the blame gets put on Jane and her cousin John gets away unpunished. This shows favoritism making you sympathize with Jane as she is bullied and blamed. Jane is a young girl, terrified by the Red Room, because of the death of her uncle; † I resisted all the way.† This shows that Jane does not want to go there and will do anything not to go there, as she acts out of character, by kicking and screaming. This makes you sympathize for Jane as I seems as if she is being tortured and punished for a mild offence. She also makes you sympathize with Jane as she has to call her cousin â€Å"Master,† and she is described as † Less than a servant.† This shows that Jane has no status in the house and is not respected or loved by anyone in there making you feel sorry for her as she is only a little girl. Miss Abbott is the head servant of the house. She talks about Jane in her face, as if she is not there, â€Å"She is an underhand little thing.† This is degrading Jane, calling her sly and showing no compassion for her what so ever. This again shows Jane has no status in the house as she is being described as a â€Å"Thing† by a servant, making us sympathize for her. Bessie on the other hand, who is also a servant, tries to sympathize with Jane, and sticks up for her, but, she still treats Jane as a low status person. † If you don’t sit still, you will have to be tied down.† Although she is only warning Jane of the consequences, she is treating her like an animal, â€Å"Tied down.†