Theme Of Irony In Jane Eyre

In Thomas Foster’s book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, chapter 26 is dedicated to irony in literature. In this chapter, he explains ironic mode: characters who have “a lower degree of autonomy, self-determination, or free will than ourselves”, as well as what irony primarily involves, “a deflection from expectation” (Foster 253-257). Although Jane Eyre does not employ ironic mode, it does use immense amounts of irony. One of the types of irony Foster touched upon was irony with symbols. Symbolic irony is where “[t]he signified’s meaning stands opposed to what we expect” (Foster 256). In Jane Eyre, there are a couple instances of this. During chapter six, we meet Helen Burns. The name authors give to characters are oftentimes symbolic and reflect that character 's personality. In Helen’s case, we hear the word ‘burns’ and assume she would be a fiery, strong willed, rebellious character, but that is not the case. Helen is quite the opposite; she is a quiet, respectful, demure girl. Later in chapter nine, Jane describes the time of year as, “a bright serene May it was; days of blue sky, placid sunshine, and soft western or southern gales filled up its duration” (Bronte 57). Spring symbolizes rejuvenation and new life and the seasons of a story often coincide with the mood and plot to emphasis these elements. However, although it was blossoming and thriving outside, ironically Lowood school was filled with sickness and death at this time due to typhus having