Dessy Nurisya R
1102055
7A
Critical Analysis of Prose

Helen Burns’ Impact to Jane Eyre as the Protagonist Character
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a bildungsroman novel which tells about a journey of a young woman from her childhood to adulthood. Jane as the protagonist character encounters many conflicts which make her growing up strongly. Her conflict is begun after her uncle, Mr.Reed, died. She has to face a reality that she lives with her unfair aunt, Mrs.Reed, and her bossy cousin, John Reed. She gets a punishment from her aunt after fighting with her cousin. She is sent into the red-room where her uncle died. When she is in the red-room, she feels that she sees her uncle’s ghost and then she is unconscious. Mr.Lloyd suggests Mrs.Reed to send away Jane to school. Finally, Jane is sent to
Lowood
 Institution. She pals up with Helen
Burns. They become a close friend. In the novel, Helen is told briefly because she dies because of consumption but she contributes much to the rest of Jane’s life. Helen’s role and her personality influence Jane’s development as the protagonist character.
In Victorian era, girls usually
received
“little
or
no
 education
at
all”
(Wilhelm 6). They
were
sent
to
school
later
because of moral
principles
which
were assumed important to be learnt by girls. Religious education is one of the way people learn moral principles. In Lowood Institution, Jane does not only learn from a formal education. Another way to learn is through her friendship with