Jane Eyre Victim

Living as a young woman in the nineteenth century is difficult and full of its own plights, and growing up as a mistreated orphan further enhances the struggles one would experience. Jane Eyre is about a girl growing up with those unsuitable conditions and how they affect her later in life as well. Because of the experiences she has in life, she could be seen as either a victim or survivor. Jane shows traits of both these dispositions in the book, but overall she is a survivor of all these initial events. She has been able to overcome the negative impressions left on her by the events and people she interacted with. Two characters that had a large impact on her life, Ms. Reed and Edward Rochester, give her chances to show weakness and strength

Reed is Jane’s aunt who permits her to live at Gateshead, but only under the condition that she promised her husband that she would look after Jane once he passed away. She treats Jane much worse than her other children and shows no affection towards her Jane . When Jane tries to stand up at her, she is treated worse and further isolated. For example, when Jane tries to stand up for herself and tell the truth about her fight with John, Ms. Reed punishes her without a second thought. She sends Jane to the room where her uncle passed away, knowing Jane is completely terrified of it. Jane is also able to stand up to her aunt before they are separated at Lowood. Ms. Reed tells the very religious headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane is a liar. Jane reacts by telling her she wants Ms. Reed to have no part in her life and that she will never call her aunt again. Ms. Reed had a large negative effect on Jane’s life by causing her to feel unwanted by being sent to Lowood and isolating Jane from the rest of her family. Jane is later able to face the Ms. Reed again, several years later on her deathbed. Ms. Reed asks Jane to come back to Gateshead to seek forgiveness and redemption before she passes away. She feels guilt about the way she treated Jane, but mainly for her own selfish reason that she is worried her husband will find out how badly she mistreated Jane. Jane is able to stand her ground and forgive the woman who created the awful childhood Jane endured, which took a tremendous amount of personal and emotional