Jane Eyre; Charlotte Brönte

Title of the Novel:
Jane Eyre
Author:
Charlotte Brontë
The place were it is developed:
In England, mainly in Thornfield Hall (Mr. Rochester's property). In the 1800's
The body of the story (summary):
Chapter 1:
Miss Eyre arrives to Thornfield Hall, were she's received by Mrs. Fairfaz (a gentle old lady), we know that
she's going to be the governess (or teacher) of Miss Adele Varens.
Jane Eyre describes the house very big but also very dark. In this house also work other 3 persons.
Chapter 2:
In this chapter Jane Eyre discovers that Mrs. Fairfax is not the owner of Thornfield Hall, but that she is an
employee; the housekeeper.
She discovers that the owner is Mr. Rochester (who hasn't appear in the story) and that he visits the house
very rarely.
She also discovers that Adele used to live in France, but then her mother died, then she lived with a family
and finally Mr. Rochester adopts her. Mrs. Fairfax decides to show Jane all the house, when they reach one of
the top floors Jane hears a strange laugh (she thinks it's a ghost), the mystery solves when we know it's Grace
Pool's laugh.
Chapter 3:
Jane continues listening to Grace Pool's laugh, she tries to get out information about her, but Grace is a
woman of few words.
Months pass and one day, Jane has a day off (because Miss Adele had a cold) so she decides to deliver a letter
from Mrs. Fairfax. She would walk to the mail (about 2 miles) it was winter. On the road she hears the walk
of a horse (she gets frightened, because she relates it with a horror story named Gytrash). She turns and
watches a man and a dog, they pass her, then the man fells off. They talk, she helps him. At the end of this
chapter we know that man is Mr. Rochester.
Chapter 4:
Mr. Rochester's leg is injured (due to the horse fall). Adele and Jane have to leave the library and reinstall in
another room to study to leave there Mr. Rochester.
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As soon as he arrived Thornfield Hall, the place was more vivid.
At night, Mr. Rochester, Jane, Miss Adele and Mrs. Fairfax get together.
Jane and Mr. Fairfax have a conversation. We know from it that: Jane has had the life of a nun, she has 18
years, she has passed 8 years in Lowood (a charity school), she doesn't remember her parents, has no brothers
or sisters, the only relative she has is an uncle.
She also plays piano and has an amazing talent for drawing (so big that Mr. Rochester can't believe that the
drawings he sees are hers). After having the chat, Jane has a very bad concept of Mr. Rochester; she considers
him changeful and abrupt. Mrs. Fairfax tries to justify this behavior by saying that it is his nature to act like
that and that nature can't be changed. She also says her that since the death of Mr. Rochester's brother he
changed very much.
Chapter 5:
This chapter again is mostly about a conversation held between Jane and Mr. Rochester, at the end of the
chapter Mr. Rochester admits his faults and is very happy to emend all of his past mistakes, he would be a
new man. He considers Jane as an equal and asks her to forget he's her employer.
Special events that are happening to make the reader be interested in:
All this story has something mysterious, I think there's a ghost in the house, that really kept me interested.
Another thing that also kept me interested is the relationship between Mr. Rochester and Jane. And generally,
to be reading how was the life in the house; dark, silent, boring.
Some parts of the story are bad like in the last chapter, for example, when just by a little chat with Jane Mr.
Rochester decides to change completely his life and be a new man (the weird thing is that Jane speaks no
more than 6 lines and bam! He's a new man).
CHAPTER 6.
At the beginning of this chapter, Jane knows more about Mr. Rochester's wicked life (Mr. Rochester had
traveled a lot through Europe).
As time passes, Jane feels attracted to Mr. Rochester.
One night she can't sleep, she hears things (knocks, laughs, etc) until two in the morning.
She starts to smell something burning, she wakes up from her bed and locates the fire that is around Mr.
Rochester's bed.
She manages to put out the fire and then wake up Mr. Rochester.
Mr. Rochester goes to the third floor to research about the fire. Jane Eyre thinks Grace Poole started the fire.
Mr. Rochester asks Jane not to speak a word about the fire. At the end of the chapter, Mr. Rochester is in great
debt with Jane for having saved his live.
CHAPTER 7:
The next day after the fire, Jane wants to talk to Mr. Rochester.
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She hears the servants speaking of the fire and she acts as if she didn't knew anything.
She meets Grace Pool and she wants to get information from her. She talks and asks her about the night
before, but Grace appears to be very calmed and smooth, this disconcerts Jane.
Jane can't understand why Mr. Rochester didn't fire Grace.
She waits all the evening to Mr. Rochester, but on tea time, Mrs. Fairfax tells her that he departed to the Leas
(a property of Mr. Eshton, friend of Mr. Rochester).
Mrs. Fairfax tells Jane about the parties held among Mr. Rochester's social circle. She tells her about the
ladies and one in particular, who is very beautiful and talented; Miss Ingram.
At the end of the chapter Jane realizes in her mind that, compared to Miss Ingram she's nothing and that Mr.
Rochester will never pay attention to her.
CHAPTER 8:
Mr. Rochester has been away for two weeks. Mrs. Fairfax receives a letter announcing that Mr. Rochester will
arrive Thornfield Hall in three days accompanied by some guests. Thornfield Hall gets a cleaning and the
rooms are set.
Finally the day arrives. Jane is invited with Miss Adele to join the group after the dinner.
First she analyzes the ladies (Miss Eshton, her two daughters, Lady Lim, Mrs. Dent, Lady Ingram and her
daughters; Blanche and Mary)
She's specially interested in Blanche Ingram. Then, the gentlemen joined them at the drawing hall. The
conversation was about governess. Mr. Rochester's friends considered them worthless creatures.
Finally Blanche Ingram seats at the piano and talks about men. She says men shouldn't be worried about
beauty, and that they should care more about courage and strength.
She sings with Mr. Rochester who has a beautiful voice.
Jane leaves the Hall before Mr. Rochester ends his song. He catches her on a corridor, ands asks why she's
unhappy. She doesn't answer. He will find out.
Special events that are happening to make the reader be interested in:
The story still has it's mystery. I believe there's a ghost in the house, and that he started the fire. Because it's
very mysterious that Mr. Rochester did not fired Grace Pool.
Jane and Mr. Rochester's relationship is growing.
So far, I'm not liking the story, because it appears to be leading to the same (Mr. Rochester and Jane will fall
in love, blah, blah, blah). If it has nothing else to give I think it's a waste of time. It's like watching a soap
opera.
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