Feeling

1.1 Jane’s Life Journey

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte was a story about a special and unreserved woman who has been exposed to a hostile enviroment but continuously and fearlessly strugling for her ideal life. Brought up by her aunt Mrs. Reed at Gateshead until 10 and went to an orphan school at Lowood, where Jane still cannot be happy under the authority of  the principal. 6 years later, Jane went to Thornfield to be a governess for Mr. Rochester and with whom she fall in love. But when she found out that Mr. Rochester has been ma rried and left Thornfield. Broken and desperate, Jane met her cousin, and became rich from her uncle’s heritage. At the end she met Mr. Rochester who is poor and miserable, then the lovers got married and happily live together. 

1.2 About The Author

And before preparing the paper, I wanted to know more about the author. Charlotte Bronte, after an unhappy childhood, she became a teacher which she does not like. Learning French to open a French language school but failed. Then she, and her 2 sisters started writing. First her 2 sisters finished 2 enormously applauded novels, and Jane Eyre successfully published. Charlotte Bronte afterwards finished a few other great works include Shirley, Villette, and The Professor. Jane Eyre was so famous that since its first publishing, from 1980-2011, even 27 different Chinese versions from 27 different translator(s) published in China. It is a very astonishing fact realized to me that this is a great work, which inspired me to do more research, to read by my heart, to imagine occasions about 150 years ago, and think even harder. 

Married at 38, became a widow at 38, no child, died at 39, Charlotte Bronte led not a happy life. Successful for sure, happy may not be. And, in a manner, it can be viewed as Charlotte Bronte herself struggling for “independence”, personalized as Jane Eyre. 

2. Key points--Feminism Background in China and overseas

2.1 First-wave Feminism 

The “first-wave feminism” in  In the UK and US, it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women.

2.2 Mid 20th Century

By the mid 20th century, in some European countries, women still lacked some significant rights. Feminists in these countries continued to fight for voting rights. 

2.3 Third-wave Feminism 

In the early 1990s in the USA, third-wave feminism began as a response to perceived failures of the second wave and to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave. 

2.4 Feminism in China

In today’s China, many families still prefer boys, especially in the countryside. It is still hard for women to break through the glass ceiling, which is especially low in China, and there is still a long way to go until the two genders become equal.

3. Purpose of the paper

After reading this story, I wanted to write a paper to express my feeling about the significance of female independence combining with the story. 

My observation about significance of independence for Jane Eyre in terms of a few points: 1) Class status; 2) Morality & Religion;3) Feminist; 4) Struggling to oppression; 

When I red through the work, I saw tags of personality of Jane Eyre: struggling to oppression, sensitive, solitude, kind hearted and courage for love. Also we notice that with a lot of negative facts between Jane and Mr. Rochester, all these facts did not obstruct her love, include Mr. Rochester's insane wife, and his blindness. 

Throughout Jane Eyre, Jane searches for a way to express herself as an independent person who needs help from no one, yet she also wishes to have the love and companionship of others. Often times, Jane finds that she can have independence but no one to share her life with, or she can have the love of another at the loss of her independence. Jane's entire journey is based on the goal of achieving a seamless blend between independence and love, a mixture that rarely seems to go hand in hand. 

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