Lecture Ten Objectives: teaching the students what is realism in Literature Assignment: how is Jane Eyre a realistic novel? Link: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/Eyre/summary.html

Jane Eyre as a realistic novel:

The novel is a realistic one The novel is a realistic one. The most outstanding piece of realism in this novel is the treatment of the theme of childhood. The manner in which the ten-year-old Jane Eyre's sufferings and secret thoughts have been described in the opening chapters of the novel is remarkable. 3

The description of the conditions, under which the orphan girls live and study in the charity-school called Lowood school, is also remarkable for its realism. Also the realistic portrayal of characters is striking. Like Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte excels in her realistic portrayal of characters. 4

Another literary technique Bronte uses in this novel that adds to its realism, is the stream of consciousness. It is an introspective novel as it contains a large number of psychological passages in which the heroine reveals to her readers what is going inside her mind; the inner working of her mind. 5

There is a plenty of outward-inward actions as the heroine is an introvert who always meditates upon what is happening to her and to others. She is certainly a dynamic woman who can take initiatives; but still she is a thinking woman. Her thoughts and reflections are given to readers at every stage of her career. 6

At Gateshead-hall, her thoughts of her own misery have been depicted in detail. Her sense of victory when she has spoken to her aunt Mrs. Reed is emphasized when she says "I was left there alone; winner of the field. It was the hardest battle I had fought, and the first victory I have gained." 7

Jane Eyre as a Victorian heroine 8

There is no doubt that Jane Eyre is an intelligent woman, more than ordinary common women. She is portrayed as a different woman from her age; Victorian age, which gives her a distinctive nature. She refuses her appointed position in Victorian society, creating a different distinctive position for herself. 9

Jane succeeded in developing herself and changing her social status from a poor homeless orphan into a decent superior woman, married to a man who belongs to a high social class. 10