Each place has a particular and different topographical location, the place names indicating stages of the pilgrimage:
Gateshead – the beginning
Lowood – low wood – a low point for Jane and one where vision and progress is hampered.
Thornfield – a place of difficulty and trial
Moor House – the wide open place suggestive of freedom/spaciousness
Ferndean – suggestive of green-ness and fertility, therefore fulfilment & creativity
The action takes place in and around a particular house or other building
Each move marks a stage in Jane's fortunes, development and sense of her own identity
The places are therefore related to the novel's thematic content.
Gateshead (Chapters 1- 4: Volume 1, Chapters 1-4)
Gateshead, the house belonging to her mother's older brother, is supposedly Jane's home after she is orphaned, but after the death of her uncle the atmosphere changes:
Both her aunt and her cousins are able to express their resentment at Jane's presence
She is constantly reminded of her dependent status and the inconvenience to which she puts the family
She is excluded from family belonging
The Reeds' model of the family is in any case undesirable, combining indulgence of the children's whims and vanities with obedience to the mother's will and shot through with bullying, jealousy and spite
Jane's troubles are intensified because she is a convenient victim of the family's problems
She fails to conform to expectations of feminine and childlike behaviour by thinking for herself and being outspoken and defiant
She suffers from physical bullying when John attacks her and psychological cruelty when she is locked in the Red Room
As a result she develops a strong sense of fairness and a powerful reaction to injustice
She finds consolation in reading and the exercise of her imagination.
Investigating Gateshead (Chapters 1- 4: Volume 1, Chapters 1-4)
Re-read the passage in Chapter 1 from ‘A small breakfast-room' to ‘Henry Earl of Moreland'. Makes notes on:
What we learn about Jane's taste in reading
What this tells you about her feelings about life at Gateshead
Re-read Chapter 2. Makes notes on:
The appearance of the Red Room
The associations the Red Room arouses in Jane's mind
Lowood School (Chapters 5-10; Volume 1, Chapters 5-10)
At first, Jane's experience at Lowood is a continuation of her treatment by the Reeds, with the added physical discomforts of cold and hunger and the application of a harsh and narrowly doctrinaire form of Christianity:
Once again, Jane finds herself reminded of her dependent status
She is branded a liar in front of the whole school
Brocklehurst does all he can to suppress the natural in the girls – whether it be their curly hair or their personalities.
On the other hand, there are some compensations in life at Lowood:
However briefly, Jane enjoys the companionship of Helen Burns
Conditions at the school improve after the outbreak of typhus and the reduced influence of Brocklehurst
Jane becomes friends with Miss Temple, whose teaching, personality and intellectual quality help in the formation of Jane's own character and intellect.
Once Miss Temple has left, however, Jane becomes restless and feels that Lowood is a prison. She now feels ready to encounter a wider world.
Investigate!
Closely read chapters 5, 6 and 7
Make notes on the atmosphere and physical privations of Lowood School.
How do Brocklehurst's religious beliefs affect life at the school?
How does the narrative suggest that his influence on the school may be harmful?
What is the cause of Jane's restlessness in Chapter 10?
What does it tell us about her character?
Thornfield Hall (Chapters 11-27; Volume 1, Chapters 11-Volume 3, Chapter 1)
Jane's arrival at Thornfield Hall marks the beginning of a kind of independence:
She makes her own decision to leave the safety and security of Lowood, where she has been happy for ten years
She obtains a post on the basis of her abilities and experience
She displays courage and determination in travelling to take up a post in a distant and unknown location.
From the time of her arrival, Jane feels that Thornfield is full of mystery:
