Book Review: Jane Eyre

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A novel titled Jane Eyre is a great novel written by Charlotte Bronte. She was a British writer who not only wrote novels, but also stories and books of poetry collection with her sisters. Charlotte, the third child of six children of Patrick Bronte, was born on April 21st, 1816 in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. She was growing in Victorian England era. Her mother, Maria Branwell, was dead in 1821, a year after Charlotte and her family moved to Haworth. After her mother’s death, Charlotte was sent to Cowan Bridge Clergy Daughters' School, which she described as the Lowood School in Jane Eyre novel, her first novel. Furthermore, the writing career of Charlotte is used to build her financial independence. She wrote both stories and novel by herself or duet with her sisters who also writers. The novels wrote by Charlotte are not only Jane Eyre, but also Shirley, Villette, and The Professor. Actually, Charlotte is not only a writer, but also a teacher. But, only her career as a writer could change her into a famous woman.

The writing career of Charlotte was begun in 1846. At that year, in May, the book of poetry collection of Charlotte and her sisters was published. They used their own pen names: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Besides that, she also written a novel titled The Professor. But, it had been rejected. A year after that, Jane Eyre was published and it became a bestseller novel. At that time, Charlotte was still using her pen-name, Currer Bell. She announced her true identity publicly after two years since Jane Eyre published. Besides announced her true identity, Charlotte was also write her next novel, Shirley, in the same year. Then, in 1853, she wrote Villette which elevated her reputation. On March 31st 1855, at Charlotte’s age of 38, she died with her unborn baby. Two years after her death, her novel, The Professor was finally published.

I have read a novel by Charlotte Bronte titled Jane Eyre and I think I like this novel. When the first time I read this novel, I feel like Charlotte Bronte brought me to Jane’s era. Everything feels so classics and sometimes it feels sinister. Besides that, this novel has writing style that easy to understand for student likes me. But honestly, there is a part that I do not like in this novel. I was bored with Charlotte’s long explanation about Jane’s childhood. This novel, however, is very interesting. A part that I love the most is about Jane’s love life. I think Jane’s sadness love life is represents enough about people’s love life in that time. Something important that I got from this novel is it has a moral value, that is, we should build a critical thinking likes Jane. To put it more simply, a novel titled Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a great novel that is very interesting and timeless.

Everyone, who reads a novel, must be attracted by one of the characters in the novel who acts as a protagonist character. On the other hand, if there is a protagonist character, there must be an antagonist character too who usually hated by the readers. Thus, in Jane Eyre novel, I don’t like a character named Mrs. Reed. She is the main character’s aunt, Jane. As I read this novel, she is a selfish and hard-hearted woman. She hates Jane very much and she likes to hurt her. First, Mrs. Reed allows her children to bullying Jane. Second, she also ever locks Jane in the “red-room”. Third, she tells John Eyre, her husband, that Jane has died of typhus fever at Lowood School. Here, I think she hated Jane because her husband loves Jane more than all of his biological children. But, for me, she is not uses her logic well. She should still loving Jane and not to be jealous of her because Jane has already lost her parents. So, that is why I dislike Mrs. Reed character in Jane Eyre novel.

As a great novel, Jane Eyre has a lot of lessons and moral values for the reader. So, the reader, in this case is me, can take some lessons from Jane’s life. Here, the experiences and thoughts of the main character, Jane, are inspiring. Jane inspires me to be ‘the real of myself’ by build a critical thinking and struggle to get everything that I want. However, she makes me realize that is not all of dreams can come true. It is like even though Jane was very in love with Mr. Rochester, she chose to leave him after she found out about Bertha. She also teaches me to not justice a person easily. This is one kind of great lesson that I get from this novel for me, because I even feel that Jane never justice a person in this novel. Besides Jane, I can take some lessons from another character named Saint John Rivers. For me, he is a saint-like figure of the novel. He is truly stood by his ideals and strived to please God. So, that is all the lessons that I get from Jane Eyre.