Brave New World- Helmholtz Watson

Helmholtz Watson, a handsome, intellectual man, serves as a foil to Bernard Marx, an man isolated from society because of his small size.  Both Helmholtz and Bernard are disappointed with society for different reasons.  Helmholtz is dissatisfied with the superficiality of the World State culture while Bernard is displeased with the way he doesn't fit in.  Helmholtz also recognizes that his writing talents are going to waste on the hypnopaedic phrases he is forced to write; he feels that the morals of the World State are too shallow to write anything meaningful about (Huxley 158).

Helmholtz can also be a identified as a foil to John.  There are many similarities between them, such as their mutual love of poetry and intense dissatisfaction with the World State, but Helmholtz is still not able to completely understand him because of the massive differences between their cultures.  This is shown through John's reading of Romeo and Juliet.  Although Helmholtz admires Shakespeare's writing, he still finds the idea of marriage and family absurd because this is what he is conditioned to think (Huxley 128).  Even though Helmholtz is probably one of the most intelligent people of the World State, he still is unable to completely relate to John, who believes in the principles of monogamy and families.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Brave New World- Bernard Marx

Bernard Marx is one of the few characters in the society which Brave New World describes who still has some human emotion left.  Though he desires to belong in the World State society, he often criticizes it because he feels like an outcast.  In the beginning of the book Huxley says about Bernard, "the mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects."  (Huxley 44)  When we first meet Bernard he is inwardly criticizing two men for talking about a woman as if she were a piece of "meat" (Huxley 34), but as we soon come to find out, he is really just intensely jealous of these men because he was born smaller than the rest of his caste and unfortunately, height is a sign of class in this society.  Bernard is angry because these men are able to have any woman they want while he is constantly rejected in a society where sexual promiscuity is easily achieved and encouraged.

After Bernard meets John and returns from the Reservation with him, we see a huge change in his character.  He uses John as a tool to become more popular and he now does all the things that he formerly ridiculed the other men for doing, including being promiscuous in sex.  Bernard even abandons his friend Helmholtz in his rise in popularity when he reacted negatively to his bragging about having six girls in one week. (Huxley 107)  Overall, Bernard is proven to be a hypocritical man who criticizes people for accepting the moral code of society but later accepts it himself when he is no longer an outcast.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Brave New World- Question #7 Engaging Techniques

The author of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, uses satire and irony to engage the audience.  Huxley uses satire, a technique used to criticize something within a literary work, to criticize the materialistic attitudes that were common both in his time and in ours.  The World State, the dystopia which Huxley describes, is an extreme version of a consumer society, in which everything a citizen does is done in favor of the economy.  For example, because the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Center conditions every infant, they are able to determine each individual's interests so they can predict which products these citizens will buy in the future (Huxley 17).  This results in complete control over consumption and the economy.

Irony is also used throughout Brave New World because the reader knows things that most of the characters don't.  The citizens of the World State are not told anything that is not necessary for their work.  "For particulars, as every one knows, make for virtue and happiness; generalities are intellectually necessary evils.  Not philosophers but fretsawyers and stamp collectors compose the backbone of society." (Huxley 5)  This quote shows that the government does not want its people to be aware of any 'particulars' because they don't want their people to think about society since this may lead to the desire to change it.  For example, readers are aware of Christianity while the World State's citizens are completely clueless as to what that is.  Instead they are forced to practice a meaningless religion in which they praise Henry Ford and have no morals or values (Huxley 37).


Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Brave New World- Question #6 Why do we still read this book?

Brave New World is still read today because it depicts a controversial society that could either be described as a dystopia or utopia depending on the reader; the citizens are all happy, but does that really mean anything if it means they must sacrifice their individuality and free will as the price?

Readers can get several messages from this book.  The main message is telling us not to let anyone take control of our lives.  In this book the citizens of the World State are under the complete control of the government; they have no opinions of their own, and their morals and values are all determined by what kind of hypnopaedic phrases are fed into their brains by night (Huxley 20), but we have the power to exercise our own free will and believe in whatever we want to.  

Another reason this book is considered timeless is because it is easy to identify with the main character John.  Readers feel sorry for him because he is the most human character in this novel and he is being forced to live in a society where human nature has been removed from its citizens through conditioning and hypnopaedia.  His circumstances are even more piteous because even in the Reservation where the people aren't conditioned to have all human emotions destroyed he still doesn't fit in because of his white skin (Huxley 79).


Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Brave New World- Question #5 Setting

The novel Brave New World takes place in the fictional utopia of the World State in the year of 632 A.F., or 'In the year of Our Ford'.  This new calendar is based on the years following the production of the first Model T car (Huxley 37)  This is evidence of the warped religion worshiping Henry Ford as their god, a symbol of the value of technology in this society.  There has also evidently been a violent war called the Nine Years' war that resulted in an economic downfall and led to a society revolving around consumerism, where consumption is more important than culture or families (Huxley 36).

The people of the World State society are taught to behave in a much different way than the people of today.  Promiscuity is promoted, people are discouraged to get attached to anyone even just as a close friend, and if anyone fails to behave in this way, they are deemed anti-social and are sent away to an island against their own free will (Huxley 157).

There really aren't any social issues in the utopia that Brave New World depicts because the government has conditioned its people so well that it is almost impossible for them to be dissatisfied with society.  Even for the people that are dissatisfied with the World State, they are sent to an island away from society where they can live with people like themselves.

This book symbolizes the dangers of a government that controls all aspects of its citizens life.  It shows us that if we let our government get too powerful it could mean sacrificing our individuality and free will.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Brave New World- Question #4 Hero

The hero of Brave New World is the protagonist, John, a 'savage' from an uncivilized area of New Mexico.  John is an idealist because he always looks on things with optimism at first.  For example, when Bernard asks him to travel back to the World State with him, John quotes Shakespeare and calls it a 'brave new world.  (Huxley 95)  He doesn't think about how the citizens of the World State will react to see an uncivilized man in their society and he never doubts that he will be more accepted than at the Reservation.  Also when he meets Lenina, a beautiful 'civilized' woman from the World State, he sees her as the innocent Juliet from Shakespeare's writing, and he as Romeo, although in reality he and Lenina could never be together because they come from two different worlds and their values are completely out of sync and incompatible.  (Huxley 98)  John can also be characterized as confused, because he doesn't really belong anywhere in society; in life at the Reservation he was excluded because of his white skin and promiscuous mother, and at the World State he was seen merely as a social experiment to see how a 'savage' would react to a 'civilized' society.


John is portrayed as an outsider in society.  He doesn't fit in no matter where he goes.  For example, at the Reservation he was not allowed to participate in the Native American ritual sacrifice because of his white skin (Huxley 79).  Even his closest friend at the World State, Helmholtz, laughs at one of John's favorite plays, Romeo and Juliet (Huxley 128); by doing this, john probably felt his friend was laughing at his love for Lenina, since John often compares his love for her to that of Romeo's undying love for Juliet.


John represents humanity in a grim dystopia where humanity is threatening to be destroyed except for the 'savages' who remain in the reservations.  John keeps all the same values that humans have held so high for centuries.  In fact, John gets his ideas about what is right and wrong from reading Shakespeare.  For instance, after reading a Shakespearean passage that he related to the promiscuity of his mother Linda he realized that Linda and Pope's sexual relationship was not morally correct (Huxley 90).


John helps Helmholtz to finally stand up against the government at the end of the novel.  When john attempts to get the Deltas to rebel against taking the soma which killed his mother, Helmholtz defends him and gets himself and Bernard sent to an island which turned out to be a good thing for both of them (Huxley 157).


Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Brave New World- Question #3 Themes

Brave New World explores several themes, including the opposition between truth and happiness and the grave risks of a government with total power over its citizens.

This novel shows us that truth and happiness don't go together.  From the common use of soma in order to escape reality we can see that most citizens choose happiness over truth because that is what the government teaches them.  John's mother, Linda, for example, used soma because she was so ashamed to be coming back to civilization after giving birth to a child. (Huxley 105)  The government also puts thoughts into their heads by using the hypnopaedic method.  They find that if one hears a phrase enough times while asleep, he or she will eventually recognize it as his or her own thought.  Outside of the World State, Shakespeare clouds the truth for John, making him believe that Lenina is virtuous and pure when he first meets her.  He compares her to Juliet at first (Huxley 98) but later calls her an "impudent strumpet" when she comes on to him. (Huxley 134)

From the discussion with Mustapha Mond in Chapter Sixteen, we can see the extreme power of the government through its control over the lives of the people.  For example, all old books are destroyed including Shakespeare because "beauty's attractive, and we don't want people to be attracted by old things.  We want them to like the new ones." (Huxley 152)  The World State has eliminated art as well because beauty does not help consumerism so it is deemed worthless by the consumption-based society.  By letting the government have complete control of its people, they lose their personal freedom and even the desire to attain freedom.  The people are made so happy by the satisfaction of every desire that they don't realize they are lacking freedom.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Brave New World- Question #2 Conflict

The conflict of Brave New World is between the government and human nature.  The World State government tries to suppress the strong feelings of human nature because passion causes social instability, which is one of the main flaws of past society they are attempting to change.  The World State motto is "Community, Identitiy, Stability" (Huxley 5) which conflicts with what the World Controller identifies as traits of the past society, "Family, Monogamy, Romance." (Huxley 31)  The government claims that these ideas are incompatible with each other because if citizens are passionate it could cause them to act out, possibly even against the government, which causes instability.

Instead any type of strong feelings someone may have are released through the Violent Passion Surrogate, Pregnancy Surrogate, Orgy, and soma.  The Violent Passion Surrogate simulates the feelings of fear and anger, so the people can experience the feelings of rage without causing any harm to any one or anything.  (Huxley 167)  The Pregnancy Surrogate similarly simulates the sensation of being pregnant without producing a child.  Orgy is a weekly event that all citizens attend.  This is the World State version of a religious worship session, praising Henry Ford as their god.  (Huxley 57)  Lastly, soma is a drug that citizens take to escape any negative emotion, and it is vital to make society work the way it does in this novel.  It makes life easy because it takes away all shame and allows everyone to be carefree.  All of these things represent the superficial state of happiness the citizens of the World State live in.  The fact that the government has to use chemicals on peoples' minds to maintain a stable social environment shows that they really have no limits on how controlling they can be.  By succumbing to the rules of this government the citizens are losing their humanity:  their values, morals, and even emotions.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Jane Eyre-Religion

Throughout the book, Jane encounters three people who represent different variations of religion:  Helen Burns, St. John Rivers, and Mr. Brocklehurst.

Helen Burns, Jane's childhood friend at Lowood, believes in tolerance and forgiveness for other peoples' wrongdoings above all other things.  For example, when Miss Scatcherd orders Helen to stand in the middle of the classroom as a punishment Jane describes Helen's reaction as "composed, though grave, she stood, the central mark of all eyes." (Bronte 94)  Although Jane admires Helen for her courage and tolerance, she rejects the idea of letting people treat her with inferiority and says to herself when she witnesses Miss Scatcherd punishing her, "'How can she bear it so quietly-so firmly?... Were I in her place, it seems to me I should wish the earth to open and swallow me up.'" (Bronte 94)

Mr. Brocklehurst is the cruel man who runs the Lowood school and keeps the students there under horrible conditions.  The students are served small portions of unsavory food, and they are all forced to wear their hair straight.  He even ordered a girl with naturally curly hair to have her hair cut so it was made straight, which is not Christian-like at all.  (Bronte 108)  Meanwhile, his family lives a luxurious life and benefits from the funds meant for the school.  Mr. Brocklehurst represents the hypocrisies observed by Bronte in Christianity of this time.

St. John Rivers is a self-sacrificing Christian who works for the good of others less fortunate so he will be rewarded in his afterlife.  However, he can also be described as conceited because he believes that he is so important in God's plan that he sacrifices his family and love life by constantly travelling to other countries to serve in his mission.  Jane admires him for his goodness and willingness to sacrifice so much for less fortunate people, but she cannot give up the love she has for Mr. Rochester to join him as his wife on his journey to serve God.  (Bronte 492)

Ultimately, Jane does not conform to any of the particular beliefs of these three figures, but she does not give up religion and morality either.  She still prays to God on several occasions, including when her wedding is called off because Mr. Rochester is married to another woman. (Bronte 359)

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.

Brave New World- Question #1 Values/Attitudes

The novel Brave New World reflects Aldous Huxley's wariness against the government using new and powerful technology in order to control society.  This is shown through the Bokanovsky Process, sleep-teaching or hypnopaedia, and soma.

The Bokanovsky Process is used to mass-produce identical human beings.  This is used for lower-caste citizens of the World State including the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons.  The government deprives these citizens of their individuality through not only their identical appearances but also morality and personal interests.  Conditioning is used throughout all castes to teach citizens how to behave, what kinds of things to spend money on, and to keep them from threatening the government's power.  This is done by a machine that whispers propaganda to everyone while they sleep and eventually the information is accepted as the truth after enough repetitions.  (Huxley 34)

"Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce and foamy the wild jet. The urge has but a single outlet. My love, my baby. No wonder those poor pre-moderns were mad and wicked and miserable. Their world didn’t allow them to take things easily, didn’t allow them to be sane, virtuous, happy."  (Huxley 31)  This passage shows the World State's disapproval of the previous values of society that the World State has gotten rid of entirely.  Instead of gaining happiness out of families or love, this society achieves happiness by instant gratification of every desire.  

From the contrast between John, the hero of this novel, and the citizens of the World State, we can see that Huxley values strong feelings over superficial happiness.  John tells Mustapha Mond, a World Controller on the subject, "'I don't want comfort.  I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin.'"  (Huxley 167)

Initially, the author writes from the perspective of Bernard Marx, an outcast of the World State society because of his physical appearance and height.  Later the book follows John "the Savage", who was brought back from an uncivilized part of America to the World State because he too felt like an outcast among the Native Americans as the son of a former civilized woman. (Huxley 100)

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Electronic.

Jane Eyre Question #8 Historical Events

The book Jane Eyre accurately portrays the historical events of the nineteenth century.  For example, because they were not as advanced in medicine as we are today, many people in England died of typhus.  Jane's parents and Helen Burns died of this disease, and many of the students at Lowood, where Jane attended school, died as well.  (Bronte 130)

Social inequality between men and women is a big issue in Jane Eyre.  The responsibilities between men and women are reflected through Jane's relationship to Mr. Rochester and St. John's marriage proposal to Jane.  St. John believes a wife should be like an assistant to her husband and the husband should be dominant in the relationship.  (Bronte 474)  Mr. Rochester, on the other hand, believes that a woman should be served by her husband and should not be expected to do anything in return but love him.  (Bronte 329)  The relationship between worker and employee is also represented by Jane and Mr. Rochester.  Jane is judged by Miss Fairfax initially after she tells her that Mr. Rochester, her employer, has asked her to marry her.  (Bronte 317)  It surprises her that they have fallen in love with each other because the relationship between boss and employee is usually kept professional.

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.

Jane Eyre- Question# 7 Engaging Techniques

The author of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, uses mystery and romance to keep the audience engaged.
Mystery is an important engaging technique in this novel.  Jane has several experiences that make the audience suspicious about what goes on with Grace Poole and the third floor.  It isn't until Jane's wedding day that we find out there is an insane woman living there and Grace Poole takes care of her (Bronte 354).  Bronte makes the reader believe the strange events at Thornfield are caused by Miss Poole for most of the book.  For example, when Jane saves Mr. Rochester from his bed that was set on fire (Bronte 170) she suspects that Grace Poole was the culprit, but she later discovers the truth that Mr. Rochester's insane wife Bertha Mason attempted to kill him.
The romance between Jane and Mr.Rochester is also used as an engaging technique.  It is suspenseful because the audience isn't sure if they will end up together since there are so many obstacles in the way of their marriage. For example, Jane says "though rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him," (Bronte 230) showing that although according to society they shouldn't be together, she believes they are the same and therefore belong together.

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.

Jane Eyre Question# 6 Timeless Message/ Characters

Jane Eyre has been a popularly read book since its debut in the 1800s.  It is still read today because there is a lot we can learn from it and it inspires people to be more like Jane Eyre, who treats people fairly and lives a life of purity, even when the temptation to do otherwise is overwhelming.

The message of this book is timeless because no matter what time period you live in, you will always be faced with temptation in your life to do something immoral in order to achieve happiness, but if you are strong enough, like Jane, to pull through and not give in to the temptation, you can make it through almost anything. 

Jane is a timeless character because she is unique.  She is a brave and strong woman, especially for a woman in the nineteenth century, because during this time period women were expected to be submissive to men and never disagree with them.  After speaking her mind to St. John Rivers, Jane tells the reader,"He had not imagined that a woman would dare to speak so to a man.  For me, I felt at home in this sort of discourse." (Bronte 444)  

From this book, we can learn how to balance our actions between things done out of passion, and things done out of principle.  Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers represent the two extremes of this.  Many of the things Mr. Rochester has done are based on passion.  For example, the many mistresses of his past life were results of passion, and he married Jane out of his undying passion for her.  St. John, on the other hand, always acts on principle.  Although he is supposedly in love with Rosamond, (Bronte 443) he still asks Jane to marry him because he believes it will please God. (Bronte 476)  

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.

  

Jane Eyre- Question #5 Setting

Jane Eyre takes place in England in the nineteenth century.  During this time, women were treated far differently than men.  There weren't as many jobs available for women.  The most acceptable choices for a woman in Jane's position were to become a governess, teacher, or a housewife.  This is probably why Jane almost agreed to become a missionary's wife when St. John asked; (Bronte 491-492) it would be a chance to do something beyond the limits of a woman's work in those days.

Women were also expected to behave in a different way than men during this time period.  In the book Bronte says on the matter, "Women are supposed to be very calm generally; but women feel just as men feel... they suffer from too rigid a restraint... precisely as men would suffer...It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them; if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex." (159)  Throughout the book I noticed how important it was for a woman to be educated and have talents such as playing the piano or painting to gain respect from anyone. For instance, Blanche Ingram was considered to be a very desirable bride because of her beauty and talents.

It was also much more common in this time period to marry someone for money or rank.  For example, Jane did not look down upon Mr. Rochester when she believed he was going to marry Miss Ingram for her social status because she knew it was not an uncommon purpose for marriage in his social class.  (Bronte 240)

This novel represents the gender roles and social classes of society in the nineteenth century.  It disagrees with the ideas of how a woman should behave, and expresses that the wealthy and poor should not be separated from each other.

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.

Jane Eyre- Question # 4 Hero

Jane Eyre is a hero in many ways.  She is passionate, though she doesn't let this have complete influence over her actions if she feels she is doing something immoral or wrong; she shows this when she flees Thornfield Hall because she discovers Mr. Rochester is already married.  Instead of letting the temptation to live with and become a mistress to Rochester, she leaves him.  (Bronte 382-383)

Jane is also consistently faithful and generous throughout the novel.  Her generosity is shown when the news is revealed to her that she has inherited a fortune from her uncle.  She doesn't receive this news very happily until St. John tells her that she and the Rivers siblings are actually cousins.  This makes her happy because it gives her the idea to split up the twenty thousand pounds she'd inherited among the four individuals so they could become a family at the Moor House. (Bronte 452-456)

Lastly, Jane is independent, original, and opinionated.  She proves her independence in telling Mr. Rochester, "I  am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you." (Bronte 313)

After a life full of struggles, Jane achieves a life of blissfulness with her true love Mr. Rochester with a clean conscious.  Because she didn't give into temptation and live with him before his current wife was dead or accept the marriage proposal of her cousin, St. John, neither of which would have been moral in accordance to her principles, she may now live a happy life with her beloved husband.

I think that Jane represents the idea of goodness, because she always acts on principle and she tries to help people.  She often serves people throughout the book; for example, when Mrs. Reed was seriously ill, Jane tried to comfort her as she was dying while her own daughters just sat around waiting for their mother to die.  (Bronte 288)

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.

Jane Eyre- Question #3 Themes

In the book Jane Eyre, there are many recurring themes.  The main theme of this novel is external beauty versus internal beauty.

Throughout the book we repeatedly see people beautiful on the outside but inside they have ugly qualities.  Blanche Ingram is a beautiful woman but she repeatedly treats Jane and Adele like inferiors because she is self-centered and arrogant.  Jane Eyre, the main character, is described as a plain woman, but has pleasant qualities that make her a beautiful person in the eyes of Mr. Rochester.  Because Mr. Rochester prefers Jane over the beautiful but snobby Miss Ingram, it is apparent that he cares more about personality than appearance.  

Even as a child Jane was treated differently because of her appearance. This passage from the novel reflects how she was treated with inequality to the other children of the Gatehead house:

Bessie, when she heard this narrative, sighed and said, "Poor Miss Jane is to be pitied, too, Abbot.""Yes," responded Abbot, "if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that."
"Not a great deal, to be sure," agreed Bessie: "at any rate a beauty like Miss Georgiana would be more moving in the same condition."
"Yes, I dote on Miss Georgiana!" cried the fervent Abbot. "Little darling! – with her long curls and her blue eyes, and such a sweet colour as she has; just as if she were painted!"  (Bronte 66)

Mr. Rochester, like Jane, is also generally not considered attractive to most people; Jane loves him still because he is a good person and has an original personality.  Even after he is blind and crippled at the end of the book, Jane marries him and they become even closer as Jane helps Mr. Rochester in his poor condition. (Bronte 526)

The author clearly shows an understanding that sometimes looks can be deceiving.  In Jane's case, her appearance is plain but once you get to know her she is truly a brave, opinionated person who generally is not afraid to say what she is feeling.

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.

Jane Eyre- Question #2 Conflict

The main conflict in Jane Eyre is that Jane is unable to act upon her feelings for Mr. Rochester due to principles which she firmly believes in.      

While employed under Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall, Jane and her master share evening discussions and soon develop a close friendship.  It is clear that Mr. Rochester is interested in Jane, but it is unclear whether he loves her in the way that she soon begins to love him.  When Mr. Rochester brings home a beautiful yet arrogant lady named Blanche Ingram, Jane begins to doubt their relationship and becomes depressed.  She convinces herself that Mr. Rochester and Miss Ingram will marry although she can see that he does not love this lady.  (Bronte 240-243)  Mr. Rochester surprises Jane by proposing to her instead of Miss Ingram. 

On the day of Jane’s wedding she receives another surprise.  As Jane and Mr. Rochester are about to be married, Mr. Mason objects, saying that he is currently married to Mason’s sister.  (Bronte 350-351)  The group travels back to Thornfield to see this mysterious bride and Jane is shocked to see a woman who is more beast-like than human.  (Bronte 354) This woman is Mr. Rochester’s wife, Bertha Mason, whom Jane learns he married in order to gain wealth and property but soon discovered she was going mad.  It now seems that Jane will never get to marry her true love. 

Jane resolves to run away in the dead of night and eventually comes to the house of the Rivers family, where she meets and befriends Diana, Mary and St. John.  (Bronte 399-402) Later, she discovers these people are actually her cousins and they become Jane’s family.  Out of this conflict, Jane gains a family which she never really had before as an orphan living as a dependent in her cruel aunt’s house.

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.