Family and Masculinity in Jane Eyre :: Families Literature Papers

Family and Masculinity in Jane Eyre Jane does not experience a representative family purport throughout the novel. Her various living arrangements led her through antithetic households, yet n star were a representation of the norm of family life in the nineteenth century. Through research of families in the nineteenth century, it is clear that Janes life does not follow with the stereotypical family do up of a patriarchal nonplus and nurturing mformer(a), both whose primary focus was in summit their children. Janes life was void of this true family experience so commonplace during the nineteenth century. Yet, Jane is surrounded by men, who in giving an accurate portraiture of fathers and masculinity in the nineteenth century, fulfill on one overtake the father role that had never been present in her life, and on the other hand the husband portrait that Jane seeks out throughout the novel. The reader setoff learns of Jane when she is an inhabitant of Gateshead. At Gateshead, Jane was excluded from the rest of the family. She was merely an outsider looking in on a nuclear family, excluding the father, who had died. We know that Janes Uncle Reed, the father and preponderating figure of Gateshead, when alive, was a kind man. He was the guardian for Jane and when dying made his wife promise to always do for Jane. After his death, his wife resented the weeny girl and did not want to care for her. Knowing what we know of family life in the nineteenth century, we know that Janes life would have been more than different if her uncle Reed had not died. Being the master of the home one can assume that he would have made sure that everyone in the household would have treated Jane well and with love and respect. A fathers authority was unquestioned. Once Mr. Reed had died, the masculine dominance was about given to his son who did not care for Jane and made her life downcast by all of his cruelty and abuse. Although he did not rule the home, collectable to h is young age, his authority as seen by Jane was unquestioned. Jane next lived at Lowood. This first appearance was anything but a true family unit. However, Jane sought out people to care for and who would care for her in return. Helen Burns and Miss Temple became very snug to Jane. In ways like the mother of the typical family served as a moral guide and a nurturer, so too did Helen Burns, and to a received extent Miss Temple.