Orphans in Jane Eyre

Jane, one of the orphans in the novel Jane Eyre, is portrayed as the victim of charity. She is also seen in others' eyes as something less or lower than themselves. Orphans are seen by wealthy people as children who are in need of their charity, and also who lack in morals, ambition, and culture. Jane tells about how she has no family; her mother and her father had the typhus fever, and "both died within a month of each other" (58; ch. 3). As if this is not bad enough, she is also excluded from being a part of the Reed family:

Me, [Mrs. Reed] had dispensed from joining the group, saying, 'she regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance; but that until she heard from Bessie, and could discover by her own observation that I was endeavoring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner--something lighter, franker, more natural, as it were - she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy little children. (39; ch. 1)

Further, after Jane comes out of the red room, Mrs. Reed and the children go out for a carriage ride and leave Jane behind (55; ch. 3). Again, at Christmas time, "From every enjoyment I was, of course, excluded: my share of the gaiety consisted in witnessing the daily apparelling of Eliza and Georgiana, and seeing them descend to the drawing-room, dressed out in thin muslin frocks and scaarlet sashes, with hair elaborately ringleted" (60; ch. 4). This not only shows her exclusion from family and family gatherings, but also that she is not perceived to be as good, happy, or sociable as her cousins.

Her cousin John even makes her out to be something less than he: "You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mamma says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not live here with gentlemen's children like us, and eat the same meals as we do, and wear clothes at our mamma's expense" (42; ch. 1). Also, when she is being carried up to the red room, the lady's maid makes a remark about John being her master and Jane asks if she is a servant and the maid replies, "No; you are less than a servant" (44; ch. 2). Mrs. Reed even tells John that Jane "is not worthy of notice. I do not choose that either you or your sisters should associate with her" (59; ch. 4). There are also references to Jane an animal, John calls her a "bad animal" (41; ch. 1) and a "rat" (42; ch. 1). Abbot, the lady's maid, also looks at Jane as an animal: "if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that" (58; ch. 3).

In chapter three, Bessie sings a ballad that describes the orphan's life as well. The ballad speaks of orphans' loneliness and sad life. At the end of the ballad, Bessie tells Jane, "Come, Miss Jane, don't cry," and Jane is wondering "how could she divine the morbid suffering to which I was prey?" (54; ch. 3) The last stanza of the ballad shows almost the exact description of Helen Burns's conviction that death will bring the utmost happiness and comforts:

There is a thought that for strength should avail me;
Though both of shelter and kindred despoiled;
Heaven is a home, and a rest will not fail me;
God is a friend to the poor orphan child. (54; ch. 3)

She says, "I am sure that there is a future state; I believe that God is good; I can resign my immortal part to Him without any misgiving. God is my father; God is my friend; I love Him; I believe He loves me. You will come to the same region of happiness: be received by the same mighty universal Parent, no doubt, dear Jane" (113; ch. 9).

When Jane is sent to Lowood Institution she is able to escape, for the most part, from being lonely and left out. Here, she is able to make friends of her own stature and no longer be looked down upon, except by Mr. Brocklehurst. Being among the other orphaned or one-parented girls, she has much more in common with them and she was better able to fit in than with "gentlemen's children," as John Reed put it.

However, Jane is not the only orphan in this novel, in fact she is one of many. For instance, the aforesaid Helen Burns is also an orphan. The reader is also made to sympathize with her. Eventhough she does not receive the best of treatment at Lowood, she does have a better life as an orphan than many others. She was not sent to a workhouse and did not have to suffer the mistreatment and over-working as workhouse orphans did. Jane was also lucky in this aspect. She had some family who were willing to take her in and take care of her, although not as well as she could have wished. She was also able to receive an education that most orphans could not get. In reality, Jane and Helen's lives were not as horrible as some orphans' lives were in that time: "childhood was a time of inurement to labor. The lack of regular labor or schooling meant children's idleness became an obvious problem" and answers to this were charity schools (Tananbaum 349).

Oliver from Oliver Twist was an orphan who was in a workhouse. At the workhouse, Oliver was allowed to have, "'three meals of gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll on Sundays.' His only alternative was that 'of being starved by a gradual process in the house or by one quick out of it'" (Roberts 97). Brutal treatments were daily and harsh conditions were extremely common throughout Oliver Twist. David Paroissien agrees "with Dickins's deepest conviction that fiction always tells us something about the way readers thought and lived" (17).

Adele Verens, the child that Jane becomes the governess to, is also an orphan. Adele's mother is dead, and she is a bastard. After her mother's death, she went to live with a friend of her mother's until Mr. Rochester came and asked her if she would like to live with him (134; ch. 11).

Adele, like Jane, is described as a small child, "slightly built, with a pale, small- featured face" (132; ch. 11). Adele is also lucky not tohave been put in a workhouse. Further, Adele is French, and the French are known for their passion. It is Adele's passion that really connects her with Jane. In Nina Auerbach's opinion, "Adele is the sensual child who comes from Jane's own fire" (202). However, Adele has no family whereas Jane has cousins; the Reeds and later, the Riverses.

The Riverses, whom Jane meets later in the novel, are also orphans. Both of their parents had died, but they were lucky to be old enough that they do not need to worry about what might become of them. Diana and Mary are both governesses and St. John is a clergyman. Similarly, the Reed children also become orphans. The Reeds and the Riverses are very similar families. Both families consist of two daughters and one son. They are orphaned later in life when it does not make a big difference because they are able to support themselves without the aid of a parent or charity. Both families are fairly wealthy, eventhough the children do need to find work to support themselves. Also, the Reeds and the Riverses took Jane in to care for her. This is significant because Jane is also around their age, but she is still dependant upon others to take care of her or to help her "get back on her feet."

Even though Jane is not the only orphan in the novel, readers will usually have the most pity for her as opposed to the other orphans. Being an orphan in the nineteenth century was not as easy as it was for her. Most orphans were put into a workhouse and had to deal with worse conditions than she. Orphanhood was very prevalent throughout the whole novel. Almost every character was an orphan or became one. Not many characters had family members that they were able to speak of, or of they did, they were not part of the immediate family, as Jane was with the Reeds.

As lonely as Jane was, she was not as isolated, as one may believe. She was one amongst eighty girls at Lowood Institution who did not have a mother or a father, let a lone family members to care for them. She was even around many other orphans throughout the novel including the Reeds, the Rivers, and Adele.