The Troubles and Care of a Miss Jane Eyre Quiz

Answer: Charlotte

Charlotte's writing indicates a real concern for social reform. In fact the second edition of "Jane Eyre" was dedicated to William Thackeray, a man she had never met but of whom she said, "...I regard him as the first social regenerator of the day - as the very master of the working corps who would restore to rectitude the warped system of things."

The Bronte siblings were: Maria (1814-1825); Elizabeth (1815-1825); Charlotte (1816-1855); Patrick (1817-1848); Emily Jane (1818-1848) and Anne (1820-1849).
The average lifespan for women in the United Kingdom between 1900 and 1947 was 50. Charlotte, dying just before her 39th birthday, was the longest living of these tragic siblings. She was pregnant when she died and, although her cause of death is also listed as tuberculosis (or phthisis), there is some speculation that it might have been typhus.

"Jane Eyre" was definitely Charlotte's masterpiece. The writing of her second novel, "Shirley" (1849), was interrupted by the death of three family members, Branwell, Emily and Anne. All three died over an eight month period. Emily and Anne died of tuberculosis and while Branwell's cause of death was listed as chronic bronchitis, Charlotte believed that he also died of tuberculosis.
Charlotte's third novel, "Villette" was released in 1853.
Emily wrote "Wuthering Heights"(1847) and Anne wrote three novels, the most well-known being "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (1848), a 19th century feminist novel.

Answer: No

The story opens with Jane having once again been banned from joining Mrs. Reed and her three children for some perceived infraction, of which Jane isn't aware and which no one can explain to her. She finds a book and a secluded place to read. She is soon found by her cousin, John, who refers to her as a 'bad animal'.

He berates her for any number of sins and ends up by throwing the book at her, knocking her down. When she yells at him, his abuse of her continues until she strikes back. For that sin she is shut, for hours, in the room in which her uncle died, until she believes she sees a ghost and begins screaming until the servants come to check on her.

Her aunt makes her return to the room where she 'has a fit'. Jane's mother had married a clergyman who was seen as being beneath her and was cut off by her father. Jane's parents died within a month of each other, from typhus, which was common at the time. Because of the high incidence of disease, having orphans ending up with family, who were often reluctant to take them in, was a common occurrence.

Answer: Lowood Institution

At the age of 10, Jane is sent, unaccompanied, by coach to arrive at Lowood Institution, a school for educating orphans. Conditions are terrible, with the girls being barely given enough to eat and the older girls taking some of that away from the younger ones. They freeze in the winter, developing chilblains on their feet and succumbing to colds which, untreated, often result in infections. They are frequently subjected to humiliation and corporal punishment and have to attend two church services on Sundays.
Jane befriends an elder, gentle girl named Helen, who is a favourite target of some of the teachers, even though she is ill with tuberculosis. Helen eventually dies, in Jane's arms.
A typhus epidemic kills so many of the girls that an investigation is held and conditions finally improve. Jane spends eight years at Lowood, two of them as a teacher.

Charlotte Bronte's two older sisters Maria and Elizabeth, were sent to Cowan Bridge School where they experienced many of the conditions Charlotte describes at Lowood. Both sisters returned from school with tuberculosis, dying at home in 1825 at ages 10 and 11.

Answer: No

Jane first meets Mr. Rochester when his horse slips and falls on the icy causeway - he sprains his ankle in the tumble. Jane tries to secure the reins of the horse but is unsuccessful because she is fearful. Instead she helps Mr. Rochester to his feet and supports him while he catches the horse. During this experience she reflects 'Had he been a handsome, heroic-looking young gentleman...' which is our first indication that she does not find him handsome. Later, when they are sitting watching the fire in the dining room, he comes right out and asks her if she thinks him handsome. Without any hesitation she answers, "No sir." This begins a discussion on phrenology, what the various bumps and protuberances on his head say about his personality. Jane has been hired to tutor his ward, the daughter of a French dancer, his former mistress, who claimed that the girl was his. Finding the dancer to have had more than one lover (which he reveals later), he doubts the child's parentage but still takes on responsibility for her.

Answer: Grace Poole

Jane is wakened in the night by a murmur followed by a 'demonic laugh'. Among other noises, she hears the door to the third story, where Grace Poole lives, being shut. She wonders if Grace Poole had made the noises and if she were 'possessed with a devil'.

Then she discovers the fire and saves Rochester's life. She later expresses her belief that it was Poole to Rochester who agrees with her and asks her to keep the matter to herself. Grace Poole is a servant who lives on the third floor and whom Jane believes is hired as a seamstress.

She is very rarely seen in any other part of the house and has some odd mannerisms. In fact the morning after the fire, Jane sees Grace in Rochester's room sewing new curtains, a fact which puzzles Jane, given her belief that Grace started the fire. We later find out the true purpose of Grace's presence in the house.

Answer: Jane

The morning after the fire Mr. Rochester disappears to a house party at the Leas, a nearby estate. After he has been gone about two weeks, he sends word that he is moving the party to Thornfield. A few nights after he and the guests arrive, Rochester appears, disguised as a gypsy woman, seeking to tell the fortunes of the single women at the party. After much discussion the headstrong Blanche decides to have her fortune told first. Then the rest of the single women go in, singly or in pairs. Finally the gypsy insists that there is one more to see and Jane is summoned. The exchange between Jane and the gypsy is a clever battle of wits and double meanings as Rochester uses the time to determine her feelings for him and find out whether she is jealous, believing him about to be married.

Because of the great distances between estates, the lack of fast transportation, and the absence of many other social events, parties that lasted for days and even weeks were very common among the gentry.

Answer: A stranger tries on Jane's wedding veil and then rips it in half.

With Rochester away on business, Jane is troubled by nightmares. She wakes to find the light from a candle in her room and a person she has never seen before trying on her wedding veil and examining herself in a mirror. Jane catches a glimpse of the woman in the mirror and later describes her to Edward as being savage with red eyes and purple lips. Jane compares the woman to the Vampyre (sic). The woman removes the veils, tears it in half and stamps on it before pushing her candle up into Jane's face.

While Charlotte Bronte was ahead of her time in her concern for the welfare of orphans and social reform, she seems to have adopted the prevalent views of the time regarding mental illness. The description of the woman's illness and the treatment she receives, which is considered to be compassionate on Rochester's part, show a decided lack of understanding of mental illness or desire to improve the conditions under which people with mental illness are treated.

Answer: The Rivers family

Refusing to be Rochester's wife in name only or to take anything that he has bought for her, Jane leaves with a small parcel holding her possessions. She spends all the money she has on a coach to a place where Rochester will not look for her, which turns out to be nothing more than a crossroad. Forgetting her possessions on the coach, she wanders for three days seeking food and employment, sleeping on the moors. Starving and emotionally distraught at finding Edward already married, she knocks on the door of a house where she has been watching the young ladies inside.

The servant shuts the door on Jane's face but the brother, a clergyman lets her in and they nurse Jane back to health. She learns that their name is Rivers and they are all home because their father has just died. St. John, the brother, offers Jane a job teaching school. Eventually they find that they are cousins and that their uncle has left his fortune to Jane, who shares it between the four of them.

Answer: The house is in ruins.

The house had obviously been engulfed by fire, and the few walls that are still standing are scorched. Jane walks into town and finds, through questioning the locals, that Rochester's wife escaped her rooms and set fire to both a third floor room and to what was once Jane's bed.

The fire spread through the house and Rochester was instrumental in getting everyone out alive, except for his wife. He went back for her but she jumped to her death. Rochester is badly injured and is living at a manor house he owns.

Answer: He is blind and his hand has been amputated.

After his wife flung herself from the roof to her death, the roof collapsed out from under him. He lost one eye completely and his hand was so badly crushed it had to be been amputated. His second eye became inflamed and the vision was lost.
He and Jane marry and bring Adele home from the school where she is miserable. Edward regains partial vision in his one eye and they have a son.

It is at the end of the story that it becomes its most moralistic, a common theme in the writing of the time. Jane has maintained her determination to do what is right throughout, no matter how painful. Rochester expresses regret at his attempts to trick Jane into a false marriage and thanks God profusely for the return of Jane to his life.