As someone diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, I have often found myself at a loss for motivation. Though I am able to cope with my disorder through medication and therapy, coping with depression is ultimately an internal battle - one that often strips me of willpower and self-respect. Even with the advantages of modern medicine and the comfort of loved ones, I am still prone to depressive episodes; my mental defenses will unexpectedly fade and leave me with crushing feelings of doubt and delusion, and my responsibilities become towering monoliths that seem impossible to even remotely approach.
The character of Jane Eyre gives me the impression that she faces similar struggles of trust. Her primary motivation is the pursuit of truth - specifically, the desire to see herself fairly represented in the eyes of others. Her ferocity in defending herself is admirable, and most present during her childhood, when she memorably protests her aunt's misrepresentation of her as a liar. She correctly accuses Mrs Reed of treating her with "miserable cruelty" (Brontë 44), and when Mrs Reed asks how she could possibly say that to her adult superior, Jane simply replies: "Because it is the truth." As I child, I often found myself disillusioned with my living situation and the world at large, and often found myself expressing my confusion through anger, though Jane expressed herself in a much more direct and sophisticated manner. Jane's moral outrage at her mistreatment gives her a sense of agency, indicating the beginnings of her search for self-identity.
The adult Jane, however, is much more understated in her disillusionment, typically choosing to hide her true feelings out of a sense of decorum. Often, she will implicitly compare herself to others in the hopes of securing a sense of identity for herself. When she begins her work as governess at Thornfield Hall, she describes her pupil Adele as "a lively child, who had been spoilt and indulged, and therefore was sometimes wayward ... she had no great talents, no marked traits of character, no peculiar development of feeling or taste, which raised her one inch above the ordinary level of childhood; but neither had she any deficiency or vice which sunk her below it" (128). Jane is clearly reflecting on the events of her own childhood by way of Adele, taking a caustic approach to the way adults viewed herself as a child, noting how typical unremarkable her existence is. Indeed, this is how others continue to view Jane well into her adulthood. Even after her and Rochester's failed wedding ceremony, Rochester appeals to Jane by commenting on her unremarkable nature: "I love you as my own flesh. You - poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are" (294).
Taken on her own, Jane seems as though any other woman could easily take her place; only when she finds the courage to defend her character does she stand out as an individual. Perhaps this is a lesson I can take to heart in my own life. If I even find myself unfairly criticized, even in my own depressive internal judgments, it is my duty to defend my own character - no matter how much I compare myself to other people, admonishing myself for what I lack in comparison, it is only in the action of seeking out the truth that my own personality can be defined.
This is an excellent post, Adam--from a literary critical point of view you are really insightful about the way that Jane's character operates; and form a literary historical point of view, you remind us how literature really does *matter*. It shows how we can be, how we might want to be, how we ought not to be, etc. Thanks for sharing this.
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