Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Brontë is a classic masterpiece that pushes the bounds of realistic fiction. In it, the reader is invited inside of Miss Eyre’s mind as they are shown the struggles of a neglected child who, despite being undervalued her entire life, rises from her station to the doorstep of a Mr. Rochester where she is put face to face with the possibility of a real home for the first time. The trials that come with Jane Eyre’s youth and her journey to Mr. Rochester are what make the novel, Jane Eyre, the emotionally impactful story that has captivated readers for decades.
This book was a fantastic read. What Brontë truly excels at though, is her management of the characters in her story. By the end of the book, the reader’s grasp of each character is so complete that each character feels like family. Family in the sense that each new development in the characters’ lives permeates the reader’s own life and affects the reader’s own emotion as if the reader themselves were in the story with Jane Eyre herself. However, in spite of the truly amazing work that is this book and the maze of plot twists that it takes one through, the ending concludes with a brief eulogy that seems very out of place. While it is conceivable that this eulogy allows for a completion to the theme in the novel, the development of its subject is not present enough in the story (in my opinion.) Its subject being the virtue of Christian Evangelism which is placed very suddenly in contrast with Miss Eyre’s own experience. If this were to be the theme of the novel, then it would be better represented if there were more of a divide between Jane’s choices and those of the idealized “Christian Evangelist.” For this reason, the novel of Jane Eyre is a solid four out of five stars in my opinion.