Influence and Independence: Jane Eyre Chapter 10
A Jane Eyre Readalong and Teachalong
This is a transition chapter. Jane passes eight additional years at Lowood School, graduating from student to teacher at the age of 16. Lowood was held to account for the poor conditions that precipitated the typhus outbreak and becomes a more pleasant place to live. In her time there, Jane takes advantage of her education but becomes restive when Miss Temple gets married and leaves the school.
In tracking the theme of temperance, note Jane’s reaction to Miss Temple’s departure. Miss Temple’s influence had produced, “more harmonious thoughts: what seemed better regulated feelings had become the inmates of my mind” (emphasis added).
Then, in the afternoon after Miss Temple’s / Mrs. Nasmyth’s wedding:
…another discovery dawned on me, namely, that in the interval I had undergone a transforming process; that my mind had put off all it had borrowed of Miss Temple—or rather that she had taken with her the serene atmosphere I had been breathing in her vicinity—and that now I was left in my natural element, and beginning to feel the stirring of old emotions.1
Is it sinful for Jane to feel restless? No. Having worked at my school through a decade of enormous change, I have felt the difference in atmosphere as some faculty leave and other faculty come, as each group of seniors graduates and makes way for students who, just a minute ago, were in my 5th grade Latin class or my 2nd grade chess club.
However, Charlotte Brontë uses this in two ways:
Miss Temple’s marriage is an inciting incident for change, internally in Jane and externally in her situation. She advertises for and secures a new position as a governess.
It also shows the influence of a setting and the people in it on Jane’s temperament.2 This is not accidental, as we see Jane grow and react differently in each new situation throughout the novel.
Proverbs states, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”3 Similarly, Paul writes that “Bad company corrupts good morals.”4 Temperance is not cultivated in a vacuum. The convictions we adhere to or abandon are intertwined with the company we keep. In this case, Jane is spurred to change because she does not feel kinship with the other teachers in the way that Miss Temple, who, “had stood me in the stead of mother, governess, and, latterly, companion.” Brontë leaves us to wonder whether her new situation will provide Jane with the companionship she lacks.
Chapter 10 Questions
✢ How does Lowood change after the typhus outbreak subsides? Why do you think Charlotte Brontë wrote of Lowood’s “regeneration”?
✢ What changes in Jane after Miss Temple gets married and leaves Lowood? How does she perceive the school differently?
✢ What does Jane decide to do to address her restlessness? What do you think about her decision?
✢ Who comes to visit Jane before she leaves Lowood? What information does Jane learn about her relatives?
Teaching Tips
✢ As a transition chapter, this can be a good place to look at Jane’s growth as well as make predictions about her future.
✢ Brontë is not wasteful or self-indulgent in including Bessie’s visit to Jane right before she leaves for her new job. (1.) It gives Gateshead a continued connection to Jane, which becomes relevant in Chapter 21. (2.) It contrasts Bessie’s good opinion of Jane’s growth and education with cousin John Reed’s intemperance and dissolution. (3.) It reveals the existence of Jane’s relative, Mr. Eyre, who is not as poor as Jane was led to believe. This foreshadows events in Chapters 21, 24, 26, and 33.
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre Chapter 10, emphasis added.
Temperament, often described today as personality, is related conceptually to temperance. In the classical sense, proposed by physicians Hippocrates (Greek, 460-370 BC) and expanded by Galen (Roman, 129-216 AD), your temperament was influenced by the balance and proportion of fluids in your body.
Proverbs 13:20 (ESV)
1 Corinthians 15:33 (NASB)