Jane Eyre

This was one of the first novels I read. I had received this book as a prize for a literary competition in my junior school. I was quite happy that I bagged the prize but was not quite happy with the prize received and never intended to read it. It had a lavendar cover with the image of Jane Eyre on it. In those days I had difficulty in pronouncing Charlotte Bronte.

Reading short stories were interesting to me, not big novels. But don't know why, one day I started reading the book. I don't remember the pace with which I read the book, but do remember that I was quite fascinated by the story. The language was extremely simple and does prompt a reader to read on.

In short, Jane Eyre is an orphan who gives an account of her story. She grows up with her cousins and aunt who dislikes her. Then she is sent to a boarding school where she finds friends. From there, Jane goes on to become a governess of a child. There she falls in love with her employer, Rochester, who is a divorced man. There are strange things happening in the mansion and all are attributed as an insane servant's deeds. Finally Rochester and Jane reveal their love for each other and plan to get married. But on her wedding day, she receives a shock as a group of people stops the marriage saying that Rochester's wife is still alive and with him only, which reveals that he is not divorced. Jane is heart-broken. Rochester explains to her how his wife had became insane, why she is locked up in the mansion, and that she is the person behind all the mysteries happening in the mansion.

Jane leaves the mansion and arrives at a missionary's place, who turns out to be her relative. He asks her to marry him. Jane is forced to do that when she hears Rochester calling out to her. But he was not there. She makes up her mind, refuses the marriage with the missionary, and sets out to the mansion to find Rochester. There she finds the mansion all in ruins and comes to know that his insane wife set the mansion on fire and she committed suicide. In the mishap, Rochester was crippled and lost one eye. He was now spending his life at another place. Jane rushes to the place and accepts her love for him and they live happily ever after.... :-)

I had liked Jane a lot. The author has described each character in detail, which helps us visualize the whole story. I was so inspired by Jane that whenever we played something, or wrote small stories, I always adopted the name.