Integrite Fall 2012

26 IntĂŠgritĂŠ: A F aith and Learning Journal Jane certainly matures and develops in various ways, including spiritually.

She grows from the ten-year-old child who declares the best way to stay out of KHOO LV WR ³NHHS LQ JRRG KHDOWK DQG QRW GLH´ WR D ZRPDQ ZKR H[SUHVVHV D willingness to commit her life to missionary service. More fundamentally, the novel does what good literature has always done²speaks truth to readers about ourselves and the world we live in.5 Christian readers can find in Jane Eyre a rich SRUWUDLW RI KXPDQ H[SHULHQFH WKDW UHIOHFWV *RGœV WUXth, even in aspects that initially appear to be negative portrayals of Christianity. For two examples of KRZ WKLV G\QDPLF ZRUNV , ZLOO H[DPLQH %URQWsœV SRUWUD\DO RI UHOLJLRXV K\SRFULV\ and her portrayal of spiritual despair, both of which appear to be anti-Christian on the surface but in fact powerfully convey Christian truth.

The religious-hypocrite character in Jane Eyre is Mr. Brocklehurst, the headmaster of Lowood School, the charity school Jane attends as a child. Most critics read Brocklehurst as a satiric portrait of the real Carus Wilson, the headmaster of the Cowan Bridge School, which the BrontÍ girls attended and ZKLFK KDG VXFK SRRU FRQGLWLRQV WKDW WZR RI %URQWsœV VLVWHUV GLHG DV D UHVXOW Brocklehurst drills Jane on hell as a final destination of the wicked²³> @ DOO OLDUV ZLOO KDYH WKHLU SRUWLRQ LQ WKH ODNH EXUQLQJ ZLWK ILUH DQG EULPVWRQH´ ² and he exhorts her to pray and read the Bible. Among the characteristics he advocates are humility, mortification of worldly pride, and modesty in living.

Although he wants to mortify the pride of the girls in his school and often does so through humiliation and deprivation, he is excessively proud of his own goodness. $OWKRXJK KLV SODQ IRU WKH JLUOV LV WR ³UHQGHU WKHP KDUG\ SDWLHQW VHOI-denying´ (72) by insisting on scantiness in food and clothing, his own daughters are ³VSOHQGLGO\ DWWLUHG LQ YHOYHW VLON DQG IXUV´ He berates Miss Temple for DOORZLQJ RQH RI WKH VWXGHQWV WR ³FRQIRUP WR WKH ZRUOG VR RSHQO\ > @ DV WR ZHDU her hair one mDVV RI FXUOV´ even though KLV GDXJKWHUVœ KDLU IDOOV IURP XQGHU WKHLU EHDYHU KDWV LQ D ³SURIXVLRQ RI OLJKW WUHVVHV´ Jane rejects everything about Brocklehurst: his hypocrisy, his concept of sinful human nature, his idea of hell, his harsh cruelty, and his spiritual pride. Even as a child, Jane realizes that Christianity is nothing but words unless coupled with a transformed heart and life. +HU UHMHFWLRQ RI %URFNOHKXUVWœV EUDQG Rf Christianity is well deserved, as any reader²Christian or not²would agree.

In a Christian classroom, students will immediately understand and UHVSRQG SRVLWLYHO\ WR %URQWsÂśV WUHDWPHQW RI %URFNOHKXUVWÂśV K\SRFULWLFDO IDLWK. They refer to passages in the Bible like the portions of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus instructs his followers to not be hypocritical in the way they pray, fast, and judge others (Matthew 6-7) and the seven woes to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. %URQWsÂśV FKDUDFWHUL]DWLRQ RI %URFNOHKXUVW ULQJV WUXH WR anyone who has ever experienced hypocrisy in their own lives or in the actions of others. -DQHÂśV DQJHU DQG RXWUDJH DERXW %URFNOHKXUVWÂśV WUHDWPHQW RI KHU DQG WKH other girls of Lowood School, including a lack of basic provisions and punishment that includes public ridicule, highlight the consequences of religious hypocrisy in a community. %URQWsÂśV SRUWUDLW DOVR KLJKOLJKWV WKH WUXWK RI WKH %LEOHÂśV WHDFKLQJV DERXW KRZ WUXH &KULVWLDQLW\ LV D JHQXLQH UHODWLRQVKLS ZLWK *RG that spills over into relationships with others rather than false or empty actions