Jane's Art and Story Gregg Bernhardt

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"Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting." --Jane Eyre (9)

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There is something extraordinary and spiritual about Jane Eyre's artwork. In her story, Jane's solitary pastime sometimes operates as an outlet of past or present pain, and often offers her a chance to deal with unpleasant memories and emotions. Jane's art transcends her isolation by bringing her into contact with others who see it; it serves as a bridge over the chasm between her desire to be alone and her need for companionship, which is demonstrated by key scenes in the novel that include a viewing of her art. This struggle between isolation ("hidden self") and companionship ("public self") upholds the restlessness of the novel, for Jane's art is her own, marking her as her own woman. Her art offers a means of charting her growth to maturity. The epigraph above is from Jane's comments on Bewick's History of British Birds, Jane's first artistic influence at the beginning of the novel, and is spoken by a young girl whose self is also "undeveloped" and "imperfect." There are five...