Feminism in the novel Jane Eyr essays

Feminism in the novel Jane Eyr essays The word "feminism" today can conjure up any number of images and nasty thoughts of left-wing bra-burning man-hating radicals or women in politics fighting for pro-choice options. It seems like everyone has an opinion when it comes to the word feminism, and many of them are somewhat negative. However, recently, feminism has calmed down and gained a quieter reputation. Although feminism seems to the modern reader a phenomenon of the 20th century with the suffragettes of the 20s and the womens liberation movement of the 60s and 70s, it has always existed. It was not always called feminism, nor did believers in equality always have a refuge with like-thinkers. In Charlotte romance novel, Jane Eyre, the protagonist, Jane, had a definite feminist bent. In 1800s, behavior followed such straight-laced regulated standards that most modern women would be considered excruciatingly radical and unconventional. Thus Janes version of feminism was much milder by our expectations, but it exists none theless. Jane strove for what Websters dictionary describes as, "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men," except of course, there was no "doctrine" in the 1840s. But seeing as there was no standard to follow, why was Jane a feminist? She was not exposed to men while she was growing up, she had no female role models to learn submission from, when she tried being independent and demanding equality, it worked, and her education perpetuated her beliefs. There are many reasons why Jane Eyre was a feminist. Although it seems logical that not being exposed to men would eradicate the need for equality with men, Jane was never one to follow expectations. Throughout her entire childhood and adolescence, she never interacted with men in a way that would be conducive to submission. As an orphan, she lived with her uncles widow, Mrs. Reed. The only male ...