Chapter six

In this chapter Jane sees her new friend Helen flogged for failing an impossible task (cleaning her nails with frozen water), and has a big conversation with Helen afterwards, where they discuss religion and people’s attitudes.

Themes

Isolation (is this going to feature in every chapter?), but this time it's Helen who is isolated, and you can see Jane’s opinions of her own isolation, expressed through Helen (if that makes sense). Religion is also a major part of the chapter, as Helen is very religious, and tells Jane she should be to.

Characters

• You meet Helen Burns properly in this chapter, a girl who also lives at Lowood Institute, and is very much like an opposite of Jane in personality, being subservient and docile, but in the same kind of situation, namely being in a hostile environment, and being bullied or picked on. Helen is very religious (and dies of tuberculosis later on in the novel)

Narrative voice

As a lot of this chapter seems to be dialogue, it’s harder to get a proper impression of the narrator at this point. However, you can see Jane’s outrage at Helen's treatment, and feel the mood of the School, as the older Jane seems almost melancholy in her descriptions, with lots of gloomy words and drab description

Response

Started to find all the all the dialogue at the end slightly boring, as it’s in big blocks and kind of hard to follow