Chapter 2 My Life at Lowood School

My second day at Lowood was like the first, except that we could not wash – it was so cold that the water in the jugs was frozen. I found my lessons difficult. I had never studied before. The nicest time was a play hour at the end of the day. The voices of the girls grew joyful*, the fires burned brighter, and we were given a piece of bread and a small cup of coffee. I went to speak to my friend. Her name was Helen Burns.

‘Helen do you wish to leave here?’

Although life is hard at Lowood, Helen is grateful to get an education. It was still unusual for poor girls to go to school in England in the early 1900s.

‘No, I was sent to Lowood to get an education. Why would I go away before I have learned what I need to?’

‘But, I hate anyone who punishes me when I have done no wrong.’

‘We all need to be corrected, Jane.’

I had been at Lowood three weeks when Mr Brocklehurst appeared. I had been afraid of this. Now he would tell the whole school what a bad child I was.

‘These girls eat too much,’ he said to going over to joyful full of happiness

Charlotte experienced extremely strict religious teachings at her own school. Mr Brocklehurst's religious ideas are similar to those of the headmaster at Cowan Bridge School.

There is one way of life for the girls at the school, and another for the rich Brocklehursts.

Miss Temple, the kind teacher I had met on my first night. ‘And what – what is that girl with curled* hair? The girls must always look plain.’

‘It is Julia Severn,’ replied Miss Temple, ‘her hair curls naturally.’

‘Naturally? We do not allow nature here! Cut her hair off. In fact, cut all the girls’ hair off.’

At this moment, Mr Brocklehurst’s wife and daughters arrived. Their hair was beautifully curled and they wore lovely dresses, not plain clothes like us.

I was hiding behind my book, but it slipped* from my hands and crashed to the floor. Mr Brocklehurst saw me and told me to stand on a stool*.

For some Christians at the time, girls and women were born wicked, and therefore had to be controlled and watched closely.

‘Ladies,’ he said to his family, then, ‘Miss Temple, teachers and children, you see this girl? She is young, but the devil already lives in her. Stay away from her! This girl is – a liar!’

‘How terrible!’ said one of the young Miss Brocklehursts.

‘She will stand there for the rest of the day. Let no one speak to her,’ he said.

At the end of the day, the hall emptied. I sat by the fire to cry. Helen came and sat with me.

‘Helen, why do you stay with a girl everybody believes is a liar.’ curled not straight, that hangs in waves or circles slipped moved quickly and easily stool