Childhood Perspectives in Jane Eyre and Hideous Kinky Essay -- Jane Ey

Childhood Perspectives in Jane Eyre and Hideous Kinky Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 in Hamworth in Yorkshire. Her father was the vicar of the village she lived in. Her mother died when she was very young. With her two sisters, Maria and Elizabeth she was sent to a very strict boarding school where she was very unhappy. Both her sisters died of tuberculosis, which made her very upset. Jane Eyre was based on Charlotte Bronte's own experience and is a fictional autobiography. Esther Freud was born in London in 1963 almost 150 years after Charlotte Bronte. She spent most of her childhood in Sussex, she was taken to Morocco when she was very young but says she can't remember. Hideous Kinky was published in 1992, although it's not an autobiography its base on her childhood experiences in Morocco. Jane Eyre is set in the middle of the Victorian period where children had no rights and social class was everything. As the book goes on we see Jane grow from a rebellious and boisterous young girl to a sensible and determined woman. We see Jane move from place to place meeting and losing people. Although we do see Jane growing into a young woman we are only concentrating on the first 10 chapters in which we follow her childhood. Hideous Kinky is set in the 1960's, in Morocco .The book gives a view of life on the road to Morocco is put across through the eyes of a sincere but often distracted hippie's five year-old daughter. As the small family seeks food, shelter and friendship wherever they can and their adventures unfurl, there grows between them a strange yet unshakeable bond. The contrast between the historical and social period in which the two books are set is stark, particularly with regard to th... ...y. In the evening, Jane speaks to Helen, she asks her why she puts up with Miss Scatchared's bullying and she explains the principles of endurance, duty and self-sacrifice to Jane, as based on the New Testament Gospels. A lot of the first few chapters when Jane starts Lowood consist of the converse between Helen and Jane. Though this dialogue covers some complex theological ground, it is nonetheless quite naturalistic and provides us with a deep insight into Helen's character. Helen offers one solution to Jane's problem - the need to quell her passionate nature and Jane does learn from her, as we begin to see in the following chapters. But Helen's faith is also essentially inward - looking, as indicated by her tendency to slip into reverie, and potentially death - willing; she looks forward to death as an elevation, 'I live in calm, looking to the end'.