In Gateshead Jane Eyre grew up with her evil cousins and aunt. This fictional location is located in a part of England north of London. The name Gateshead has a significant meaning in the book. This location was the "gateway" to the rest of the world. Plus, this is where Jane grew up, so it was evidently the "boss" or start of all her tribulations in life. In the rest of the book, everything Jane faces is tied to her childhood there in Gateshead. Abused verbally and physically by her aunt and cousins, Jane felt like an outsider among her relatives. She was ostracized by Aunt Reed from the rest of the family. At one point, when her aunt became extremely oppressive, she locked the teenage Jane in the dreaded "red room," where Mr. Reed had died. He was afraid that his spirit would haunt the room. Jane clearly describes how she feels when she says: “…I raised my head and tried to look bravely around the dark room: at that moment a light shone on the wall. Was it perhaps, I wondered, a ray of moonlight penetrating some opening in the tent? NO; the moonlight stood still, and it stirred: as I watched, it slid to the ceiling and trembled upon my hearing... I thought the darting ray was a herald of an impending vision from another world. My heart was pounding, my head was hot... I was oppressed, I was suffocating: my resistance failed me - I let out a wild, involuntary cry - I rushed to the door and shook the lock with a desperate effort. (Bronte 17-18) Once Bessie came to Jane's rescue, Aunt Reed mischievously decided to punish her for crying out and even went so far as to say, “Let her go…untie Bessie's hand, child: you can't get out of these means, be insured. I hate artifice, especially in children; it is my duty to tell halfway through the paper the realization that I have lost Jane to another man in the following dialogue between them: "I know where your heart turns and what it clings to. The interest you cherish is unlawful and unhallowed You should have crushed him long ago: now you should blush to mention it. Do you think of Mr. Rochester? It was true. I confessed it in silence. "Do you intend to seek Mr. Rochester?" "I must find out what has become of him." "It remains for me then," said he, "to remember you in my prayers; for you, with all sincerity, so that you do not truly become a castaway. I thought I recognized in you one of the chosen. Jane Eyre at Moor House and Morton was crucial to her recovery and the stability of her life, she longed to be at Thornfield and married Mr. Rochester.
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