Summary: Chapter 5
Four days after meeting Mr. Brocklehurst, Jane
boards the 6 a.m. coach and travels alone
to Lowood. When she arrives at the school, the day is dark and rainy,
and she is led through a grim building that will be her new home.
The following day, Jane is introduced to her classmates and learns
the daily routine, which keeps the girls occupied from before dawn
until dinner. Miss Temple, the superintendent of the school, is
very kind, while one of Jane’s teachers, Miss Scatcherd, is unpleasant,
particularly in her harsh treatment of a young student named Helen
Burns. Jane and Helen befriend one another, and Jane learns from
Helen that Lowood is a charity school maintained for female orphans, which
means that the Reeds have paid nothing to put her there. She also
learns that Mr. Brocklehurst oversees every aspect of its operation:
even Miss Temple must answer to him.
Summary: Chapter 6
On Jane’s second morning at Lowood, the girls are unable
to wash, as the water in their pitchers is frozen. Jane quickly
learns that life at the school is harsh. The girls are underfed,
overworked, and forced to sit still during seemingly endless sermons.
Still, she takes comfort in her new friendship with Helen, who impresses
Jane with her expansive knowledge and her ability to patiently endure
even the cruelest treatment from Miss Scatcherd. Helen tells Jane
that she practices a doctrine of Christian endurance, which means
loving her enemies and accepting her privation. Jane disagrees strongly
with such meek tolerance of injustice, but Helen takes no heed of
Jane’s arguments. Helen is self-critical only because she sometimes
fails to live up to her ascetic standards: she believes that she
is a poor student and chastises herself for daydreaming about her
home and family when she should be concentrating on her studies.
Summary: Chapter 7
For most of Jane’s first month at Lowood, Mr.
Brocklehurst spends his time away from the school. When he returns,
Jane becomes quite nervous because she remembers his promise to
her aunt, Mrs. Reed, to warn the school about Jane’s supposed habit of
lying. When Jane inadvertently drops her slate in Mr. Brocklehurst’s
presence, he is furious and tells her she is careless. He orders
Jane to stand on a stool while he tells the school that she is a
liar, and he forbids the other students to speak to her for the
rest of the day. Helen makes Jane’s day of humiliation endurable
by providing her friend with silent consolation—she covertly smiles at
Jane every time she passes by.
Summary: Chapter 8
Finally, at five o’clock, the students disperse,
and Jane collapses to the floor. Deeply ashamed, she is certain
that her reputation at Lowood has been ruined, but Helen assures
her that most of the girls felt more pity for Jane than revulsion
at her alleged deceitfulness. Jane tells Miss Temple that she is
not a liar, and relates the story of her tormented childhood at
Gateshead. Miss Temple seems to believe Jane and writes to Mr. Lloyd
requesting confirmation of Jane’s account of events. Miss Temple
offers Jane and Helen tea and seed cake, endearing herself even
further to Jane. When Mr. Lloyd’s letter arrives and corroborates
Jane’s story, Miss Temple publicly declares Jane to be innocent.
Relieved and contented, Jane devotes herself to her studies. She
excels at drawing and makes progress in French.
Summary: Chapter 9
In the spring, life at Lowood briefly seems
happier, but the damp forest dell in which the school resides is
a breeding-ground for typhus, and in the warm temperatures more
than half the girls fall ill with the disease. Jane remains healthy
and spends her time playing outdoors with a new friend, Mary Ann
Wilson. Helen is sick, but not with typhus—Jane learns the horrific
news that her friend is dying of consumption. One evening, Jane
sneaks into Miss Temple’s room to see Helen one last time. Helen
promises Jane that she feels little pain and is happy to be leaving
the world’s suffering behind. Jane takes Helen into her arms, and
the girls fall asleep. During the night, Helen dies. Her grave is
originally unmarked, but fifteen years after her death, a gray marble tablet
is placed over the spot (presumably by Jane), bearing the single
word Resurgam, Latin for “I shall rise again.”
Summary: Chapter 10
After Mr. Brocklehurst’s negligent treatment
of the girls at Lowood is found to be one of the causes of the typhus
epidemic, a new group of overseers is brought in to run the school.
Conditions improve dramatically for the young girls, and Jane excels
in her studies for the next six years. After spending two more years at
Lowood as a teacher, Jane decides she is ready for a change, partly
because Miss Temple gets married and leaves the school. She advertises
in search of a post as a governess and accepts a position at a manor
called Thornfield.
