Every person, no matter who he is or where he is from, feels struggle. It is not struggle that defines a person, singularly, but how he or she chooses to handle and rise against it; it is these actions that shape the future of the individual. In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, three characters and their stories of struggle are highlighted. Jane Eyre, a book written in the early 19th century, reflects the societal struggles of the times: the overshadowing of the independent female in a class-ridden world. A young heroine, Jane Eyre, struggles to accept herself while challenging the oppressive class standards attempting to prove her to be a “dependant” woman owned by others. Although Rochester and Bertha are intertwined…show more content… Not only does Bertha struggle with the physical entrapment of her freedom by Rochester, but the mental entrapment by herself, who wishes to be loved. Similarly, Rochester struggles with his fear of being alone, which causes him to be overbearing and drive away the people he loves. Wide Sargasso Sea delves deeper into the meaning of “entrapment”, focusing not only on class and gender, but on race, mental illness, and mentality. In Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, struggle within a character is used to symbolize the author’s connection to a topic. Charlotte Brontë uses Jane’s struggle to demonstrate her hatred of oppression of women in British society. Rhys uses Rochester’s struggle to explain her grudge against people who are selfish with others, and Antoinette’s struggle to show the importance of recognizing mental…show more content… Charlotte Brontë uses her struggle, and ultimate freedom from entrapment, to expose her hatred of the class system and supply a feminist viewpoint on this issue. The first signs of Jane's entrapment occur when John finds Jane and states, “You are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought not wear clothes at our mother’s expense” (10). Similarly, after Bessie and Miss Abbot hold her down, Bessie says, “You ought to be aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house" (13). Brontë uses repetition to emphasize what Jane is put through at such a young age, almost as if the lesson of “being a dependant” is taught. She portrays the characters who say this as evil oppressors, setting feminist undertones in the reader’s mind. Later in the story, as Jane comes to Thornfield and meets Rochester, her opinions change as she decides to stand up to Rochester and say “I don’t think, sir, you have a right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have—your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience" (127). In this excerpt, Jane clearly challenges the “natural law of superiority”,
