Jane's Fight

Jane's Fight

1. For her identity / individuality

   • “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

2. For women

   • "It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.”
   • "Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags."

3. Against class and society

   • "For the red room perfectly represents [Jane's] vision of the society which she is trapped" Gilbert and Gubar

4. Equality in her relationships

   • I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh - it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave and we stood at God's feet, equal - as we are!”
   • “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart!
   • “I do not think, sir, you have any 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.”

5. For Justice

   • "Unjust!--unjust!" said my reason,”
   • “How dare I? Because it is the TRUTH.”