Chapter 5

Summary

In the morning, Jane gets ready to go to her new school, Lowood. She is too excited to eat, so Bessie bustles about, getting her ready. Jane tells Bessie that Mrs. Reed visited her at night again to coax her into being grateful to have lived with the Reeds, but Jane ignored her. Bessie and Jane embrace and bid farewell to each other, and Jane sets off in a coach for the fifty-mile journey. The ride is long, and it passes in a blur until Jane falls asleep. She is woken up when they reach the school, and a kind woman questions Jane and then sends her off with Miss Miller, an under-teacher. There is a meal served to the girls, who are dressed very plainly, but Jane is again too excited to eat anything. She then falls into her bed, exhausted, and sleeps.

The girls are woken up by a bell very early in the morning, and Jane notices the poverty and insufficiency of the school for the first time. Breakfast is nauseating – burnt porridge, and despite the girls’ hunger, they cannot eat much. Jane observes that the girls at Lowood look like Quakers, with their painfully plain attire, hair, and belongings. The woman who first talked to Jane, Miss Temple, is the superintendent and turns out to be awesome. She gives the whole school a meal of bread and cheese to make up for the disgusting breakfast. The girls then go out to the garden. Jane decides to talk to a girl named Helen Burns, who explains to Jane that Lowood is a charity school. Mrs. Reed only sent Jane to Lowood because it is so cheap. Helen is punished by a fussy teacher named Miss Scatcherd who seems to hate her for no reason. Jane admires how bravely Helen faces the humiliation of standing in front of the school in disgrace.

Reaction

This chapter transitions between the Reeds and Lowood, so more interesting chapters can be set up. Lowood is certainly better than the wretched Reed household is, because Jane at least gets to meet new people. Bessie was cool though, even though she eats bunnies. Speaking of eating, the food over at Lowood is terrible; their idea of a feast is bread and cheese. I predict that Miss Scatcherd will be pretty much the new Miss Abbot, and Miss Temple and Helen Burns will be the ‘good’ characters in Lowood. Am I right?