Jane Eyre Imperialism

The Orient, according to Said, is always considered to be inferior and objectionable to the occident. Throughout the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte displays a typical anglocentric assumptions about non British. Bronte is a considered a colonial author because not only is she is British, but by the end of the 19th century, her nation controlled almost two thirds of the entire world. From her biography, it is not actually depicted whether she ever left the confines of the European continent and hardly stayed outside her country except for the brief education outside the borders of Britain. Yet, Bronte’s Jane Eyre clearly gives her away as not appreciating anything outside from Britain including other Europeans and not to mention those from outside Europe. Most of her obstinate descriptions and ideas about her characters are those of what she had read from other biased writings and not anything she had experienced firsthand.
Somehow, Bronte sometimes associates her English characters with some of her undesirables as seen in the beginning of the book where she described Jane sitting cross legged like a Turk. The use of this term by Bronte in this part of the book, was to show how un-English her main …show more content…
Celine Varens and her daughter, Adele are described as being less intelligent than the typical English woman like Jane herself and materialistic. Adele is specifically described as talentless and not bright (143) and constantly after gifts from Rochester whenever he returned from his trips. Celine is also talked of as being promiscuous as she cheats on Rochester with a different man even though Rochester rained on her everything she could have wanted and needed materially. Grace Poole, who is from neighboring Ireland is not spared either. Her face, described as “square, flat figure and uncomely, dry and coarse” further proves how unattractive some non-English women seemed to the