Presence and Effect of Neurodiversity in Jane Eyre by BRIDGET MEDO
Before I begin discussing the novel and Jane’s connection to neurodiversity, it is useful to provide a brief history of autism. Autism is a recent term––first used in its current definition by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger in the 1930s and 1940s (Murray 39)––that wasn’t yet in use when Jane Eyre was written. However, this does not mean that autism did not exist before it was identified, or that it is not possible to map autistic traits onto literary characters from these earlier periods. Stuart Murray, while writing about the history of autism, summarizes this neatly: “But if we acknowledge that current research has established autism as being neurobiological and part of the general pattern of human variation, we also need to concede that this will have always been the case. As a result, individuals with autism have always been part of the fabric of humanity, and have been members of all societies and cultures before the twentieth century” (Murray 39-40). So, although autism spectrum disorder had not been identified or classified at the time when Jane Eyre was written, it is still possible to interpret Jane’s unique character and perspective as a result of neurodivergence and autism.
The first category of autistic traits that can be mapped onto Jane’s character are those dealing with language and communication. This category includes Jane’s selective muteness and her unique tone of voice. Jane describes a problem she sometimes has with speech by saying, “It is one of my faults, that though my tongue is sometimes prompt enough at an answer, there are times when it sadly fails me in framing an excuse; and always the lapse occurs at some crisis” (Brontë 234-5). This description sounds very similar to selective mutism, which is when someone struggles or is unable to speak in some situations. Although commonly a symptom of anxiety disorders, many people with autism also experience this. Mr. Rochester also describes Jane’s voice as “peculiar,” calling it “so animating and piquant, as well as soft” (Brontë 406). While one stereotypical view of autistic people’s voices is that they sound robotic, some autistic people speak with extra animation or, as the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) puts it, using a “sing-song voice” (“Autism Spectrum Disorder”).
The next category is traits that affect outside perceptions of Jane. These include the way she shields her emotions, her lack of facial expressions at times, and her avoidance of physical contact unless she allows it. Some autistic people are misunderstood as having “little to no feeling” when in fact they “typically experience intense sensations and emotions, but may habitually reduce the appearance of feeling” (Rodas, emphasis in original). This fits with Jane’s experiences of how people perceive her throughout the novel. For example, Lady Ingram says Jane looks “too stupid” (Brontë 174) to play charades, which, while probably motivated by Jane’s social class, could also point to Jane having a blank expression while in the drawing-room with all of Mr. Rochester’s guests. Mr. Rochester also mentions Jane’s expression while talking with her, saying, “By my word! there is something singular about you... you have the air of a little nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, and simple” (Brontë 124). We as readers are privy to Jane’s intense emotions, but other characters often have trouble seeing those emotions and believe Jane isn’t feeling them. This extends back to Jane’s childhood––even then, Mrs. Reed criticized Jane for not having “a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner, ––something lighter, franker, and more natural as it were” (Brontë 7). Jane also avoids physical contact unless she is the one to initiate it or unless she allows it, which is a potential autistic trait described by the CDC as preferring “not to be held or cuddled” or cuddling “only when they want to” (“Autism Spectrum Disorder”). This isn’t exclusively an autistic trait, but it becomes more significant when added to the list of other neurodivergent traits that can be seen in Jane’s character. An example of this trait is when Jane is attempting to explain to Mr. Rochester that she wants to leave Thornfield. She takes his hand, but doesn’t allow any other contact between them, as it says, “Now he made an effort to rest his head on my shoulder, but I would not permit it. Then he would draw me to him: no” (Brontë 284). This could be explained as her not wanting to make it more difficult for herself or Mr. Rochester to say goodbye, but she consistently has similar interactions with him throughout the novel, and she is usually the one to initiate physical contact with other characters as well.
The final category of traits have to do with Jane’s internal experiences. These are her inwardness, masking, visual stimming, and her strong moral compass. Inwardness in this instance refers to Jane’s tendency to isolate herself and withdraw from others. This trait is described by Jane Eyre scholar Rodas, who writes, “‘Autism’ literally means ‘selfness’ and... the principal feature of autism is an unusual degree of inwardness, aloneness, or independence” (Rodas). We see this in the very first scene in the novel, when Jane goes into the empty breakfast-room and sits behind the curtain of the window seat to read, clearly comfortable being “shrined in double retirement” (Brontë 8). Bessie even tells Jane that she is “‘a strange child... a little roving, solitary thing’” (Brontë 37). When Jane isn’t alone, she seems to prefer one-on-one company or small groups instead of large groups. While at Lowood, Jane’s best friend is Helen Burns, and she only mentions having another friend once, and she says that they usually separated themselves from the rest of the girls (Brontë 75). This theme continues all the way to the very end of the novel, when Jane is perfectly happy to live with only Mr. Rochester and two others at Ferndean, which is described as “‘quite a desolate spot’” (Brontë 401). Jane also seems to do something that many autistic people, especially those assigned female at birth, do, which is masking. Masking is defined as hiding neurodivergent traits to appear neurotypical, essentially as a form of camouflage. Generally, autistic people start doing this as a way to blend in, which I suspect Jane learned to do at Lowood. Mr. Rochester actually mentions this while telling Jane to act more natural and forgo her “‘Lowood restraints,’” telling her, “‘I see, at intervals, the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high’” (Brontë 131). Interestingly, this also echoes the neurotypical idea that autistic people are ‘trapped’ by their autism and relates to how Mr. Rochester views Jane, a topic I will explore later.
Another very common trait in autism is stimming, which is any kind of self-stimulation from physically moving to making sounds or seeking visual stimulation. While there are no overt mentions of this trait in the novel, it can be argued that “Jane’s unmistakable visual orientation and artistic skill help to locate her on the spectrum” (Rodas). One example of this is, again, in the first scene of the novel, when Jane goes into the breakfast-room to read. She chooses a book, “taking care that it should be one stored with pictures” (Brontë 7), and while looking at the book, mentions that she cares little for “the letterpress” (Brontë 8) and instead prefers to look at the images. She also takes great pleasure in drawing portraits and staring at nature.
The last trait, which is a large part of Jane’s character and one of her most defining characteristics, is her strong moral compass. Throughout the novel, Jane is very clear in what she thinks is right and what is wrong, and she stays true to her values, sometimes at great emotional cost. This strong sense of right and wrong and almost black-and-white thinking is a common trait of autism. Jane shows this is many ways, but explains it well while refusing to marry Mr. Rochester, one of the most difficult decisions she makes in the entire novel. She tells him:
I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad––as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? (Brontë 296-7)
Although it is difficult for her emotionally, she is not willing to go against her moral code or the societal rules she values. This is one of Jane’s most distinctive characteristics, which makes it all the more interesting to consider its relation to autism.
The neurodivergent traits that Jane shows also affect other characters’ reactions to her throughout the novel, making it difficult for other characters to relate to her or understand her, which they blame her for unfairly. As mentioned above, Bessie calls Jane a “strange child” (Brontë 37) very early on in the novel, and Mrs. Reed also treats Jane differently. When Jane goes to visit Mrs. Reed before the woman’s death, Mrs. Reed reveals exactly how she felt about raising Jane:
I have had more trouble with that child than any one would believe. Such a burden to be left on my hands––and so much annoyance as she caused me, daily and hourly, with her incomprehensible disposition, and her sudden starts of temper, and her continual, unnatural watchings of one’s movements! I declare she talked to me once like something mad, or like a fiend––no child ever spoke or looked as she did; I was glad to get her away from the house. (Brontë 218)
While Mrs. Reed’s opinion is influenced by her general dislike of Jane and her resentment from being forced to care for her, the language she uses to describe Jane––incomprehensible, unnatural, mad––is reminiscent of how some parents of autistic children refer to them because of their inability to understand their children or even try to relate to them. Then, while at Lowood, Mr. Brocklehurst, influenced by Mrs. Reed, calls Jane “not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien” (Brontë 63). His main motivation for doing so is because he believes she is a liar, but calling her an alien separates her from the other girls to a degree that seems extreme if his only motivation is her supposed lying. It is also clear that Jane herself realizes that there is something setting her apart from the other characters, which she contemplates on her way to Thornfield, thinking, “I will do my best; it is a pity that doing one’s best does not always answer. At Lowood, indeed, I took that resolution, kept it, and succeeded in pleasing; but with Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn” (Brontë 90). This shows how Jane adapted to Lowood and began to try to blend in and become a people-pleaser, which she intends to do at Thornfield as well.
The other characters in the novel also use Jane’s neurodivergent traits to compare her to supernatural or otherworldly creatures. As mentioned before, she is called a fiend and an alien in her childhood, but Mr. Rochester is the most guilty of othering Jane in this way later in the novel. Throughout the time Mr. Rochester knows and interacts with Jane, he compares her to many different kinds of creatures, including an “elf,” an “ignis fatuus,” a “sylph,” a “mere sprite or salamander,” a “thing,” a “fairy,” a “witch,” a “spirit,” a “creature,” and a “mocking changeling––fairy-born and human-bred” (Brontë 230; 244; 246; 251; 263; 264; 292; 410). Many of these he repeats over and over, especially spirit, elf, and fairy. While other characters seem to other Jane in a negative way, Mr. Rochester others Jane as a way to explore his fascination with her. At times, this includes him wrestling with his feelings for her, such as when he says, “‘You––you strange, you almost unearthly thing!––I love as my own flesh” (Brontë 239). However, as their relationship evolves, he begins to value her supposed otherworldliness, and becomes almost fetishistic towards her, calling her his “pale, little elf” and fantasizing about putting rings on her “fairy-like fingers” (Brontë 243) and traveling so she can follow his “hoof” with her “sylph’s foot” (Brontë 244). He is also extremely possessive of Jane, which overlaps with this othering, especially when he describes their first meeting. He says:
Something came up the path and stopped two yards off me. I looked at it. It was a little thing with a veil of gossamer on its head. I beckoned it to come near me; it stood soon at my knee. I never spoke to it, and it never spoke to me, in words; but I read its eyes, and it read mine; and our speechless colloquy was to this effect––‘It was a fairy, and come from Elf-land, it said; and its errand was to make me happy...” (Brontë 251)
The use of ‘it’ to refer to Jane and the idea that her purpose is to make Mr. Rochester happy reduces Jane to something less than a person in her own right. This way of othering and dehumanizing Jane by comparing her to supernatural creatures relates to the history of how autism was perceived and understood. Historically, stories of supernatural creatures impersonating people, most notably changeling myths, served to “make sense of, and cope with, child disability” and provide “a coherent explanation for its occurrence” (Leask et al. 271). Because the modern Western perception of autism did not yet exist, people defined the perceived differences in others in a way that fit into their existing culture and language. With this in mind, Mr. Rochester could be using these comparisons to provide an explanation for himself about why Jane is showing these traits, and he makes the shift to valuing those comparisons so that he can admire Jane without feeling conflicted about it.
Another example of a neurodivergent character in Jane Eyre is Helen Burns, whose short part in the novel makes hers a simpler case study which provides another glimpse into Victorian English society's perceptions of neurodiversity. Helen is criticized ruthlessly at Lowood for being disorderly, even being forced to wear a sign that says “Slattern” (Brontë 70). It is clear that, despite taking these criticisms to heart, Helen is unable to change what she describes as her faults. She tells Jane, “I am... slatternly; I seldom put, and never keep, things in order; I am careless; I forget rules; I read when I should learn my lessons; I have no method” (Brontë 53). She also describes her difficulty with lessons, saying, “[My thoughts] continually rove away; and when I should be listening to Miss Scatcherd... I fall into a sort of dream... then when it comes, I have to be wakened” (Brontë 54). She adds that she is able to pay attention when the subject interests her, explaining this by saying, “I follow as inclination guides me” (Brontë 54). All of the “faults” that Helen describes “seem to correspond with the diagnostic criteria for the inattentive presentation of ADHD” (Treftz). Helen having traits consistent with ADHD would mean that she, like Jane, is unfairly judged for traits she cannot control. And unfortunately, due to a lack of understanding of neurodivergence in the Victorian era, Helen believes she is at fault and is made miserable by her failed attempts to change to behavior. Helen’s neurodivergent traits may also be the reason she and Jane get along so well, from the very first time they meet, since they are able to understand each other better than other, neurotypical characters due to the similarities in how their minds work. Both Jane and Helen are feared or reviled to some degree for their otherness, which characters deal with in a variety of ways: Miss Scatcherd punishes Helen and hides her discomfort with anger; Mrs. Reed kept physical and emotional distance from Jane, choosing to neglect her instead of trying to relate to someone different from herself; and Mr. Rochester fetishizes Jane for her uncommon traits.
The other characters’ treatment of Jane can also be connected to the way Victorians were haunted by many aspects of their society, including mental illness and neurodiversity. We see this with the main haunting of Jane Eyre, which is Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester’s wife whom he keeps locked in the attic at Thornfield. Mr. Rochester considers Bertha a haunting presence, calling Thornfield an “insolent vault, offering the ghastliness of living death to the light of the open sky––this narrow stone hell, with its one real fiend, worse than a legion of such as we imagine” (Brontë 282). However, despite his treatment of Bertha and the harsh language he uses to describe her, he claims unconvincingly, “It is not because she is mad I hate her” (Brontë 282). Mr. Rochester’s treatment of Bertha, and the way the text describes her, shows the way Victorians dealt with mental illness and felt haunted by it––with neurodiversity, it’s a little less clear. Mrs. Reed does seem to be haunted by Jane even up to her death, as well as by her treatment of Jane. Jane observes, “[S]he was resolved to consider me bad to the last; because to believe me good would give her no generous pleasure: only a sense of mortification” (Brontë 217). Although she is not remorseful enough to apologize to Jane, Mrs. Reed still shows this flicker of regret at her treatment of Jane, so many years after it happened. Mr. Rochester also seems haunted by Jane at times, despite claiming to love her, often referring to her as if she isn’t a physical being. For example, he tells her:
And it is you, spirit––with will and energy, and virtue and purity––that I want: not alone your brittle frame. Of yourself you could come with soft flight and nestle against my heart, if you would: seized against your will, you will elude the grasp like an essence––you will vanish ere I inhale your fragrance. (Brontë 297)
The idea that Jane could vanish like a ghost, although Mr. Rochester is only speaking metaphorically, still colors his view of Jane and places her in a position of something that haunts him, instead of the position of an actual, human lover. In this way, Mr. Rochester escalates from simply comparing Jane to supernatural creatures to letting her neurodivergent traits completely change the relationship they have.
In conclusion, there are many neurodivergent traits, mostly those consistent with autism, which can be mapped onto Jane’s character and which provide a different way of viewing her character and overall journey throughout the novel. Those traits also provide a different way of analyzing how other characters view her, including comparisons between Jane and supernatural creatures and the way mental illness and neurodiversity haunted Victorian society. Although Jane Eyre was written long before autism had ever been defined, much less understood, that is what makes this novel, and literature in general, so interesting; interpretations of it will always be changing and evolving as societies do, giving new life to novels long after they were written. One of the potential functions of literature is to encourage the reader to empathize with someone different from them, a skill that is especially useful in life. If reading Jane Eyre as an autistic character promotes empathy and understanding for actual autistic people and provides an interesting analysis of her character, that is all the more reason to do so.
Works Cited
“Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).” CDC, www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp-dsm.html. Accessed 12 Dec 2020.
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Dover Publications, 2002.
Leask, J. et al. “Evidence for Autism in Folklore?” Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2005, p. 271, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1720294/pdf/v090p00271.pdf. Accessed 12 Dec 2020.
Murray, Stuart. Autism. Taylor & Francis Group, 2011.
Novak, Daniel A. “Fear, Loathing, and Victorian Xenophobia, edited by Marlene Tromp, Maria K. Bachman, and Heidi Kaufman; pp. ix + 380. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2013, $69.95. (review).” Victorian Studies, vol. 57, no. 1, 2014. Project Muse, muse-jhu-edu.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/article/576017#info_wrap. Accessed 12 Dec 2020.
Rodas, Julia Miele. “‘On the Spectrum’: Rereading Contact and Affect in Jane Eyre.” Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies, issue 4.2, 2008, www.ncgsjournal.com/issue42/rodas.htm. Accessed 27 Oct 2020.
Treftz, Jill Marie. “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Jane Eyre’s Helen Burns: “[My Thoughts] Continually Rove Away.” Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. Questia Trusted Online Search, www.questia.com/library/journal/1P4-1964452127/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorde r-and-jane. Accessed 27 Oct 2020.
BRIDGET MEDO is a senior pursuing a degree in English with a minor in Anthropology. Selected by Trish Jenkins.