Jacob Shamsian 9/22/08

The Theme of Freedom in Jane Eyre and Anthem

English

Jane Eyre and Anthem both deal with the subject of lack of freedom
among many other subjects. In different ways, Jane Eyre and Equality 7-2521
are supressed from the freedom they strive for, and have different - yet also
similar in some ways - methods of achieving their freedom.

Jane Eyre finds the most restriction against freedom when she cannot
always love who she wants, or be with the people she wants most without
any strings attached. For example, she was orphaned, and would love to be
with her parents. She is stripped of that privilege and has to live with her
unkind aunt and the rest of her family, who bully her. Later on, she also
meets Rochester, who she loves very much. As much as she wants to marry
him, Jane still considers Rochester as married and therefore does not.

In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 is restricted from his freedom almost

entirely by the totalitarian government that controls the only society he
knows of. He lacks the freedom to make decisions in his life, such as who to
marry (in fact the entire concept of marriage is nonexistent), what
occupation to have, and where he can be at times: all of that is determined
by the government. His only glimpses of true freedom is when he is alone in
the tunnel he discovers, where he experiments with electricity. Even there,
he feels the limits of the totalitarian government because he cannot
experiment outside, or in public at all. He can only experiment with science
in total secrecy.

An important time where Jane showed herself as a rebel toward

authority was when she was still living with her cruel aunt, Mrs. Reed, and
the rest of Mrs. Reed's family. Mrs. Reed disliked Jane nearly as much as Jane
disliked Mrs. Reed, and eventually decided to send Jane off to Lowood, in
hope that Jane will perhaps learn to be a gentlewoman as well as to keep
Jane out of her way. Before Jane leaves, she takes the opportunity to tell
Mrs.Reed everything she thought about her, in full honesty and bluntness.
Mrs. Reed was shocked. If she had not been leaving, Jane would have
probably been severely punished for this.

Another specific condition where Jane is restricted from freedom is at

Lowood, her school. There, Jane has a reputation of being a liar and a
troublemaker before she even arrives, because of what Mrs. Reed tells Mr.
Brocklehurst (The head of Lowood). At Lowood, the children are deprived
from the luxurious freedom of good food, clothes, and rooming conditions. It
is outside her power to improve such conditions. As a result, one of the best
friends she ever had, Helen Burns, dies from Typhus outbreak in the school,
many of the students at Lowood were vulnerable to because of the bad
conditions. Luckily, Jane was not infected. Not only is this an example of Jane
lacking freedom, but it shows how harmful lacking freedom can be. Because
of her lack of liberty, she lost a great friend.

To show her discontent with Lowood, Jane took several steps. One was
befriending Helen Burns. Helen was known to be a troublemaker in school
because she was a person who used civil disobedience - she refused to obey
the rules which she felt were unjust. A notable instance where Helen used
civil disobedience was when Miss Scatcherd picked on her. Miss Scatcherd
was known to be a strict teacher, and was particularly vindictive toward
Helen for her insolence toward her. Miss Scatcherd would often tell Helen to
do unnecessary tasks that seemed to serve no useful purpose but to bother
Helen, When prompted with these tasks, Helen would refuse and later be
punished. By befriending Helen, Jane showed that she agreed with these
ideals. The very fact that she thought of a rebellious character as her best
friend gave her the mental position of being a rebel against the authority
shown at Lowood.

The notion of freedom is directly linked to what you are allowed to

know. To be truly free, all information that can possibly have any affect on
you should be available and you should be free to pursue them at your
leisure. Jane Eyre did not have this privilege, as throughout the book there is
the recurring theme of Rochester keeping secrets from Jane, not giving her
much information. This is especially important since Jane loves Rochester
and Rochester Jane. However, there is a certain secrecy between them.
While Jane tells everything about herself to Rochester, Rochester does not
tell Jane much about his past. If and when Jane discovers certain things
about Rochester, the time is rarely right and a temporary rift is created in
their relationship because of that. If Rochester had been honest from the
beginning and had told Jane that he had a wife then perhaps Jane would
actually marry him. Again, there is the idea that not being free leads to only
consequences. In fact, it is only after Rochester is honest and transparent to
Jane about everything and apologizes, and when he declares that his
previous wife is dead, Jane marries Rochester and for the first time she has
her real "happily ever after."

Regardless, when Jane feels truly free at the end of the novel, when
she marries Rochester and is able to live a free and open life, it is not entirely
without consequences. Because of the initial dishonestly between them, Jane
and Rochester cannot enjoy their marriage to the fullest. Rochester's first
wife, who was kept in secret because of Rochester's initial dishonesty, causes
a fire in Rochester's mansion. Rochester enters the burning mansion
heroically in order to attempt to save his servants. The fire damages him,
and he becomes a cripple, blind in one eye (His first wife did not survive the
fire). His other eye was harmed, but would heal in enough time to see the
birth of his first legitimate child. Although Jane and Rochester still get their
happy ending, I'm sure that at some point during the relationship the visual
defect would prove to be a drawback.

In many ways, Equality 7-2521 (or "Prometheus" as he is later named)

is more restricted by society in terms of freedom than Jan Eyre. Prometheus
is told by society how to act, what to do, and most importantly: how to think.
Many say that freedom of expression is one of the most important freedom.
In Prometheus' world, expressing oneself is illegal. Expressing individuality is
illegal. The world he lives in is about suppressing the rights and thoughts of
the individual mind and instead molding all of humankind in the city that
they know into what the government wants them to be as opposed to what
the citizens want themselves to be.

From birth, Prometheus was not only unable to make choices for
himself, but his parents could not do so either. He was raised since infancy in
a public home, as everyone else is, and was not taught love or any sort of
emotion at all. When transferred to the house of schooling, he realizes that
he enjoys thinking freely, questioning everything, and wants a career of his
own instead of one chosen by the Council of Vocations (a sector of the
government that determines what each person will have as a job for the rest
of their life). This is especially dangerous since such thoughts are forbidden,
and he feels the weight of the lack of freedom more heavily than others.

Prometheus finds a way to skim over the interests of the Council and
pursue science on his own. He is assigned as a street cleaner. On one of his
rounds, he stumbles upon abandoned subway tunnel. Unknown to the rest of
the world, the tunnel becomes his haven for pursuing his own interests.
Inside it, he rediscovers electricity (his society rejected the concept of
electric-powered light and decided to use candles instead). However, when
he attempts to show his discovery of electric light to the Scientific Council,
not only is his idea rejected, but the council attempts to prosecute him for
meddling with science when he is not authorized to. This shows that the
ordinary citizens are not allowed the slightest to pursue their own interests.

When prosecuted, Prometheus flees to a place outside the

government's sphere of power. But before doing so, he takes a woman from
the city with her. Her official name is Liberty 5-3000. But Prometheus has
named her "The Golden One." Later, Prometheus names her "Gaea."
Prometheus had seen Gaea while working, and had taken fancy with her. She
agrees to go with him, and off they went.

In their society, marriage is a concept that is nonexistent. There are no

partnerships or true friendships in life, only colleagues. Children are not
made through relationships. Instead, the government organizes a sort of sex
ceremony where a man and woman are selected to meet in private and are
expected to create a child. However, that is practically the only interaction
they will have with each other ever, no relationship aside from that moment
develops from the to-be parents. They do not raise the child, but rather the
child is raised in home with other children. Falling in love with someone and
eloping, as Prometheus and Gaea did, is extremely forbidden. But they're
eloping anyway so it's not like they care.

Finally, Prometheus and Gaea truly free at that point of escape. They
find an abandoned house on a hill and live in it happily ever after. The rest of
society has a long way to go before they break free of their liberty-restricted
world, but progression is made nonetheless. Prometheus and Gaea finally
find freedom. They can freely enjoy and immerse themselves into a world of
knowledge, history, and science, as there is a library in their house, and can
have as many children as they like and raise them in anyway they like. They
also support freedom by vowing to allow any person who happens to wander
by to pursue any interest they like.

Jane Eyre, Prometheus, and Gaea all achieve freedom in various ways
from their previous restrictions. They achieve the freedom to love, the
freedom of interest, and the freedom of expression. All of them turn their
backs on their restrictive societies and are free to do what they like.