I have read many novels in Chinese and English, while I have never thought about the “ways of knowing” involved in novels. Over the last few weeks, I have been reading a novel called Jane Eyre by English writer Charlotte Bronte. It is a first-person narrative of the main character, Jane Eyre, whose life goes through five distinct stages.

A major theme of the novel is religion. We can easily link this to one of our WOKs, faith. In Chapter 9 of the book, Jane’s best friend in her childhood, Helen, dies because of untreatable diseases. However, she does not feel grieved or even upset at all. She has no fair of death. Her firmness on his religious faith has relieved her from distress. Finally, Helen’s sincere conviction has influenced the rest of Jane’s life. Clearly, the novel tends to draw the audience to think about how faith, especially religion, could and to what extent construct our beliefs. Throughout Helen’s life, religion has always played a significant role in her decisions. She chooses to forebear those who abuse her, and tells Jane to be grateful to everyone, in the name of God.

Emotion is another major WOK involved in the novel. During Jane’s childhood, she is usually abused by her aunt, physically and emotionally. Both young Jane and her aunt are irritable, and it is particularly hard to get them soothed. The angry emotion caused by her aunt, who is probably the Jane’s closet relative, shapes Jane’s very strong personalities to a great extent, and propels her to pursue a free but adventurous life, which results in a very different experience from the peaceful and composed life that is considered to be the most respectable life of a female at that time.

I only discussed about the roles that religion and emotion play in the novel, while certainly there are far more themes involved in Jane Eyre, such as morality, social class, gender equality and so on. Jane Eyre is probably a great book to explore into for TOK.