Jane Eyre in Flash Fiction Chapter 2
How I imagined I saw my uncle’s ghost in the red-room
I was unjustly accused of violence and wickedness towards my cousin, John, and reminded that I was less than a servant. They warned me that if I was not congenial, I would be sent to the poorhouse.
I knew my aunt had promised my uncle, Mr Reed, that she would rear and maintain me as her own. Instead, she considered me an alien intruder in her family. I was an unloved and unwanted guest at Gateshead Hall. They called me naughty, sullen and sneaking. Everything I did was at fault, consequently I was always suffering, brow beaten and condemned.
Miss Abbot and Bessie, both servants at Gateshead, wanted to tie me up with a pair of garters. I promised to keep still, and they left me on a low ottoman near the marble chimneypiece in the red room, the largest and coldest room, furnished with a bed, dark mahogany chairs and wardrobe. There was a miniature of my poor uncle, who had died in this very room.
The rain was beating on the windows, and the wind howled in the grove behind the Hall. When night fell and I saw a ghost in the looking glass, I screamed and sobbed to be let out, but they did not believe me. I was so terrified that my uncle would rise from the grave that I had a fit and lost consciousness.
The second chapter of Jane Eyre intensifies Jane’s sense of abandonment, loneliness and lack of love or support.
Another chilling aspect is added to her misery, her uncle’s ghostly presence in the ominous room. Jane is threatened with the poorhouse, almost tied up, and locked in the red room, where her uncle died and presumably haunts in the dead of night.
A terrifying situation for a helpless ten-year-old child.
The summary is based on the free ebook by planet books which you can find here.
I’ll be posting a chapter of Jane Eyre in flash fiction every Friday. If you’re wondering why, read all about it here.
If you’d you’d like to Reread Jane Eyre with me, visit my blog every Friday for #JaneEyreFF posts.
See you next week for chapter 3!
Images from Pixabay
Rereading Jane Eyre 
I remember this scene, Luccia. This is one of several very emotional scenes in this book which make the reader feel traumatised just from reading about the circumstances.
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Her aunt, and everyone else in the household, except to a lesser degree, Bessie, were so cruel to a little girl. It’s shocking by today’s standards, although Victorians were well-known for (and accustomed to) cruelty to children.
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