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Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 2023, 6(11); doi: 10.25236/AJHSS.2023.061101.

Power Strife and Rebellion in “Jane Eyre” from the Perspective of Field

Author(s)

Liu Jingnan

Corresponding Author:
Liu Jingnan
Affiliation(s)

College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Abstract

In the novel “Jane Eyre”, Jane’s rebellious personality endowed the text with much more charisma, and consequently, many critics have analyzed Jane’s rebellion in the novel. However, some critics are discontent with the end that Jane enters the aristocratic class and makes compromise with the social order that once repressed her, which, in their minds, is very different from the text’s more subversive parts. To offer a different explanation for Jane’s attribute of “being sometimes subversive but at other times submissive”, this paper analyzes Jane’s rebellion using Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory. This paper argues that rebellion is actually one of Jane’s strategies, which can help her deal with the difficulties in different social situations, and in fact, Jane chooses her strategy unconsciously every time, after her subconscious examines the social situation and the capital she owns.

Keywords

Jane Eyre; Power Strife; Rebellion; Field; Pierre Bourdieu

Cite This Paper

Liu Jingnan. Power Strife and Rebellion in “Jane Eyre” from the Perspective of Field. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 11: 1-5. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2023.061101.

References

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[5] Swartz David. (2012). Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House.

[6] Bronte Charlotte. (2016). Jane Eyre. Beijing: Knowledge Publishing House.