With her sole novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë joins her sister, Emily Brontë, and Jane Austen in the "By Victorian Women, for Victorian Women" club.

Jane Eyre tells the David Copperfield-esque story of a young English maiden throughout her troubled childhood and life serving the mysterious, yet captivating Mr. Rochester.

At the opening of the novel, Jane Eyre is an orphan living with her cruel aunt and cousins. Embracing her pitiful archetype to great extents, she is beaten and starved, forced to work as a servant and must sleep in a small, closet-like room.

Her imagination is her best friend, which leads Jane on a series of adventures through boarding schools and manors.

At last, as a young woman, Jane finds herself working as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets the charismatic, enigmatic Edward Rochester, the shadowed man sends her into a spiral of unraveling secrets.

The novel dives into the conventional themes of finding love in an unconventional manner. The heroine possesses a quick, sharp tongue and stands as an equal to Rochester, not as his inferior.

The characters are not milquetoasts, good-natured or underdeveloped. Everyone involved in the plot is marred by some secret. Brontë crafts the hardships prevalent to women in her time without glamorizing life the way many of her contemporaries did — Jane Austen, for example.

Jane Eyre, on the surface, is a coming-of-age story in a misogynistic time. However, it tells the tale of the secrets of humanity and how the darkness one hides can lead to corruption. It is not exclusively the story of Jane, but of the various secondary characters as well and how they build together to shape Jane. Her aunt symbolizes the cold, distant aristocratic way of life. Ms. Fairfax serves to represent the middle class, while St. John represents the monastic way of life. Each guides Jane to her final stance as the first modern woman in Victorian literature.

In her novel, Charlotte Brontë creates a strong, independent woman, living before her time. She paints a canvas, an era, a journey with eloquent language and vibrant characters. Jane Eyre remains a classic due to its unconventional themes, timeless ideas and unforgettable story. Even after you close the final page, the doors of Thornfield Hall remain open.

Charlotte Smart is a junior at Santa Fe Secondary School. You can reach her at charchar@cybermesa.com.