Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is an impressive tale told in first person. Jane Eyre guides us through her life and her experiences. In a novel based on one person point of view is everything, it can either strengthen or weaken the novel just on which point of view the author chooses. Some questions can arise by the choice of view, such as whether the narrator is reliable, is the view effective, and could the story be told more effectively in a third person view?.
Since Jane Eyre is the main narrator, her reliability and honesty can be questioned. Would she change something n a flashback so it wouldn't make herself or other look differently? Would she exaggerate on some events but maybe overlook others? These are all natural questions when questioning ones integrity. I felt that even though Jane could have changed things in her past and we would have no idea, I feel like she wouldn't. She really as no reason to change anything because if she would have changed events to make her look better then she would have taken many things out. Throughout the book she is emotional tortured and tangled, from the beginning in the red room to her romance with Rochester her life is filled with sadness. When she was a girl she was abused by her extended family, "He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, but continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near." It seems that if she wanted to make herself seem better or anything to that extent she wouldn't have included the abuse she received as a child. Another example is that throughout the book she portrays her lover, Rochester, as both an evil, dirty man, and as a man she loves. By showing both of these views she enables the reader to relate and see that the relationship is not perfect. "I recognized his decisive nose, more remarkable for character than beauty; his full nostrils, denoting, I thought choler; his grim mouth, chin, and jaw.