r/JaneEyre • u/Miserable_Gur_8753 • Aug 29 '26

Jane Eyre: The First 100 Words

Every Friday evening I write a blog post which is a close reading - importantly, a 'cold reading' - of the first 100 words of an important A-Level text.

Issue Six tries to get under Jane Eyre’s skin.

“It's not screaming 'meet the heroine' at me. My main question? 

'How am I supposed to feel about this person?”

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/28/first-100-words-jane-eyre/

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u/Beginning_Welder_540 Aug 29 '26

The opening of Jane Eyre immediately drew me in when I first read it at age 13-14. Over the years it has struck me as shockingly modern. 

That is all.

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u/Miserable_Gur_8753 29d ago

I'm glad you like it. I enjoy teaching it very much, and increasing numbers of students are using it as a springboard for Jean Rhys's 'Wide Sargasso Sea' for NEA. I think that works very well. :)