Loneliness in Literature and Its Historical Context and What We Learn From It
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Authors
Smith, Lily
Issue Date
2025-04-03
Type
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Description
The specific topic of my research is exploring the theme of loneliness in both
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea by applying
Palkeinen’s four modalities of loneliness (lack of meaningful activity, a sense of
insecurity, the feeling of being an outsider, and the feeling of longing) to address
historical connotations in the novels and the psychology and sympathy we learn from
reading them. The central questions of my research include: What are the similarities
and differences of how Jane Eyre presents the theme of loneliness compared to Wide
Sargasso Sea? How did Bronte’s personal life influence her writing compared to Rhys?
What do learn about by reading these pieces? The goal of this research is to compare
and contrast both Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre, and their historical connotations.
The other goal was to find why reading a variety of literature is important even if they
share the same theme. My research methods for this paper included only using
research found through Google Scholar as my other sources, along with the books Jane
Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. I found that they both present the theme of loneliness
through the feeling of longing. Jane Eyre presents the theme through a lack of
meaningful activity while Wide Sargasso Sea presents the theme of loneliness through
insecurity. Both Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys used their schooling experience from
when they were children for their characters. However, Rhys wrote about her own
loneliness struggles and cultural and racial identity issues. Bronte used her experience
of losing her mother while young to illness and her sisters to typhoid fever in her writing.
Bronte also used her dreams of financial independence in Jane Eyre. Reading both
teaches us about the psychology of the time Jane Eyre teaches us about Victorian
psychology, while Wide Sargasso Sea teaches us about 1960s psychology. From
reading the theme of loneliness we are able to develop sympathy as we read about
characters who experience things that we may not have.