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A Place to Forget
by María de la Iglesia Mata (5º B)
Gateshead is that awful place which only deserves to be a bad memory. Jane suffered very much there, and all of us have suffered some time in some particular situation. However, every wretched moment Jane had to bear happened at Gateshead, every day. Gateshead symbolizes Jane's misfortune, a place which she wants to forget but this one which will remain in her mind and will deeply mark her forever.
The constant verbal and physical abuse form her cousin and aunt made Jane's time at Gateshead unbearable. They were permanently reminding hers lower class, even their servants, and thought they were entitled to scorn and slight poor Jane and to punish her ardently, without pity or reasons.
For Jane, Gateshead is the red room, an awful, big, dark place where she felt small, alone and frightened. It was a room like a jail, while outside the weather always was cold, dark and rainy. The bleak winter weather not only reflected Jane's inhospitable surroundings but also her lonely state of mind.
When she left Gateshead, she felt triumphant, her first won fight, after expressing her non-conformism to her aunt, all the hate she had inside, the result of her longing for justice and also for revenge, because of having borne so much humiliation and her honour having been raped on and on.
Leaving Gateshead means starting a new life, the possibility of gaining happiness for the first time. However, her handicap is that she is still an immature little girl, needed of love, who will have to build her character by herself, without parents' guidance.
So, she will have to find a new refuge as that window seat close to the class, hidden by a heavy red curtain, had kept her far from uneasiness.