The story is narrated by Jane Eyre who at the age of ten is guarded by her in-law aunt, Mrs. Reed. Mr. Reed, Jane's mother's brother, takes her in charge when she is orphaned, but dying himself shortly thereafter, and despite having made his wife promise to raise her as one of his own children, Jane has not known but humiliation and mistreatment by everyone in the sumptuous mansion, Gateshead Hall.When Jane begins to question the injustice with which she is treated, and to rebel against it, she is sent to an all-girls school, Lowood.Lowood is an institution funded in part by donations to educate orphans. The desire of Mr. Brocklehurst, the treasurer, to turn the girls into women "resistant, patient and selfless" justifies for him the hunger and the cold that they suffer in the place. However, the superintendent of the institution, Miss Temple, is a smart and kind young woman who appreciates Jane. She is she soon makes friends, like Helen Burns, a girl who soon dies of tuberculosis, but she leaves an indelible mark of stoicism and Christian faith. When a typhus epidemic sweeps through the female students, improvements are made to the quality of life of the place, where Jane spends eight years, six as a student and two as a teacher.
