Jane Eyre and The Atmoscene: Early Expressions of Ecofeminism in Literature

Abstract

This essay addresses the connection in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre between the protagonist and the atmosphere. Specifically, I address the issue of why Brontë associates the atmosphere with womanhood in the novel. My argument is that Brontë’s novel offers an early example of an ecofeminist text or a “proto-ecofeminist text” as I refer to it within the essay. This essay explains how ecofeminism connects the exploitation of the environment with the degradation of womanhood and utilizes Justine Pizzo’s article “Atmospheric Exceptionalism in Jane Eyre” to provide evidence. I use Jason Moore’s work on oikeios to show how Jane Eyre rejects dualism by finding conceptual means of reconnecting humanity with nature. Elaine Freedgood’s work on colonial exploitation of resources shows how Jane’s ecofeminism does not extend to the colonial other and how it problematizes the text as ecofeminist in nature. Finally, I analyze Dipesh Chakrabarty’s “Four Theses,” with a focus on the second and third theses, and how they help illuminate Jane’s own inner struggles with atmospheric influence and passivity in the face of colonial resource extraction. Ultimately this paper concludes that despite Jane’s dilemmas, her womanhood and consciousness of connection to nature preserve her status as a proto-ecofeminist figure.