Post by JANE EYRE on Sept 17, 2011 13:13:59 GMT -5
Jane Eyre
"Just as much heart as you"
OOC: I’m Kay, one of the older members of the site. I’ll be turning 21 in August and I’ve been roleplaying for over five years.
Canon: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Face-claim: Keira Knightley
Social Status: High class because she inherited her uncle’s estate and wealth.
Occupation: Owner of a charity that brings art and community centers to lower-class neighborhoods and part time teacher.
Age: 21
Appearance: Jane’s very thin, almost painfully so. She’s been thin for most of her life due to malnutrition and even though she’s been attempting to put on weight, she just can’t do it. She’s healthy though, despite her low weight and past run-ins with health issues. Despite being pale, her cheeks are always full of lively color and she is always smiling. Even though her posture is very good, Jane sometimes doesn’t quite have full control over her limbs and is prone to knocking things over or tripping over her own feet; her arms and legs are quite spindly so her muscles aren’t well developed and her motor skills are similarly lacking.
Jane tends to dress in a very feminine but understated way. She likes soft, inconspicuous colors and breezy blouses, skirts and cardigans. Floral patterns are good in Jane’s opinion, as long as they aren’t too eye-catching, and a little bit of lace is never a bad thing. She owns a few things that suit a more formal occasion but generally she buys all of her clothes from thrift shops because she just can’t rationalize spending a lot of money on clothes.
Overall Personality: Even though, as a child, Jane was hateful and angry, Jane is quite kind and forgiving now. Not really religious, Jane still adheres to what most people would call “good Christian” beliefs and morals. She often goes out of her way to help those around her and to not step on the toes of anyone. Because she had been raised with very little by way of material belongings or love, she tries her best to give others those things so they won’t go without. Because of her generous nature, she often forgets to look after herself or to keep her happiness and wants in mind. Most of the time, she has to have someone remind her that it’s okay to be selfish from time to time.
One of the reasons why Jane isn’t very religious is because she is a firm believer in the supernatural. Ghosts exist in Jane’s opinion, and she believes that she’s been visited by three in the past, one of which she thinks was the spirit of her dead mother. She also thinks that hauntings are quite real and that they should not be taken lightly. Because she buys into the supernatural, Jane is sometimes prone to fanciful ideas or stories. Faeries, ghouls, spirit guardians, and the like are all totally normal topics of conversation for her. Jane definitely has a wild imagination and if you let her run unchecked, she will funnel it creatively and end up with some fantastical art piece.
Jane isn’t the most confident of people. She was informed repeatedly growing up that she was too plain or even ugly so she doesn’t know how to react when someone compliments her appearance. As a result, Jane finds herself relatively unlovable so she has a hard time believing it’ll happen to her even though she’s been in love in the past. The love she’s had in the past, though, has left her a bit wary of falling in love again. After all, her heart was broken and she was used so it’s natural to shy away from the thing that lead to such an experience. Despite her efforts to distance herself from love, however, Jane finds herself to be quite the helpless romantic trapped in a logical and practical mind. She yearns for love but won’t just jump into something that doesn’t make sense for her life.
Likes, dislikes: Jane likes art, nature, a little bit of mystery, being autonomous, and learning new things. She greatly dislikes being bored, being lied to, cabbage (it reminds her of her childhood), and small enclosed spaces.
Goals, fears: Jane’s goals include helping others less fortunate than her, finding love that is both good for her and passionate, and defining her own happiness and living it on her own terms. She fears being used and lied to again, bad spirits or ghosts, and ending up unwanted and unloved like before.
Overall History: Jane was orphaned as a very young girl and was left in the care of her aunt and uncle. When her uncle passed away, Jane was left to the mercy of her aunt. Once left without a defense, Jane was made the butt of all jokes and problems by her cousins and her aunt often took her frustrations out on the small child. Not given food or water on a regular basis, or just not given enough, Jane began to look like a small, sickly thing and was generally regarded as a lesser being. A typical punishment for Jane was to be locked up in her uncle's old bedroom where his corpse was kept while waiting for removal, or the 'red room' as Jane took to calling it. Since the first time she was locked up for a long period of time, Jane has been terrified of being locked away with no way out. It has developed into a sort of claustrophobia that only kicks in when the doors or exits are locked or blocked off. She was abused regularly in that same way, as well as physically by her cousin John, before she was shipped off to a reformatory school.
Her time at the school was grim. The school was run by a tyrant of a man who pocketed more money than the school got. Eventually, when the poor conditions were found out after an outbreak of yellow fever, the school was reformed. Once in the care of mindful teachers and skilled tutors, Jane nursed her love for reading and art. Having been stifled in her aunt's home for so long, a school that allowed freedom was the greatest thing that could ever happen to Jane. Unfortunately, Jane received nourishment too late in her life to fix the damage done to her body. Forever smaller than normal and somewhat sickly looking, Jane strengthened her mind when she could not her body. Jane defied the odds of being the victim of abuse and took to education with alacrity. Jane graduated early and received her teaching degree at the age of sixteen. Jane returned to the reform school to teach young girls art because she finally felt there was something that she was good at.
After holding a private tutor position in the Fairfax household and enduring some drama with the man of the house, Jane decided she needed a new start. So, she packed her bags and moved from jolly old England to New York City. Due to her poor financial status, Jane was only able to afford a meager apartment in the 'bad' part of town in Brooklyn that was close enough to the school she was to teach at. She enjoyed the cultural melting pot her neighborhood was and, despite the always looming danger, Jane felt comfortable in Brooklyn. It was someplace, in her mind, that she could just be herself and no one would mind. It wasn't heaven by any means, but Jane, being firmly rooted in reality, accepted her new home.
One year after moving to New York Jane discovered that she was an heiress to a substantial fortune left to her from an uncle she never knew. She hasn’t changed much about her lifestyle and has given a fair amount of money away to charity, investing some, and spending the rest.
Most Influential Event: Deciding to leave Thornfield and Edward Rochester behind her. For the first time in her life, Jane was striking out on her own and was completely independent.
Sample Writing:
Deep breaths, Jane, that’s it. Jane leaned against the wall of the elevator that had suddenly stalled on its trip down. The lights had flickered viciously for a few seconds then cut off. There were several moments where Jane stood, frozen, in complete darkness before the emergency lights kicked in, bathing the small box in red. Jane had managed to keep her wits about her long enough to use the emergency phone to call for help but now she stood in the corner, eyes squeezed shut, trying to force out the red and to mentally transport herself to someplace much larger.
It reminded her too much of the red room from her childhood for comfort.
Small, cramped, just a little too hot, red, and startlingly empty compared to the world around her. Jane tried not to think about it and instead turned her mind to the docks where she seemed to spend more and more time. The salty wind frazzling her already too big hair, the breeze ruffling her shirt and tangling her skirt about her legs like a comforting embrace, the sand warmly enveloping her feet. She tried to imagine the smell of the sea, pungent and overwhelming; she tried to imagine the sounds of the boats swaying, the bells ringing, and the seagull s clamoring overhead; she tried to imagine all the space that surrounded her out there, freedom and adventure in any direction.
Just when she thought that her imaginings wouldn’t be enough, Jane felt the elevator hum back to life and could feel the lights sputter back on rather than see them. Jane didn’t open her eyes until the bell rang and the doors slid open.
It reminded her too much of the red room from her childhood for comfort.
Small, cramped, just a little too hot, red, and startlingly empty compared to the world around her. Jane tried not to think about it and instead turned her mind to the docks where she seemed to spend more and more time. The salty wind frazzling her already too big hair, the breeze ruffling her shirt and tangling her skirt about her legs like a comforting embrace, the sand warmly enveloping her feet. She tried to imagine the smell of the sea, pungent and overwhelming; she tried to imagine the sounds of the boats swaying, the bells ringing, and the seagull s clamoring overhead; she tried to imagine all the space that surrounded her out there, freedom and adventure in any direction.
Just when she thought that her imaginings wouldn’t be enough, Jane felt the elevator hum back to life and could feel the lights sputter back on rather than see them. Jane didn’t open her eyes until the bell rang and the doors slid open.
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