Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë & Emily Brontë
Contents
Jane Eyre — CHAPTER IX
Overview
Spring softens Lowood’s hardships, but typhus devastates the school, loosening discipline and briefly improving daily conditions for the healthy. Jane bonds with Mary Ann Wilson, while Helen Burns, ill with consumption, fades. Jane secretly visits Helen at night; they speak of faith and death, and Helen dies peacefully, profoundly affecting Jane’s outlook.
Summary
As spring arrives, the harsh cold and privations at Lowood ease. The grounds grow lush, and outdoor time becomes pleasant. Yet the valley’s damp climate breeds disease; typhus sweeps the school, turning it into a hospital and claiming multiple lives. With classes suspended and supervision relaxed, the healthy girls are urged outdoors for exercise.
Household scrutiny lessens in Mr. Brocklehurst’s absence, rations improve, and Jane enjoys liberty in the woods. She forms a new companionship with the witty Mary Ann Wilson, whose stories engage Jane’s curiosity, though Jane still cherishes Helen Burns’s steadier, higher-minded friendship.
Helen has been removed from view with consumption, not typhus. Seeing her only distantly in the garden, Jane underestimates the danger. One June evening, after lingering outdoors, Jane learns from a nurse that the surgeon, Mr. Bates, has said Helen will not live long. Shocked, Jane resolves to see Helen despite rules and the late hour.
Jane slips through the moonlit passages to Miss Temple’s room, where Helen lies in a small crib. They talk quietly: Helen professes serenity, faith in God, and acceptance of death. Jane, fearful of the unknown, clings to Helen, seeking assurance that they will meet again. Helen comforts her, urging trust in divine goodness.
They fall asleep together. At dawn, Miss Temple finds Jane nestled against Helen, who has died peacefully in the night. Later, Jane notes Helen’s grave in Brocklebridge churchyard, eventually marked with “Resurgam,” sealing the chapter’s lasting spiritual and emotional impact on Jane.
Who Appears
- Jane EyreNarrator; enjoys brief freedom during the typhus crisis, befriends Mary Ann, and secretly visits dying Helen, struggling with mortality and faith.
- Helen BurnsConsumptive friend; expresses serene faith and acceptance of death, comforts Jane during a final nighttime conversation, and dies peacefully.
- Miss TempleDevoted teacher; oversees patients, shelters Helen in her room, and discovers Jane asleep beside Helen after Helen’s death.
- Mary Ann WilsonJane’s new companion during relaxed rules; witty, worldly, and a source of stories during woodland rambles.
- Mr. BatesSurgeon; visits Lowood during the epidemic and confirms Helen’s imminent death.
- Nurse (unnamed)Attendant; informs Jane of Helen’s condition, sleeps by Helen’s crib, and later carries Jane back to the dormitory.
- Mr. BrocklehurstSchool head; absent during the epidemic, whose absence eases oversight and improves conditions for the healthy girls.