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once Jane Eire leaves gateshead she's off the boarding school. if you were raised

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on a Harry Potter that might conjure images of fun magical adventures. [ woman on a bus meets magician]

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unfortunately Lowood isn't exactly Hogwarts. it would be like if the only spells

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taught at Hogwarts made sick people even sicker. good time. a Lowood didn't spring

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fully form from Charlotte brontë's imagination unfortunately. she had the

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misfortune of attending a boarding school with her sisters that was just as

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bad. Cowan bridge. but hey if you're gonna suffer the source of your

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suffering might as well serve as literary inspiration. the school was

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founded by Reverend William Karras Wilson a wealthy clergyman. although he

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had the best of intentions of a great school that would provide education to [Wilson pictured in a field]

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the children of clergymen, reality fell a bit short of plans. payments made by

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parents barely covered food and lodging which yielded some unpleasant results in

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the kitchen. Throw in a careless and dirty chef and you've got a recipe for barely

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edible food, a bunch of hungry Bronte sisters.

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well to make matters worse health was also an issue at Kalin bridge a typhoid

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epidemic struck the school and many girls suffered from horrible fevers. one

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of the girls affected was Charlotte's own sister Maria who also had

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tuberculosis and died shortly after being withdrawn from the school. though

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it should come as little surprise that Lowood would doesn't exactly come off as a [sick girl falls over]

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happiest place on earth. however despite the wealth of painful inspiration

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Charlotte had to draw from Lowood isn't a complete disaster for Jane. She does

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make friends including Helen burns and Miss Temple and eventually wins over the

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whole school. ideally it would be nice to have friends that don't have typhus, but

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hey beggars can't be choosers. well Jane also starts down the path

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toward reason and self control and begins to learn what it means to be true

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to oneself. well to be clear this isn't the reality TV style of being true to

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oneself which generally means being opinionated not backing down [woman yells at man]

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and somehow hoping this behavior will get you your own show in a book deal. for

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Jane being true to herself means being true to higher authorities

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conscience and morally right actions exactly Jersey Shore level virtues but

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well we can't all be perfect. so despite the misery Jane endured at Lowood she

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did learn a few things. perhaps most importantly never eat the mystery meat-

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it's a mystery that's best left unsolved. [eyeballs in soup]

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