Read the excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama [Mrs. Reed] in the drawing-room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. Me, she had dispensed from joining the group; saying, ". . . Until she heard from Bessie, and could discover by her own observation, that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner—something lighter, franker, more natural, as it were—she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children. What is revealed by juxtaposing Mrs. Reed’s treatment of her children with her treatment of Jane?
Answer
A
Mrs. Reed is hypocritical and biased.
B
Mrs. Reed thinks children should be well behaved.
C
Mrs. Reed is unobservant and lazy.
D
Mrs. Reed is uncomfortable around children.
Explanation
Mrs. Reed treats her own children as “perfectly happy” and lets them gather around her, but excludes Jane from the same comforts and privileges. She claims Jane must first become more sociable and cheerful, showing that she judges Jane more harshly than her own children. This contrast reveals that Mrs. Reed is biased and hypocritical.
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