Reader's Response Lens In Jane Eyre By William Golding

“There have been so many interpretations of the story that I'm not going to choose between them. Make your own choice. They contradict each other, the various choices. The only choice that really matters, the only interpretation of the story, if you want one, is your own. Not your teachers, not your professor's, not mine, not a critic's, not some authority's. The only thing that matters is, first, the experience of being in the story, moving through it. Then any interpretation you like. If it's yours, then that's the right one, because what's in a book is not what an author thought he put into it, it's what the reader gets out of it.” -William Golding. This novel can be viewed through a reader's response lens because of all the different responses
Another example is what Jane says to Mrs. Reed before she leaves Gateshead. “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you, but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I….I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if anyone asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty.” (Bronte 36). Basically after everything she has been through and all the times she kept her mouth shut, keeping everything bottled up inside her, Jane finally got the nerve to stand up for herself and confront Mrs. Reed about how she treats her. This is important because this is very big of Jane to do because this makes Jane look like the bigger person, standing up for what is right and telling Mrs. Reed what kind of person she truly is making it aware that what her aunt did to her was completely wrong