Jane Eyre, the protagonist of the novel finds in Helen Burns, a friend and a mentor (as the novel progresses). Jane and Helen are brought in contact at LOWOOD INSTITUTION.
The reference to this initiation of conversation between Jane and Helen can be found in chapter5, pg.53.
The question is the reason/reasons for Jane to initiate this conversation with a total stranger.
It is not the nature of Jane to socialise as Jane herself admits in pg.53 (ch.5)
“The step was ... and habits”.
This nature of not ‘socialising easily’ can be attributed to her life at Gateshead. She was always left in the nursery alone (by Reeds). “She really must ... happy little children” (Ch. 1)
This probably would have made her ‘reserved’.
I personally feel it’s partly because she is alone that she herself opens up a conversation and partly because of the same taste, she assumes Helen shared with her (reading habit: same taste). To justify this, the very line,
“Is your book interesting” can be taken into consideration.
Maybe the isolation that was thrust upon her at Gateshead would have made her a bookworm. Secondly, if we observe the conversation its typically a child’s conversation (or one can say a conversation that suited her age). Trivial things as it may appear to the adult may matter a lot to them. She is very eager to read the nature of the authority around. This she does, maybe to make herself well-acquainted to the place or maybe to make-out how different is it from Gateshead.
She is very childish though impulsive at times. Her childishness and her immaturity is seen when she makes a comment (to herself) on the book Rasselas. When she examines the book she calls it disinteresting just because “nothing about fairies, nothing about genii” (pg.54, Ch.5)
The eagerness she has makes her pose so many trivial questions which Helen kept on answering.
Eg: ‘Do you like the teachers?’
‘Are you happy here?’ etc.
To sum up my observations, I find Jane totally immature and eager to know more about people and surroundings.
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