Plot hole in Jane Eyre?

[metal134]

I'm about 4/5 of the way through Jane Eyre and there is a plot point staring me in the face that I can't get past. I went back to make sure I didn't miss something, but it seems to be as I had read it. She leaves Thornfield, goes as far as the coach was willing to take her and spends the night out in the moor. The next day, she goes around town, searching for food and work. The only thing she can muster is a bit of bread and cold porridge. That night, she arrives at Marsh End and eventually is let in. But at this point, why is she so weak and emaciated? It's been two days. I can understand her being very hungry, but were given to understand she is so weak from hunger that she is on death's door. How could she be so weak after only two days?

Edit - NM, reading on, she states that it was 4 days.

[Danik 2016]

Yes. I didn´t look up the passage in the novel but I remember vaguely her going around for several days and covering a great distance from Thornfield Hall to Marsh End.
I think not only the physical aspect is important here. This is a turning point in the novel. The old Jane has to die symbolically to be able to start a new life in a new environment.

[kev67]

I seem to remember thinking myself that a person could not actually starve to death in that amount of time. No doubt trudging around all day with no food and sleeping rough would make you exhausted and maybe ill, but starved to death, I don't think so.

[JudyM]

I think it represents the Victorian myth that women are fragile and dependent.

[actioncando]

Pretty much everyone that wasn't wealthy in England during this period was likely malnourished and in poor health due to the terrible poverty the era is known for and the monstrous amount of pollution they were breathing in. Going two days without food would drastically weaken a completely healthy person. I can't imagine what it would do to someone in poor health.

[Adonais]

It's an awfully transparent Christian metaphor (Jane = Jesus) and almost ruined the novel for me.

[metal134]

It's an awfully transparent Christian metaphor (Jane = Jesus) and almost ruined the novel for me.

I'm a stone cold atheist and the obvious religious symbolism didn't bother me much. I've seen it enough in literature (especially 19th century literature) to have become numb to it.

[Danik 2016]

I think it represents the Victorian myth that women are fragile and dependent.

The Brönte sisters suffered from very bad health maybe partly because they lived in the moors. The older girls died because they fell ill at the school which inspired Lowood School. All of them died very early.

[prendrelemick]

You Know what Brides are - ordering a wedding dress two sizes too small and then crash dieting for a week before the wedding to squeeze into it.

[Alex White]

If Jane was exposed to the elements for more than a day, that could weaken her. Damp England, you know. She also wore a restrictive corset--which restricts breathing--so if she had to walk up any hills it would be another strain.

[Laura Clarke]

I think the stress of leaving Rochester exhausted her. Also, Jane is described as "small/little," "slender," "slight," "delicate," etc. throughout the novel. I've always been under the impression that Jane's physical weakness was constantly emphasized to contrast her mental strength and resolve. The contrast also emphasizes the brute physical strength in Rochester. Together, I think it makes sense that Jane wouldn't be able to last much longer than a few days.

[kev67]

I think the stress of leaving Rochester exhausted her. Also, Jane is described as "small/little," "slender," "slight," "delicate," etc. throughout the novel. I've always been under the impression that Jane's physical weakness was constantly emphasized to contrast her mental strength and resolve. The contrast also emphasizes the brute physical strength in Rochester. Together, I think it makes sense that Jane wouldn't be able to last much longer than a few days.

Maybe Jane might have died of hypothermia; I just don't think she could have starved to death. I think Charlotte Bronte based Jane Eyre on herself, and she was very small. I think she blamed her small size on her time at Cowen Bridge School, the model for Lowood School.