Jane Eyre is a character who uses her voice, even during times when, perhaps, she should not. Jane is constantly being told that the outspokenness and bluntness with which she speaks is inappropriate for someone of her gender and age. Audre Lorde, a black lesbian feminist, states that “As women, we have been taught either to ignore our differences, or to view them as causes for separation and suspicion rather than as forces for change.” In Jane’s world, separation and suspicion are two significant words which describe her relations with others in the beginning of her life. This can be seen throughout her story, but one scene in particular in which this is particularly demonstrated is during the interaction between Jane, Mrs. Reed, and Mr. Brocklehurst before she moved to Lowood School. Mrs. Reed says of Jane that she does not have “quite the character and disposition that [she] could wish.” Despite Jane being asked of herself, in previous pages, if she was a “good girl,” her differences in persona and Mrs. Reed’s statements of her created the same divide which Lorde speaks of. In this moment, it seems to Jane that hope has been obliterated for her future. However, Lorde states in her work, “Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society’s definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in crucibles of difference… know that survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths.” Though Jane feels that there is no hope in this moment, it seems like her resilience up to this point in her life will help her follow along this path which Audre Lorde discusses; to take her past oppressions for her differences and become a stronger woman who values who she is and will break down barriers that those who fall into the mold cannot.