| Agnes' decision to leave home and become a | | | | the children would in time become more humanized" |
| governess is part of the theme of female identity in | | | | (Agnes Grey 27). |
| question in Victorian Literature. | | | | The abjection Agnes feels in the Bloomfield |
| Anne Bronte's protagonist Agnes in Agnes Grey | | | | household, results in her increasing opportunities for |
| leaves her family at the tender age of eighteen in | | | | seeking a sense of self and begins a journey for |
| order to become a governess, or, a modern day | | | | understanding who she is. It is as if she wants to |
| nanny. As part of the process of attaining social and | | | | prove something to her family and the female |
| economic independence, the separation from her | | | | community in particular, in showing how her |
| family's ability to influence her decision is necessary in | | | | independence is reflective of her self-awareness. |
| order to develop her own identity as a governess. | | | | Agnes understands that "[family's] pattern[s] of |
| Agnes narrates: "Though a woman in my own | | | | thought - patterns that [initially] den[ied] her an |
| estimation, I was still a child in theirs. (Agnes Grey 6) | | | | independence [which] result in her seeing hserlf as |
| Doubting Agnes's potential to sustain an independent | | | | somehow less fully developed and able to act on her |
| life, her mother says: "But, my love, you have not | | | | own" (Frawley 91). |
| learned to take care of yourself yet: and young | | | | Through a deeper introspection and regulation of her |
| children require more judgment and experience to | | | | behavior, Agnes establishes the self-esteem sufficient |
| manage than elder ones." (Agnes Grey 7) | | | | to challenge the turbulent forces of the public world. |
| As a governess for the Bloomfield children, Agnes | | | | This drive to define her own independent self can be |
| works under difficult conditions, which mainly consist | | | | seen in the following quote: |
| of a lack of respect between employer and | | | | I longed to show my friends that, even now, I was |
| employee and understands then and there, what | | | | competent to understand the charge, and able to |
| being a governess is really all about. Forced to cope | | | | acquit myself honourably to the end; and if ever i felt |
| with personal isolation, Agnes begins by reaching out | | | | it degrading to submit so quietly, or intolerable to toil |
| to God as her divine source of inspiration. Agnes's | | | | so constantly, I would turn towards my home, and |
| employers constantly criticize her ability to function as | | | | say within myself-they may crush, but they shall not |
| a governess, yet Agnes remains "confident that she | | | | subdue me! 'Tis of thee that I think, not of them. |
| will be able to alter the [Bloomfield] children's | | | | (Agnes Grey 27-28) |
| personalities and reform their characters" (Frawley | | | | Works Cited |
| 94). Despite her failures, Agnes maintains self-control | | | | Bronte, Anne. Agnes Grey. London: J.M. Dent and |
| in times of difficulty. She says: "I thought, if I could | | | | Sons, 1982. |
| struggle on with unremitting firmness and integrity, | | | | |