Unlike the other students, Helen Burns dies of consumption (tuberculosis). She is Jane's one true friend at Lowood, and her death acts as just another traumatic event to add to Jane's life experiences so far. Helen's experience at Lowood is full of punishment, often pinned as a child who deserves being chastised and belittled. Unlike Jane, who felt Mrs. Reed was cruel and unjust in her critique, Helen believes she deserves it: "I seldom put, and never keep, things in order; I am careless; I forget rules; I read when I should learn my lessons; I have no method" (Brontë 48). When Jane adds that Miss Scatcherd is cross and cruel to Helen, she simply stays quiet. Brontë writes Helen's character in a way that mirrors Jane's unfavorable experience with Mrs. Reed at the beginning of the novel, making it clear why Helen and Jane become friends, even though she contrasts the way they respond to the abuse. Her death, although traumatic, mirrors the tribulations Jane faces throughout the novel. Helen is singled out until her death, insinuated through her being the only child to die of a death other than typhus. It is important to remember that, although Jane acts as a mirror to Helen, Helen also serves as a foil to Jane. Unlike Helen, Jane overcomes the misfortune of her life, eventually becoming married and having a child, while Helen perishes in an untimely, heartbreaking death.
To read an analysis of diseases during the Victorian period, including the tuberculosis that Helen Burns dies of, read “Jane Eyre and Public Health: A Closer Look at the Lowood School Epidemic.” This article “…focuses on public health in respect to works in Victorian period including book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Topics discussed include writing of the book during a historical moment in which public health regulation was needed, diseases responsible for public health crisis include influenza, small pox, cholera, tuberculosis, typhoid, fever and diphtheria, difficulties faced by the Victorian public health including how to halt the spread of diseases” (Thielman).
Bibliography: Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Philadelphia, Courage Books, 1988.
Thielman, Fran. “Jane Eyre and Public Health: A Closer Look at the Lowood School Epidemic.” Victorians Institute Journal, vol. 42, Jan. 2014, pp. 179–198. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hus&AN=111781976&site=eds-live.