With the popularity of eBooks and Kindles, do you fear book covers are becoming extinct? Tim Kreider laments in “The Decline and Fall of the Book Cover” (published in The New Yorker, July 16, 2013), “soon enough, book covers, like album covers before them—like albums themselves, or sheet music for popular songs, or dance cards—will be a quaint, old-timey thing you have to explain to the uninterested young” (p. 4). However, Kreider qualifies in this same article, “For some reason children’s books, Y.A. literature, and genre fiction still have license to beguile their readers with gorgeous cover illustrations, but mature readers aren’t supposed to require such enticements” (p. 3). This assignment invites you to design one such “beguiling” book cover for one of the three Brontë works we are reading this semester—Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. In designing your cover, also consider novelist John Updike’s advice in “Deceptively Conceptual: Books and Their Covers” (New Yorker, October 10, 2005): “A good cover should be a bit recessive in its art, leading us past the cover into the book itself” (p. 2). The following covers created by students in EN 248 on "The Brontës" lead us “into the book itself” by highlighting symbols, themes, and characters essential to Jane Eyre.
Jane Eyre Book Cover Created by Susan Hahm, 2026.
"Behind the Curtain," Jane Eyre Book Cover Created by Jadyn Heselton, 2026. In the Victorian era, women were expected to be quiet, obedient, and morally pure. Passion, anger, and independence were qualities often discouraged or punished. Against this restrictive backdrop, Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre (1847), a novel that challenged traditional expectations by presenting a heroine who insists on emotional and moral autonomy. Although the novel is often read as a romance, it is equally a psychological exploration of repression, identity, and the consequences of suppressed passion. My book cover design highlights this deeper tension by centering Jane and Bertha--one shadowed and blue, the other fiery and orange--facing each other in a mirror framed by deep red curtains. Through color symbolism and mirrored imagery, I am arguing that Bertha Mason reflects Jane’s suppressed anger and desire and that red represents both trauma and transformation throughout the novel.
"Love Struck by Lightning," Jane Eyre Book Cover Created by Hallie Pomerantz, 2026. Literature often turns to nature to convey what human connection cannot. In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), the chestnut tree serves as more than a mere background element; it symbolizes endurance. The tree itself remains central throughout Jane and Rochester’s love story, serving as a landmark throughout intimate moments. In chapter 23 of Jane Eyre, readers are first introduced to the imagery of the chestnut tree as Rochester proposes to Jane at
Thornfield. The large green tree serves as a shelter where Jane and Rochester can share their love for one another, acting as a whole entity that shields them from the real world. For my book cover, I depict a vibrant, large chestnut tree split in two by a lightning strike to emphasize that Jane Eyre is not merely about love. Rather, it is a novel about love fractured by reality and truth.
"Two Women, One House: Duality, Confinement, and Liberation in Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre Book Cover Created by Jordan Kempner, 2026. Most reviews of Charlotte Brontë’s most famous novel, Jane Eyre (1847), describe it as a love story: a plain, lowly governess wins the heart of her brooding employer and, after many
complications and much yearning, they finally marry. However, something far more interesting and unsettling lies beneath the surface of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s love story: two women trapped in the same house, held captive by the same man, and denied the same freedoms.My book cover focuses on Jane and Bertha, bringing them
to the forefront of the story. I depict them from behind, mirroring each other, two sides of the same coin. Rather than depicting Jane alone as the novel’s singular heroine, my cover illustrates that Jane Eyre is fundamentally a story about doubling, confinement, and twhat it means for a woman to be free. Jane cannot be fully understood without Bertha beside her.
“Burning Books: Jane Eyre and Flames of Passion,” Jane Eyre Book Cover Created by Nicolette Kirwan, 2026. Even to this day, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) is one of the most widely read and referenced works of literature by a Brontë sister. Fire is a central theme of this work. The fiery passions of Jane, Mr. Rochester, and Bertha, combined with physical flames throughout the novel, convey a strong message about the rage, jealousy, and fire within the novel. The main flame at the center er warns the reader that the story they are about to read is truly fiery and riveting. This flame works with and contrasts the blood-red background of the cover. The dark red conveys the darkness, mystery, and shame that the novel evokes. Dually, this red is reminiscent of the red room, widely known as one of Jane’s most impactful life events as the fear, anger, and shame she feels there light a metaphorical fire within her that will continue to guide her through the novel. Nearly every aspect of the novel fits with the symbol of fire, which is both a cornerstone of the novel’s themes and a recognizable symbol in popular culture, allowing this book cover to appeal to past or present readers of the novel.
"From Altar to Attic: The Madness of Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason," Book Cover of Jane Eyre Created by Brianna Sponheimer, 2026. Jane Eyre’s infamous madwoman in the attic, Bertha Mason, is generally regarded as an
obstacle obstructing Rochester and Jane’s happiness, but she and Jane are more similar than they
appear on the surface, which forms the focus of my book cover. Besides their shared connection with Rochester, Jane is prone to episodes of fiery emotion that bear a striking resemblance to Bertha’s madness. The difference in their presentation of very similar emotions calls the reader to question what makes a character passionate and driven versus what makes them insane and in need of containment.