Chapter VII Summary

Conditions at the school are deplorable: the girls are not clothed nor fed adequately. The older, larger girls, take food and spaces by the fire from the younger ones. Sunday is a four mile round trip walk in freezing temperatures, although the girls do receive a piece of buttered bread instead of plain bread.

Mr. Brocklehurst and his family pay a visit and Jane dreads the possibility that he will pass on the information he learned from Mrs. Reed. Mr. Brocklehurst's main concern, however, is what he considers to be wasteful spending of the school's money. Mr. Brocklehurst chastises Miss Temple for spoiling the girls. Mr. Brocklehurst demands all girls receive short haircuts because long hair does not adhere to his rules of modesty. Mr. Brocklehurst's own family are richly dressed in fashionable clothes with curled hair. Jane accidentally drops and...