What does The Diary of Jane mean?

Breaking Benjamin: The Diary of Jane Meaning

Album cover for The Diary of Jane album cover

Song Released: 2006


The Diary of Jane Lyrics

If I had to
I would put myself right beside you
So let me ask
Would you like that?
Would you like that?

And I don't mind
If you say this love is the last time
So now I'll ask
Do you like that?
Do you like that?

No!

Something's...

  1. anonymous
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    Jan 1st 2011 !⃝

    Its about taking a girls virginity--->0
    Listen to the lyrics

  2. anonymous
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    Dec 6th 2010 !⃝

    It kills him not knowing if this girl really loved him. Hes willing to do anything to find out, even if killing himself will give him the answer. But when he finds her diary and realises that she wasnt sure if she loved him, he starts to burn it so he can move on. But he cant let it go. Neither of them are sure if that really loved each other.

  3. anonymous
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    Nov 6th 2010 !⃝

    After I watched the video, I tied the song Jane Eryre. Benjamin was stuck in a relationship where his love was greater for his girlfriend than hers was for him. He was trying to find his problem in the diary of Jane (Jane Eryre's collection of books). The verses explained the relationship and the chorus explained the he was looking for an ending maybe in Jane's books.

  4. anonymous
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    Jun 20th 2010 !⃝

    I think this song more literal than anyone really seems to think. Here's my shot at trying to analyze it:
    If I had to
    I would put myself right beside you
    So let me ask
    Would you like that?
    Would you like that?
    If you just heard this part right here, it wouldn't make much sense. But if you were to put this at the end of the song, say, then you would interpret it differently, I think. It sounds like it means she (Jane) put herself into a bad postition, perhaps even suicide. So he's saying "Do you see what you did to me?If I could, I would kill myself, just so I wouldn't have to live in this world without you. Is that what you want? Was that your purpose? Is that your goal? For me to die?" And he's doubting himself, thinking that he could've saved her, so he's literally asking her, non-sacastically, if she was just trying to hurt him. And so goes the first line.

    This line doesn't make much sense, no matter which way you slice it. Here goes:
    And I don't mind
    If you say this love is the last time
    So now I'll ask
    Do you like that?
    Do you like that?
    He's saying "I don't mind killing myself, if that's what you want to happen. But if you're just going to leave again, without even saying goodbye, forget it. Again, he's asking seriously if that's what she wants. If she wants him to just be miserable no matter what happens.

    One word. Fairly easy to decipher.
    No!
    He's having second thoughts about killing himself just to be with her, Jane, who left him, who left the world, without even a simple goodbye. He's now battling himself, trying to decide whether she's worth it or not.

    And the chorus. Wow. We'll see how this goes....
    Something's getting in the way.
    Something's just about to break.
    I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane.
    So tell me how it should be.
    Something is holding him back from just committing the deed. He wants—very desperately—to kill himself, but his purpose on Earth isn't quite finished yet. Something is about to happen, some realization, referring to Jane, that might make him understand how and why he left him in the first place. I think there was an actual diary, he found it, but, in case of someone finding it, she used codenames, almost, so no one could understand what she had written. There was more than just one male name in the book (she was cheating) but he can't figure out if he was being cheated on, or if some other poor fellow was on the other end, and he was just a toy. He has no idea which person he is, so he's trying to find his "Place in the Diary of Jane," to quote the song exactly. Naturally, he wants to know what to expect.

    Toughie....
    Try to find out what makes you tick.
    As I lie down
    Sore and sick.
    Do you like that?
    Do you like that?
    He's trying to figure out everything in the diary, which one he is, which one the other is, which one she is, who she truly loved, who she didn't, what "Made her tick" again quoting the song. He's laying down, like about to go to sleep, but he's got this nausiating feeling, he's sore all over but he doesn't know why. For a third time he wonders if Jane's intention was to cause immense pain and grief.

    This one ought to be easy/ier (than the others)
    There's a fine line between love and hate.
    And I don't mind.
    Just let me say that
    I like that
    I like that
    He still doesn't know if she's still worth his life, or if she's worth his scorn, and it's nit like a few miles' walk between the two. He can't decide, but he doesn't care, he'll just stay neutral until he's sure. And that's just the way he likes it. He'd rather be confused than either lovesick and heartbroken or full of rage and fury for the dead.

    Once again with the chorus. This time, you can just look back at the other chorus analyzation I have up there ^. I'm just going to try to figure out the extra tacked onto the chorus.
    Something's getting in the way.
    Something's just about to break.
    I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane.
    As I burn another page,
    As I look the other way.
    I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane.
    So tell me how it should be.
    Again, I think he's being quite literal with us on this chorus. "As I burn another page" could very literally mean him reading a page of her diary, not understanding it and burning it. But, after a while he get discouraged, which is where the "As I look the other way" comes in. He guessed as to who all the people are in Jane's diary, but he doesn't like what he sees, so he looks away. No matter what, though, he reads on, trying to find the silver lining in this thunderstorm.

    Right after this is where the first verse would probably go.
    Desperate, I will crawl
    Waiting for so long
    No love, there is no love.
    Die for anyone
    What have I become?
    He's starving for love, and his standards are set way low. He's been waiting like a sitting duck for the right girl to cross his path, but the right girl keeps getting trashier, more desperate, and less willing to walk out on him. He's realizing, though, that his soulmate was and is still Jane. That probably won't ever change. He'd figuratively kill himself (put his heart on his sleeve) just to feel loved again. But the when he sees how different he's become, he wonders how that happened, where the old him is, and what he has become. 

    I think this chorus now means something a little different, so I'm just gonna re-explain everything.
    Something's getting in the way.
    Something's just about to break.
    I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane.
    As I burn another page,
    As I look the other way.
    I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane.
    Someone is hurting him, but he doesn't realize it, then he realizes that someone has been hurting him, but he's confused about why he's just so darn sad all the time. His sanity is about to give out. He can't take it anymore. He's still obssessing over that diary, trying to decipher who he is in her eyes, but that's putting a strain on his current relationship. He finally reaches the end of her diary, not having learned anything important, save for one thing. He found out why she killed herself. That she wrote plain as day. But he doesn't want to accept that he was either being cheated on, or being the person Jane cheated with, so, even though he's finished reading the diary, and burned it all, even the cover, he's still trying to figure out his place in  the diary of Jane.

  5. anonymous
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    Apr 29th 2010 !⃝

    It's about a girl that committed suicide and whether or not he an move past her death or to join her in it....Sheesh you guys interpret things weirdly.

  6. anonymous
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    Apr 12th 2010 !⃝

    I think it's about a guy who loves this girl and wants to protect her.
    (If I had to I would put myself right beside you).
    But the girl is turning away from him so he's sad but excepts this.
    Even though she's turning away he still wants to keep her happy (do you like that, do you like that?)

    in the chorus he's expressing his sadness.

    somewhere in the course of the song she dies.

    (I don't know about the rest?)

  7. anonymous
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    Mar 5th 2010 !⃝

    My interpretation of this song is that a guy lost his daughter for she commited suiside and so he trys to figure out why she did it and how she felt about him, so he turns to her diary and finds out stuff about her that he never would have gussed but then finds out that he could have stoped her and helped her but he was to caught up in his own life and he thought that he was paying good attention to her but really he was blind and only saw her mask that she put up to keep people out, inculding him.

  8. anonymous
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    Feb 24th 2010 !⃝

    I think the diary is literal because of the music video. BUT I do think that its somehow metaphorical. The girl he's in love with has died, so he tries to find the answer to everything in her diary, or, in other words, her life. The video shows the girl racing around, not being able to find herself in a mirror, which could possibly mean that she didn't understand what had happened, and why her life turned out the way it did. for a while, I've always thought that he was trying to find himself in her diary, because sometimes girls write about guys in their diary? >.< funny interpretation. anyway, the Diary of Jane could be said as the life of Jane. we call lives songs, why can we not call them diaries?

  9. anonymous
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    Feb 24th 2010 !⃝

    This is what I think it means from the lyrics and the video is basically showing how their relationship is in his head it was perfect till he found the diary and started noticing that there was never a relationship in her eyes so his vision of what they had is dying.


    If I had to I would put myself right beside you So let me ask Would you like that? Would you like that? And I don't mind If you say this love is the last time So now I'll ask Do you like that?
    Do you like that? No!

    He is trying to say that if had to do what she is doing to him he would and he would ask her if she likes that to feel what he feeling and he would tell her that he don’t care if she says its over cause he’s trying to pay her back and he’s is trying to get some kind of reaction like making her cry cause in his eyes that would mean she cares for him some what. And he knows she wouldn’t like it if he did to her what she is doing to him.


    Something's getting in the way.
    Something's just about to break.
    I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane.
    So tell me how it should be.

    Here he is talking about something is getting in the way of his love for her and he is about snap with anger while he is going through her diary and he has got so far through it and he still hasn’t found nothing about him and he feels like she never cared for him how is there relationship suppose to be if he don’t have a place in her heart.


    Try to find out what makes you tick.
    As I lie down
    Sore and sick.
    Do you like that?
    Do you like that?

    As he lays down He’s trying to think of ways to really piss her off cause he is sickened by what he is reading in the diary.



    There's a fine line between love and hate.
    And I don't mind.
    Just let me say that
    I like that
    I like that

    Here he is saying that there is literally a fine line between love and hate and he don’t care he likes the love hate relationship just as long as she loves him a little bit he will stay with him.



    Desperate, I will crawl
    Waiting for so long
    No love, there is no love.
    Die for anyone
    What have I become?

    Here he is saying that he is so desperate for her love that he would follow her no matter how long it takes to get her love and there is no love from her at all that he has seen. And he realizes that he just ain’t willing to go through this for her but he would go through anything the abuse of being cheated on or being hurt just to hear the words I love you and he is asking himself what have I become.

  10. anonymous
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    Jan 26th 2010 !⃝

    My Personal interpretation is hes with someone he doesn't love but they have so much history together and shes been there for him that he cant leave her even if he was unhappy. He wants her to understand that he isnt happy but hes still trying. That hes loosing himself and his spirit is about to break but he needs to stay there He needs to be that chapter in her life for her sake. And because he doesnt love her his actions are coming through in his actions even tho he doesnt mean to hurt her. Hence the "burning of the pages" And even to hes straying hes still looking for whatever he can to hold him to her.

  11. ddooggiieee
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    Jan 14th 2010 !⃝

    I think this song is talking about him truly loving her and all we want to know is if he ever meant a single thing to her if she ever really seen who he was and how much he cared about her and he can't figure out why he's not getting the answers he wants from her so he begins to give up and then he realizes he's never going to be able to get over her because he loves her a lot. I really love this song I think its wonderful and really has great music and lyrics, way to go Breaking Benjamin you did really great with this one,

  12. FireRide
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    Nov 22nd 2009 !⃝

    This song talks about the pain that the narrator goes through while trying to figure out if his love for the woman named Jane is true. He speaks about his pain through her diary. She died, whether is was natural or a tragic event, and he is trying to decide how he should deal with the pain. The diary that Ben wrote about and talks about throughout the song is, in my perspective, in fact a real diary. He discusses the possibilites of putting himself with her through the means of killing himself(If I had to, I would put myself right beside you). He decides whether he should love or hate her while he mourns her death (There's a fine line, between love and hate). Through his pain, he tries to forget her (As I burn another page) and ignores the pain still lingering in his heart (As I look the other way) but he can't cease but remembering the woman he may have loved and tries to keep her in his mind while trying to find out whether to stay in place, or go with her (I will try to find my place in the Diary of Jane).
    That was just my interpetation, so you may think otherwise.

  13. anonymous
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    Oct 10th 2009 !⃝

    Okay, awesome song. This is what I an pick up:

    At first I was thinking it was about the guy trying to get Jane to notice him (finding a place in her diary).

    However I the much deeper interpretation i thought of was this: Jane (who was either married or dating him) is dead. The guy looks through her diary and finds that he's not in it (trying to find his place). Probably he is madly in love with her and has spent his entire life trying to please her (would you like that) and still he finds that he hasn't earned his place in her diary. Then he starts thinking that maybe HE didn't mean so much to HER after all.

    So basically he would die for this girl (put myself right beside you) but despite this he isn't in her diary.

    Yeah.

  14. anonymous
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    Sep 20th 2009 !⃝

    So the grave at the end of the music video says "Jane Eyre." It could be that the song has two meanings: one dealing with a girl and his relation with her (generally); and one could be a parallel to Bronte's novel Jane Eyre. The song kinda mimics the same relation between the two main characters in that book.

  15. brooklynn
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    Sep 6th 2009 !⃝

    Diary of jane

    Hes confused about how he thinks about this girl. We don’t kno her name but he uses a genaric name. and he’s not sure what he means to her. She has caused him soo much grief so he's like are you trying to hurt me? Do you want me dead? Hence the I will put myself right beside you would you like that? He know’s that soon he won't care at all. And she will be dead to him. And he wants to know if he is dead to her too. And he gos through a stage where she's annoyed him so much and lied to him enough that when she talks about killing herself he's like yeah I don’t care if you die because you never mean anything. So yiu won't really mean you will kill yourself. And after a while he’s like ok wait a minute… something isn't right about this. Something is about to break. And I'm assuming that he thinks its his heart, maybe hers too. So he tries to figure it out before its too late. He works himself up so much trying to see whats up he become sick and sore because he never gives up. Once again he think do you want me hurt? Do you like me sad and depressed. Theres a fine line between love and hate. And he doesn’t mind that it can go either way because he understands that its just part of any relationship no just theirs. And he like that because it makes things unpridictable, but after awhile it gets kind of old. He’s worried something is happening. He’s trying to find out what he can do to fix it. But he doesn’t really want to. He burns it and looks the other way implying that he’ll just ignore it for a while and see what happens. If anything serious happens then he will realize and take control but he is too blind to realize that she is troubled and she has lied about things too many times so he cannot tell what is a lie about her and what is true and what she is really thinking. Hes desperate to find out. But finally he is truthful to himself and realizes that either he doesn’t care or gives up because it is just too much. And she realizes this too. The most important or even worse the only one who can help/save her has finally givin up on her too. And she loses herself. She was slowly acknowledging the fact that he was giving up on their relationship. Which is why each room that normally has a mirror is out of the frames and she has to go check to see if she ever finds herself again. She is frantically looking for herself. And finally It is too late. She has no reflection meaning that she is dead to him. So that night she is thinking about what is happening to them. And she falls asleep and drowns in the tub. And even after she is dead, he never finds out what he meant to her. And yet he hurts himself even more by looking. But what I think is that he has ignored everything too much even small things. So if he would have paid better attention to her then he will find out what happened and maybe she would still be alive. And maybe ifshe wouldn’t have been so insecure and lied about everything he could trust her and they would have figured things out and she wouldn’t have been thinking too much that last night and fell asleep in the tub and drowned.
    It not her fault that she had a bad life and was insecure. And its not his fault that he didn’t realize everything was so horrible in her life and that he isn't a mind reader
    Its just that he needed to pay a little better attention but after someone has lied to you over and over again how do you sit there and put up with it?




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