"Agnes Grey" is the story of its title character who takes up a position as a governess. Anne Bronte's first novel was based on her own experiences as a governess and depicts the loneliness and isolation of the position. Agnes Grey as governess of the Bloomfield and Murray households experiences hardship and humiliation as a result of the families' snobbery. "Agnes Grey is" as much an autobiographical account of Bronte's own experiences as it is an indictment of the shallowness of the upper class.