I can’t help but compare Rochester and Mr. Rivers. I can’t decide if they are similar or different, but the way Bronte describes Mr. Rivers seems almost to be in the same words she would use to describe Rochester. Jane notes that Mr. Rivers is “incommunicative…and did not appear to enjoy (that) mental serenity” (404). This description of a man we barely know seems fitting to Rochester as well, atleast when Jane first met him. He didn’t like serenity of Thornfield and he was not very communicative or open. A few pages later Mr. Rivers opens up to Jane, just as Rochester had and tells her his life story. Jane seems to be a confident for both of the men. Does the comfort these men find come from her plain features? Or her keen sense of knowledge? Either way Jane is always put in the position to be trusted. The nature of the two men has to be somewhat similar for this occur.
Like Rochester she caught Mr. Rivers in a time of insecurity. He was home, after the death of his father, tending to his younger sisters; not something he normally did. Jane looked deep into both of the men and seemed to uncover them quickly.
Jane’s new place as a teacher seems absolutely nothing but suiting. Her free spirit will find the children and they will prosper in an education that is new to girls of the time. I am excited for Jane in the finding of something independent. Here, in this new home she can make a life for herself. The change of tone to a present tense suggests Jane might be here for a while, possibly until the end of the novel. This feels from a reader’s perspective to be a place of comfort and abundance. This strange light that led her to the Moore house has led her to this new life.
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Yes, the "strange light" (a tiny version of Moses' pillar of flame guiding his people to the promised land? I think the novel invites the sort of speculative comparison of St. John with Rochester that you engage in, but you seem to miss a key divergence in the two characters--whereas Rochester is ugly--or at least not beautiful(like Jane), St. John is described as almost effeminately beautiful--like a Greek statue. What to you think is the significance of this difference?
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