Monday, September 22, 2008
What A Small World
Jane's new set of daily tasks as the teacher of Morton school seems to resemble her cousin Eliza's scheduled daily routine. She has turned to routine to overwhelm her feeling of emptiness from lack of passion. Jane's dreams of Rochester only further support the idea that she still has not let go of him. I truly think that Jane and Rochester are destined to be together, and hopefully by the end of the book they will be. St. John and Miss Oliver's relationship in a way is similar to Jane and Rochester's relationship. St. John, even though he has a strong attraction to Miss Oliver, will not allow himself to marry her for he fears he will not be happy for forever. Similarly Jane who loves Rochester with all her heart would not succumb to being inferior to him for the rest of eternity. Both of their stubbornness in relinquishing their personal beliefs serve as the obstacles for their matrimony. This is ironic seeing as St. John and Jane are not only related through this connection of character but also through blood. How does it happen that Jane randomly is salvaged by this family that is actually of blood relation to her? And Jane with her new fortune is able to fulfill her dream of independence and solitude. She states she is never to be married again, and i believe this is because she fears she will never find a man to love and love her as Mr. Rochester has. On page 441 Jane explains that she is not particularly thrilled with this huge inheritance but the though of independence pleases her greatly. "...and independence would be glorious - yes, i felt that - that thought swelled my heart." I think this reinforces the feminist attitude throughout the novel. I am very happy that Jane finally has strong and amiable family relations. I think Jane will somehow find her way back to Rochester, and with this new feeling of independence and new acquaintance of family she will be able to recognize herself once again as an equal to Mr. Rochester!
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2 comments:
I noticed all of that same stuff. It's interesting how you compared Jane to Eliza, I hadn't thought of that. The thing about how St. John won't be happy in a year I found interesting because of how Rochester said that in a year he would tell Jane his secret.
Another very insightful post (along with Emma's note about the "year"--a good observation), I'm finding that you often bring things to light that I myself had overlooked. Excellent!
As for being "randomly salvaged" (a fun term), it really is a pretty huge coincidence (nothing "random" about it), but perhaps one that we readers are willing to accept because we realize that, on some level, Jane (and maybe Rochester, too?) needs to be 'rehabilitated'--raised up with her sudden fortune, to give her a position of "equality" (or independence, as you put it) so that she might be free to return to Rochester. We'll see!
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