Jane Eyre Blog #5

So much has happened in these last chapters of Jane Eyre, so I will be as brief as possible. At the beginning of these chapters Jane finds out that her cousin John Reed has died, and that her Aunt Reed has been asking for Jane to come and see her. Being the kind person that Jane is, did go to see her aunt even after the trouble that she put Jane through. Jane when back to Gateshead and found her aunt, who was very weak and ill from a stroke, with the same resentment for Jane that she had in the past. She told Jane that she witheld letters from her Uncle John Eyre saying how he wanted to adopt Jane, but her aunt did not want to give Jane the satisfaction of having a rich and happy life. Jane stayed until her aunt died, and then returned back to Thornfield. Shortly after her return Mr. Rochester told Jane that he found her another job in Ireland because she couldn't stay in the house with him and his bride-to-be Miss Ingram. Jane was distraught by this news because she would be so far away from her love, Mr. Rochester. When he told her this she accidentally told him her true feelings, and to her surprise admitted his love for her as well, and that he was only marrying Miss Ingram because he didn't think that Jane loved him and to make Jane jealous and draw her into him. It was also at this moment when Mr. Rochester asked Jane to be his wife, and of course she accepted. Mr. Rochester wanted to spoil Jane with dresses and jewels, but Jane wanted to be treated as she normally was until the wedding, which was to be in a month. The night before the wedding Jane awoke from her sleep and saw a horrifying figure in her room with long black hair and an awfully monstrous face. The figure had taken Jane's wedding veil and tore in half then stomped on it. Jane told Mr. Rochester about it the next morning and he said it was probably just the strange Grace Poole. Jane questioned him as to why such a person was living in the house, and said he would tell her once they were married for a long time. The wedding day finally came and just when Mr. Rochester and Jane were about to recite their vows, they were interrupted by a man named Mr. Briggs who claimed that Mr. Rochester already had a wife who was still alive. His claim was supported by Mr. Mason, who said that Mr. Rochester was married to his sister Bertha Mason. The wedding was called off that day and Jane made Mr. Rochester explain what was going on. He said that he was forced into marrying Bertha, by his older brother and father because she was rich and they were poor. Bertha seemed to be a very pretty young woman and would make a fair wife. What Mr. Rochester did not know before he married her was that her mother was insane, and soon Mr. Rochester learned that Bertha was also insane and that there was nothing else to do but lock her up. He no longer wanted to her to be called by the name Bertha Rochester, and locked her in a confined room in that attic where Grace Poole watches her. It turns out that Bertha is the one who attempted to kill both Mr. Rochester and Mr. Mason, and was also the one who tore Jane's veil in two. Overwhelmed, and appauled by this news Jane left Thornfield to find a new place to live far away. She ended up in a small town and went begging around houses for a place to stay and food to eat. Finally, one home let her in once the residents saw what an ill state she was in. These kind people were a missionary named Mr. St. John, and his sisters, Diana and Mary. They got Jane back on her feet and found her a job as a school teacher. Jane became very good friends with Diana and Mary, but unfortunately they had to be sent away because they couldn't afford to stay in England anymore. Jane was enjoying life in that small town and the tiny cottage she was living. One day Mr. St. John came to talk to Jane about a girl who had the same story as her, and was now missing. Since, Jane said her name was Jane Elliot Mr. St. John found out much later that this girl was actually Jane. The reason why she was being searched for was because her uncle John had died and was giving her all his money which was 20,000 pounds. How they found her was that Mr. St. John Diana, and Mary are Jane's cousins, that Jane never knew she had. Jane was able to split this money evenly between them, which allowed Diana and Mary to come back home. Mr. St. John, Diana, Mary, and Jane all lived in the same house and very much enjoyed it. Being the devoted missionary that Mr. St. John is, he was going to India and felt that Jane had the perfect qualities to be a missionary and go to India with him too; however, he wanted her to be bound to him as his wife. Jane refused to be his wife, but would go to India as his sister. Mr. St. John would not hear of this, so Jane said she would think about it but she must say goodbye to her friends from where she was from. Jane went back to Thornfield to find Mr. Rochester. When she went to the mansion she saw that it was in shambles, and found out that Mr. Rochester's insane wife Bertha had burned it down one night, then jumped off the roof and killed herself. Mr. Rochester, however, was still alive, but was blind and lost his hand from the fire. Jane got his whereabouts and went to see him immediately. Mr. Rochester was so glad to see that she was back and asked her to marry him again, which Jane of course accepted. This time, they really did get married and have been very happily married for 10 years, as well as having a baby of their own. Jane still visited Diana and Mary, and found out from them that Mr. St. John has died, which is not necessarily sad because he is with God with whom he was so devoted to, and he is happy that Jane is living the life that she wanted and deserved.

Clearly, so much has happened and there is so much to reflect on. There was not one part in this novel that was boring. All the events that were constantly occurring, and Jane's insight on everything was so interesting and kept drawing me in to keep reading. There were a lot of new characters introduced in this part of the novel including, Mr. St. John, Mary, and Diana. I felt that Mr. St. John was the most prominent out of the three siblings however, he was my least favorite. His personality was very cold and he was always hiding his emotions. The only thing that he showed passion about was his missionary work and his religion. He followed religion so strictly and was expecting everyone else around him to do the same. I did respect him for having such a passion for this and always putting other people's needs first, but there were times that I felt that he took it too far. A perfect example of this was when he wanted to marry Jane just because she would make a good missionary's wife, and that she had the qualities to be a good missionary. This was all that he would be using her for so that she could be strong and stand by him, and he wouldn't be marrying her because he loved, since he did not. I also thought it was ridiculous on his part for not understanding why Jane couldn't marry him for solely that reason, and he kept saying that if she didn't marry him she would not be putting God first like she should be. Jane was very upset about this and he was completely cold towards her, not showing a care for how she felt. "He experieneced no suffering from estrangement--no yearning after reconciliation; and though, more than once, my fast-falling tears blister the page over which we both bent, they produced no more effect on him than if his heart had been really a matter of stone or metal." He was so concerned with selflessness and helping other people, and yet he was being selfish and only wanted Jane to be a missionary with him, without taking her feelings into consideration and quite frankly, not caring. I feel that Jane just continued to get stronger and stonger as the novel progressed. I could not believe that she left Mr. Rochester after being so in love with him and him being so in love with her. Yet, she knew that is what she had to do and she did it, as painful as it was. She had nothing, she was beggin, and yet she managed to have a successful life. Jane is definitely the most sensible character in this book and makes very reasonable and right decisions and I admired her throughout the entire book for this quality. The theme that I found to continue through this entire novel was that beauty and looks do not matter. Jane is not described as being beautiful, actually she is described as being ugly, as well as Mr. Rochester, but they both love each other for their personality. I found myself favoring Mr. Rochester over the handsome Mr. St. John as well. I also found one of the themes, which I enjoyed, was that fortune does not have to come from jewels and riches, but the fortune that really makes you happy comes from love. It was very apparent that Jane felt this way, from when she was more overjoyed to find out that she had a family over the 20,000 pounds that she felt was too much and didn't really want. "Glorious discovery to a lonely wretch! This was wealth indeed!--wealth for the heart!--a mine of pure genial affections. This was a blessing, bright, vivid, and exhilerating!--not like the ponderous gift of gold: rich and welcome enough in its way, but sobering from its weight." I thought this quote summed this theme up perfectly. It made me so happy to see that Jane finally had someone, all those years of being lonely and having no one, she actually has a family that she loves and loves her back. This novel suggests that there are actually some people out there who do care more about quality rather than quality. While there may not be many, Jane is one of these few people. As much as people think that happiness comes from beauty and riches, they are not right. The true root of happiness and the less superficial things like someone's personality and the love of a family. I wish that everyone could read this novel so that they can get a sense of the genuine happiness that most people are missing out on. I can't say that this novel reminded me of any other novel or film because it is so unique. I have never read a story like this before, usually love stories are predictable and you have an idea where the story would be going. I had an idea where it could go but all my assumptions were wrong everytime. This novel never ceased to surprise me. I have learned a lot through the themes of the novel and I think they are great messages to get across to people. I learned that you should love someone for who they are and not what they look like or what they are good at. I also learned that happiness cannot be bought and that you cannot put a price on true happiness. If you couldn't tell already, I loved this novel. I never would have picked out to read an old novel like this, but I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read it. Everything fit together so perfectly with the themes, characters, and plot. It also had the perfect ending, i would even say that they lived happily ever after.