#10

These four chapters were some of the most eventful and exciting in the entire book. In chapter 21, her aunt Mrs. Reed, falls ill and before she dies, asks to see Jane. When they are both together Jane apologizes for her previous behavior and rebellious attitude to her when she was a child, but Mrs. Reed maintains her snooty attitude and dismissively forgives her. She is reluctant to get on good terms with Jane and they never fully learn to get along with each other; Mrs. Reed finally dies without having the slightest aunt and niece relationship with Jane. It is sad that she had to go on unfriendly terms with her niece. My thoughts on why Mrs. Reed died resisting a final understanding with Jane are that she never really liked her and considered her a kind of a burden. Later on in the book the reader finds that Mr. Reed loved Jane’s mother which is another reason as to why she would not have treated her kindly. She was trying to take her anger out on poor Jane. After Mrs. Reed and her mean abusive cousin die, Jane is extremely caring and compassionate towards her cousins Georgiana and Eliza. I feel that she treats them so nicely because she knows what its like to be an orphan, how it feels and how lonely and hard life becomes when a child has no one there to guide them. Its touching how after everything, she doesn’t want them to go through the same things she had to endure. Later on in the book, Mr. Rochester, to my surprise, proposes to Jane. At first she declines, because she doesn’t trust him but later accepts. I feel that because of her lack of trust in him, and his personality, which doesn’t help with her problem, their marriage, or engagement, will not last very long. The symbolism in the book continues, as the tree under which Mr. Rochester proposes, splits in two during a thunder storm. This probably means that their marriage or post engagement relationship will result in a violent, sudden, split. Jane seems happy with her decision at the time, however, and writes to her uncle John about her engagement. He is the only family she has, with the exception of her cousins, and she wants him included in her life. My feelings are that she wants someone to see how much she has grown and wants them to be proud of how much she has accomplished.