Caitlin Doherty Assignment 6 Chap. 16

I love “Jane Eyre” so far. This story absolutely fascinates me. I’m used to all of the dark and gothic elements and settings, and I have read countless books containing them. Yet, even though “Jane Eyre” is similar to many of these books, I have never read anything quite like “Jane Eyre”. I think what makes this book so unique is the way Charlotte (I say Charlotte not Bronte because her sisters had the same last name and published books too) never quite tells you exactly what’s going on. She just gives the reader enough information to understand the story, but she never gives enough for the reader to say “Oh, I know what’s going to happen next!” She has the reader constantly searching for more clues to solve the puzzle, and when you finally get another clue she throws a whole other element into the plot.
Jane has grown and changed a lot since the beginning of the book. She still has the same stubbornness as she did when she was just a child. The difference, though, is not in her opinions and attitude, but rather in the way she betrays them. At the beginning she was impulsive and acted quickly on her feelings and opinions, but now she keeps them more to herself and when she does act it is thought through and clever. When before she would fight or yell when she was upset, she now uses her words to betray her feelings. Although, I did see a glimpse of her clever use of words when she was a child once or twice, for example when she told off Mrs. Reed and used Mrs. Reed’s own promises to her late husband against her. I have only mentioned her control of her feelings in reference to her anger, but she also shows an example of this control at the end of Chapter 16 when she realizes her feelings for Mr. Rochester. She forces herself to forget her feelings for him because she told herself he would never love her back and then she drew a picture of herself and then of a beautiful woman Mrs. Fairfax described. Then she told herself that whenever she had feelings for Mr. Rochester she would look at the two pictures and compare herself to the other woman and then remind herself that Mr. Rochester could marry this woman if he wanted to and that he would never pick Jane over her.