Summary
Jane’s new house is simple and small, yet neat and clean. Her pupils seem very rustic and ignorant, but she hopes she will get to know them better. She cannot help but feel disappointed that she is working with such dull seeming girls, and is ashamed that she feels that way since she was begging for food a month ago. Jane also is agonized thinking of Mr. Rochester, but again affirms that she is glad she chose the moral path. St. John comes along, and asks her how she is doing. Jane replies that she is content enough. Suddenly, an incredibly beautiful woman comes along. It’s Miss Oliver, the rich heiress that provides for the school. She asks Jane how she likes everything, and invites St. John to visit her house. St. John has a peculiar reaction to Rosamond Oliver. He obviously is in love with her, and has to make a great effort not to accept her invitation. Very short chapter!
Reaction
The scene with Rosamond and St. John consists of her trying to make him pay attention to her, and him desperately avoiding doing so. However, he seems so tortured that what could have been a funny scene is rendered tragic. Jane’s feeling of degradation at working with such ignorant, poor people is very human, but I hope her compassion shines through and she changes her mind.
I bet Jane will change her mind. I admire that she's honest with herself, because, as she says, that's the first step towards improvement.
ReplyDeleteI'm so confused by St. John's role in the book. He seems almost like a Byronic hero himself, except he's introduced pretty late in the book. OOOH. Maybe St. John and Rosamond will get together, and then Jane will be inspired to return to Rochester. HURRAH!
(Yeah, right, like that's gonna happen... *weeps into a pillow*)
Hurry and post more! I don't want to read too much ahead of you!