Jane Eyre Read-Along: Chapter 33

A few chapters ago, I mentioned that the tendency for books of this era to rely on coincidence and convenience can be hard to accept.  We've come to the huge coincidence:  Jane just happened to land on the doorstep of her only living relatives in all of England.What're the odds?  Pretty slim, I would think.

However, I love this book anyway  You couldn't write it today without people calling you far-fetched, so I guess we can all be glad it was written when it was!

Don't you love how, when St. John tells Jane that she's being sought by a lawyer, she doesn't care a smidge why he's looking for her -- she only wants to know how Mr. Rochester is.  That is her single-minded inquiry, again and again until she is sure St. John can't tell her anything.  And, when St. John piously declares Rochester to be "a bad man" (p. 442), she insists on defending him.  Oh, steadfast Jane.

And I also love her generous nature.  She doesn't want to be an heiress anymore, with money to attract a Rochester.  She wants a family, and if she can buy one by sharing her fortune, she will consider the money well spent.

Favorite Lines:

"As you hope ever to be forgiven, Mr. Rivers, the high crime and misdemeanor of spoiling a sanded kitchen, tell me what I wish to know" (p. 445).

This was wealth indeed! -- wealth to the heart! -- a mine of pure, genial affections (p. 446).

Possible Discussion Questions:

Jane says "I don't want to marry, and never shall marry... I know I what I feel, and how averse are my inclinations to the bare thought of marriage" (p. 449).  If events had not transpired the way they do, do you think she would ever have married someone else?  Or would she have stuck to this and remained single?