Chapters 28-38

Chapters 33-38

Summary
Jane continues to enjoy the company of her newfound family. St John is distant with Jane. Rosamond is engaged. St John asks Jane to study Hindustani with him; he begins to influence Jane more and more, making Jane feel sad. He asks her to become his wife and go to India with him in order to be a missionary. She refuses to go as his wife as they do not love each other. Jane is further pressured to Mary St John and she continually and politely refuses. Jane seems to be under his influence more than ever when she is in awe of him when he prays for her at dinner. Jane hears Rochester’s voice and thinks that something awful has taken place. Jane leaves for Thornfield in the morning and finds a burnt-out ruin. She learnt that Bertha had set the house on fire and in attempting to save both the servants and Bertha he had become blind and lost a hand and was now residing in a house called Ferndean in a forest. At a distance from Ferndean Jane makes out Rochester’s figure and sees him testing to see if it raining. She knocks on the door to which Mary answers. When Jane enters the room to find Rochester he believes her to be a spirit. Consequently she promises never to leave him again and the next day she recounts all of what has happened to her since she left Thornfield. He proposes again to which she accepts and Rochester confides that a few nights since he had called out to her and thought that he had heard a response. Jane and Edward are married. Jane remains in contact with Diana and Mary and visits Adele. Jane lives a number of happy years with Rochester and after two years, slight vision in one eye returns to him. They have their first child-a baby boy and learn that Mary and Diana are both happily married.

Characters
Jane feels trapped, the power and influence that St John holds over Jane is almost like a spell. Jane returns to Rochester feeling very much his equal now that she has money, she feels that she is worthy of him. With this we also see a change in Jane, she has grown more confident.

Themes & Motifs
The theme of religion through St John becomes yet more prominent, with his talks about being a missionary. Again Jane has a mother figure in the form of Diana. Status and class are key; we see this with the equality now between Rochester and Jane. Love is definitely a theme as Jane proves just how much she really must love him if she is willing to care for him for the rest of her life.

Personal Response
Overall I have enjoyed the book. The last chapters have really kept me involved. I particularly took pleasure in finally seeing Jane happy after a long and miserable struggle. I now can see that not just wealth but religion had a big impact on Jane’s life. After attending Lowood and meeting Helen Burns, Jane learnt about God and it’s exactly this which seemed to help her through some of the harshest times.