READING JOURNAL - Jane Eyre - Chapters 17...22

Summary:

Mr Rochester still hasn’t come back; Jane is worried that he could go elsewhere without returning. Jane seems confused about Grace Poole – she doesn’t understand why she gets paid more, why she is blamed for the unusual going on etc. Rochester comes home with a lot of guests in tow. Blanche is with the party and looks down to her making Jane feel more inadequate than she already feels. Jane sees Rochester and Blanches ‘friendliness’ whilst the guests are staying at Thornfield, she thinks that Rochester will marry Blanche, however, she believes Blanche only wants him for his money. Mr.Mason turns up at Thornfield, but Jane doesn’t know who he is. A gypsy comes to a party to tell the guests fortunes, Blanche goes first; Jane later goes to the fortune teller. The lady knows much about Jane and lets slip that she told Blanche that Rochester is not actually that rich. Whilst reading her fortune Jane realised that the gypsy ‘woman’ is actually Rochester. She goes mad at him. Someone cries for help during the night, Jane goes to the sound however Rochester explains that someone has just had a nightmare and not to worry. Rochester takes Jane to the 3rd floor in his house, Jane see Mr Mason who has been stabbed. Jane cleans him up and Rochester tells them not to talk. Mr Mason leaves, Rochester starts reciting a story about a man who made some mistakes – meaning himself. Jane finds out that Mrs Reed is nearly dead and John reed commits suicide. She decides to go back to Gateshead to make peace with her estranged leftover family members…despite her effots mrs reed declines and she later dies.

Characters:

Mr Mason - He is Bertha’s brother. He gets stabbed by his sister whiles at Thornfield.

Reed Family – are briefly reintroduced as Jane goes back to Gateshead to see her dying aunt after one of her cousins committed suicide.

Symbols/themes/motifs:

Tension - The presence of Blanche creates a lot of suspense, as she is the main obstacle standing in the way of Jane’s feelings towards Rochester. She is the only thing that really threatens Jane’s ‘perfect’ wanting. Blanche is Jane’s main competitor.
Affection – Both Jane and Rochester realize they want to be together but they do not share their ideas with each other. They are too worried to tell one another how they feel, most probably because they reaction it is likely to evoke in others.
Social class – Is another key theme again. Blanche thinks she is more likely to marry Rochester because of her status and beauty as compared to Jane who has neither. She believes she would be a better match for Rochester and does her utmost to make Jane jealous. Its not just about Rochester though, as Blanche even resorts to making nasty, spiteful comments to her mother about Jane.

Narrative voice:
The narrator is still Jane as throughout the rest of the book but, Jane narrates more about herself and Rochester and a possible developing relationship.

Developments:
Blanches character – When I last wrote my blog there wasn’t much to say about Blanche Ingram, during these chapters, we have met the character instead of just hearing about her. She seems very devious as she does all she can to make Jane feel uncomfortable, when she already feels ‘not good enough’.
Rochester’s feelings – His feelings are becoming more apparent, particularly when Jane leaves the party and he almost says my…love. I think he does genuinely like Jane however; his past marriage and Blanche seem to be standing in the way of his immediate thoughts. He also shows his true feelings in a rather subtle way when disguising as the gypsy woman, he makes Jane think that Blanche isn’t going to marry him and what Jane wants will happen. I don’t see why he would do this if there wasn’t a reason behind it i.e. he liked her. But maybe the fact that he was disguised is showing Jane and the readers he does actually have something to hide.