1. “One does not jump, and spring and shout hurrah! at hearing one has got a fortune; one begins to consider responsibilities and ponder business; on a base of steady satisfaction rise certain grave cares, and we contain ourselves, and brood over our bliss with solemn brow” (383).
Why does Jane not “spring and shout hurrah” at the news of her received fortune?
Rev. Stephen Hislop, Missionary to India, photographed by Robert Adamson, c. 1843-47. From the collection of David Octavius Hill (1802-1870)and Robert Adamson (1828-1848) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
2. “‘There I, humble as I am, can give you the aid you want: I can set you your task from hour to hour; stand by you always; help you from moment to moment. This I could do in the beginning: soon (for I know your powers) you would be as strong and apt as myself, and would not require my help'” (404).
(1) What themes of the novel does this statement go against and what theme does it favor?
(2) How does this prove St. Johns invitation as a selfish act towards Jane?
Group 5 CB
ENGH 202: Why Women Read Romance 
1. Jane does not jump and go crazy about her unexpected inheritance. Since her personality consists of being well-grounded, she initially begins to think of what will she do with this money. She starts to begin to think, which is illustrated in the quote, what responsibilities she will encounter when this money is handed over to her.
2. This statement goes against the theme of freedom. St. John tells Jane this to persuade her to go with him to India, but with the restriction of being married to him. Jane doesn’t want to marry St.John she just wants to work and if she married him, she wouldn’t have any sort of freedom. This statement favors restriction and confinement. As illustrated in the quote, St. John is telling her already what tasks she will do at a certain hour of the day, which signifies a confinement by letting St. John control her life if they were to be married. This is a selfish act towards Jane, because is just using her. St. John doesn’t love Jane, he just wants her to fill in as his wife, because she plays the role well to be an “appropriate” wife than Grace does.
1. I think Jane does not show excitement after learning she has become rich because she has always been independent and does not believe money is everything. She also knows that with the money she has inherited she will have more on her plate of some type of responsibilities. Jane also sinks in the news that the reason she now had money was because her uncle, the only family she had left (to her knowledge) died without having the opportunity to meet him. This hits Jane with a more loneliness approach and she is left with money but no family, Jane has a bigger interest in family because she never grew up with any comfort or family love. Jane then learns that St. John, Mary, and Diana are her cousins and is very excited about the news, a lot more excited then inheriting the money. This is a big example that shows Jane is not greedy, selfish, and does not think about materialistic things and is rather happier with people she loves and loves her back then with money.
1. Up until this point in the novel Jane has lived around the fortunate; she has seen the pain it brings and that regardless of how much a person has it makes no difference in their well-being. I believe it shows incredible mental growth and maturity because for someone who was never considered rich but never considered poor it would seem like a blessing to be given news like the kind St. John has given her because it finally gives her a place. Jane Eyre’s actions, however, are representative of her personality and the person she has tried to continue being regardless of her environment. Independence and freedom was always the light at the end of the tunnel for her and by keeping at her own pace and path she knew she could find it; by following a foreign path (of riches) that has been sprung upon her randomly she may have realized that it’s a path with an unknown ending. Additionally, after struggling for some meaning in her personal life with her past family to the family she may want to have, she realizes it’s more important for her to keep finding that meaning rather than attaining riches, the riches that she’s never really brooded over in the past so she won’t under a different circumstance.