In chapters 32-34, we see Jane adjust to life working as a school teacher and building a closer relationship with St. John. As their relationship grows, St. John reaches the exciting conclusion that Jane is related to him and his sisters. This is life changing for Jane, as the whole novel she has been longing for a family of her own, and now she has one. Her want for family was so strong that she was even willing to give up 15,000 pounds to display her love for them. This reflects Jane’s strong value towards familial relationships over monetary prosperity. 

Due to their newly discovered relation to one another, Jane is soon reunited with Mary and Diana and the four cousins spend the holidays together. This reunion, most importantly, led to St. John proposing to marry Jane. Jane, however, turned down this offer,  reflecting her priority of marrying for love rather than for labor and convenience. I think this decision relates back to her unchanging love for Mr. Rochester, making her unable to commit to another man. I predict that in the next few chapters, Jane will make a final decision about Mr. Rochester, as she has been referencing him often in her daily thoughts.

Chapters 26-27

 These chapters were some of the most interesting and revealing of the novel so far, as the reader and Jane learn of Mr. Rochester's secret marriage to Bertha Mason, and the mysterious events at Thornfield Hall are explained. Continuing on previous themes of Jane's maturity and growth, I thought these chapters greatly reflected how Jane has solidified her values and grown into an independent young woman. Jane's maturity has already been shown in her kindness and empathy toward those she may not agree with or feel resentment toward, such as her aunt. In these chapters, when she learns of Rochester's secret, she openly expresses her pity for him, and the guilt she would feel from hurting him nearly keeps her from leaving. However, Jane is now mature enough to understand the importance of maintaining her principles and is no longer blinded by her unadulterated love for Mr. Rochester. She realizes, "I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself...I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now... Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot" (365). I found this declaration to be a clear sign of Jane's growth as she is now able to look outside of the present situation and make a reasonable decision about what is best for her. Furthermore, I find it telling that Jane, who was once desperate for any form of love, is now willingly leaving the man who loves her because she knows that it would not be morally permissible, lawful, or healthy to remain in this relationship. Jane reflects, "Not a human being that ever lived could wish to be loved better than I was loved; and him who thus loved me I absolutely worshipped: and I must renounce love and idol" (363). Jane's ability to make this sacrifice is a true sign of how she has begun to prioritize herself and find self worth rather than require love from others. I believe that as Jane strikes out on her own for the first time, her maturity and independence will continue to develop and shape her character.

Chapters 23-25

In Chapters 23-25, a lot happens. To start, in Chapter 23, Jane confesses her love to Rochester, prompting him to propose to her. The two then share a kiss as they agree to marry each other. Additionally, I continued to track the weather patterns, as they accurately reflected Jane's emotions and hinted at what is to come. For example, right after Rochester proposes and bids Jane goodnight, she notes that "near and deep thunder crashed, fierce and frequent as the lightning gleamed" (Brontë 296). This description led me to wonder if the marriage might not be as joyful and perfect as Jane believes. As I continued reading, I noticed that Rochester alludes to his dark secret again and again, which makes me think that we will soon discover this secret. Also, in the last chapter, Chapter 25, I found Jane's "half dream," where a strange and frightening woman stands over her and rips up her wedding veil, to be quite unsettling. Jane describes this woman as having "purple lips...swelled and dark...the black eyebrows widely raised over the bloodshot eyes" (Brontë 327). This characterization of the unknown woman is very gothic and dark. I believe that in the following chapters, we will learn what Rochester's big secret is, and I predict that it has something to do with this mysterious woman.

 Chapters XX-XXII

In these chapters, the reader sees quite the change in Jane, and how she has grown up throughout the novel. When she is called back to Gateshead at the request of the dying Mrs. Reed, Jane readily returns to the place that had previously given her so many hardships. The last time we saw Jane at Gateshead, she was fiery and angry at every injustice. For example, when provoked by John, Jane shrieks “‘Wicked and cruel boy!’ I said. ‘You are like a murderer – you are like a slave-driver – you are like the Roman emperors!’” (Bronte 13).  When John was being nasty, Jane tended to revolt and sink to his level. This is in stark contrast to how Jane acts upon her return to Gateshead. Though her cousins still treat Jane with disrespect, especially when she first arrives, Janes notes “[Their] sneer, however, whether covert or open, had now no longer that power over me it once possessed…” (264). Even though her cousins have not grown out of their malevolent attitude, Jane does not feel any bitterness towards them and even realizes she simply does not care that they do not like her. Long gone is the spiteful girl who left Gateshead at age ten–Jane returns as a changed, forgiving young woman. Jane has matured immensely throughout the novel, but nowhere is it clearer than in these chapters. 

Chapters 17-19

 In chapters 17-19, through Jane’s internal monologue, she finds herself falling in love with Mr. Rochester. When Mr. Rochester comes back from the party at the Leas, Jane tells herself that she will not fall in love with him and that she will not let her love for him take over the work she is doing. Jane repeats to herself, “You have nothing to do with the master of Thornfield, further than to receive the salary he gives you for teaching his protegee…”(Bronte 189). She tries to ignore the emotions that she is feeling, but Bronte’s repeated use of Jane’s internal monologue emphasizes how her newfound interest in Mr. Rochester is becoming all-encompassing in her life. In the following pages, Jane is not able to suppress her emotions, telling herself, “I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever sundered- and yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him” (204). Bronte’s use of her internal monologue in this part of the novel allows the reader to fully understand what she is feeling, and how without hearing Jane’s thoughts repeatedly, the readers would be lost. 

Jane develops complicated feelings toward the relationship between Miss Ingrum and Mr. Rochester. She thinks, “But I was not jealous: or very rarely; the nature of the pain I suffered could not be explained by that word. Miss Ingram was a mark beneath jealousy: she was too inferior to excite the feeling” (215). Jane is telling herself that she is not jealous of Miss Ingrum because she is too “inferior”, but if she were not jealous of the relationship between them, thoughts of Miss Ingrum would not fill her mind constantly. 

This makes me wonder if Jane will continue to ignore her jealousy or tell the truth about her feelings to Mr. Rochester. 

Chapters 14-16

Throughout these chapters, Jane Eyre has been characterized as closed off and restricts herself from her surroundings. After spending 8 years at Lowood, a school where she was often isolated and closed off from the rest of the world, shaped who she is now. We learn more about her relationship and interest in Mr. Rochester. As Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester converse, he tells her not to shame people for having secrets. This made me wonder if this was foreshadowing a secret that will happen later in the novel, making the readers wonder what his secret is and the importance of this passage to the novel.

Chapters 10-13

In this reading, I marked the continued use of weather to reflect Jane's feelings. As we saw earlier in the book, her time spent at Gateshead is marked by stormy, dark nights due to her disdain for her accommodations. However, spring began to bloom as she experienced better times at Lowood. In this reading, we see her describing her journey by using the cold nights due to her doubts relating to her new residence. However, once she arrives at Millcote, she describes the landscape very positively when she thinks she will enjoy the experience. She describes the sun shining and the green fields (page 117). Again however, the descriptions of bitter winter temperatures and dead landscapes appear in the book as Jane longs for a less stagnant life like the one that she experiences at Millcotte. I predict that this is a theme that will continue throughout the book as Jane experiences many emotions in her adolescence. Along with the use of weather, Bronte continues to use both freeing and confining diction while describing Jane's living situation. This is shown when Jane says she was an "inmate" of Lowood (page 100). This shows that despite some changes to Lowood's regimens, Jane felt that she was stuck in a continuous cycle that represents the young girl she was eight years earlier when she arrived at Lowood as opposed to the young woman who was ready to move on. Contrarily, Jane wants "liberty" in her new life (page 102). She wants to be afforded freedoms that neither Mrs. Reed nor Lowood has afforded her. She also says that she wants "life and movement" in the place that she moves to. Throughout these chapters Jane is adjusting to a new way of life where she is afforded unprecedented freedoms. Finally, one thing that I found interesting is when Bronte addresses the reader directly. She acknowledges that this novel is an autobiography of sorts which I thought was very interesting since she portrays her life through Jane.