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.