Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
Table of Contents
Chapter 31 to Chapter 35
Chapter 31
Jane’s new home at Morton is a humble one, a cottage with whitewashed walls and sanded floor. Her pupils are peasants without much learning and with strong accents. Still, Jane gets on well with them, even though she admits to feeling degraded. She asserts that she was an idiot for feeling so, but she does not wish to despise herself too much in this faithful account of her narrative, and states that she resolved to do better.
She continues to think of Rochester and ponder the course of events, whether it was better to leave and save herself or stay and risk damnation. She concludes that she was right to leave. St. John visits her at the school. Jane manages to get him to talk of himself. He admits to feeling miserable the year before when it seemed as though he were stuck in rural England. Because he is ambitious, he desired to travel far and wide and save souls in the worst possible conditions. Thus, he resolved to be a missionary. Now that his father, who objected to the idea, is dead, St. John is free to do as he wishes.
At this moment, Miss Rosamund Oliver arrives. She is very beautiful and coquettish with St. John. He does his best to restrain his feelings for her and show her no other affection than what is required by civility. Miss Oliver tries to persuade St. John to visit her home and see her father, but St. John puts it off for another time. Jane watches and concludes that Diana’s analysis of her brother’s unyielding temperament is true: He is as “inexorable as death.”
Chapter 32
Jane soon begins to derive pleasure from her new teaching station. Her pupils grow to love her, as do their parents, and she is appreciated and respected all through town. Miss Oliver visits and helps Jane and continues to present herself before St. John, whose look shows that he loves her and would respond to her affection with an equal affection if he had not already resigned his heart to be sacrificed on the altar of...
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