Summary At first, Jane sees little of Rochester. During their brief encounters, she notices his moodiness, but it doesn’t upset her. Finally, one evening, he summons Adele and Jane, offering Adele her long-awaited present. Jane notices that Rochester is in a friendlier mood than usual, probably due to his dinner […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 14-15Summary and Analysis Chapter 13
Summary Life at Thornfield changes following Rochester’s arrival. Jane and Adele are forced to abandon the library because Rochester needs to use it as a meeting room. Before, silence had ruled; now, the house it filled with new voices. Jane likes the place better now that it has a master. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 13Summary and Analysis Chapter 12
Summary Thornfield meets up to Jane’s initial expectations: calm and comfortable. Adele is a lively, spoiled child, but she is also obedient and teachable. Jane still longs for the busy world of the city, for variety, for conversation with her peers. A restlessness exists in Jane’s nature that causes her […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 12Summary and Analysis Chapter 11
Summary Jane sits waiting at the George Inn at Millcote, because no one has arrived from Thornfield to pick her up. Just as Jane is becoming anxious, a servant arrives for her. Despite its imposing architecture, Thornfield is inviting. Mrs. Fairfax proves to be a neat, mild-looking elderly lady, who […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 11Summary and Analysis Chapter 10
Summary Eight years pass before Jane again picks up her narrative. Following an investigation into the cause of the typhus epidemic at Lowood, Mr. Brocklehurst is publicly humiliated, and a new building is erected. Brocklehurst remains the treasurer for the school, but other, more enlightened, gentlemen become the school’s inspectors […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 10Summary and Analysis Chapter 9
Summary Spring arrives at Lowood, and the privations lessen. With new growth comes hope. Jane finds beauty in the natural world surrounding Lowood, a beauty that had been masked by winter’s frosts. But within this pleasure, there is also pain. The forest dell that nurtures the school, the “low wood,” […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 9Summary and Analysis Chapter 8
Summary At five o’clock, school is dismissed for tea. The spell she has been under dissolves and Jane collapses on the floor in grief. She feels all of her successes at Lowood have now been destroyed by Brocklehurst’s unfair accusations. Jane wonders how Helen can be friends with a girl […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 8Summary and Analysis Chapters 6-7
Summary When the girls wake for breakfast on Jane’s second morning at Lowood, they discover that the water in the pitchers is frozen. Before, she had been merely a spectator at Lowood, but now Jane will become an actor, participating fully in the events at the school. As Jane sits […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 6-7Summary and Analysis Chapter 5
Summary January 19, the date of Jane’s departure from Gateshead has arrived. She rises at five o’clock in the morning, so that she’ll be ready for the six o’clock coach. None of the family rises to bid Jane farewell, and she happily journeys far away from the Reeds. The porter’s […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 5Summary and Analysis Chapter 4
Summary Following her discussion with Mr. Lloyd, Jane expects that she will soon be sent away to school. But the only change Jane notices in her status following her experience in the red-room is that the boundary between Jane and the Reed children is more solid. On January 15, after […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 4