Quotation: Reading through this section I kept thinking about two parts. One is in the middle of page 233 and the other on the top of page 448. “You will find she is some young lady who has had a misunderstanding with her friends and has probably injudiciously left them. We may, perhaps, succeed in restoring her to them, if she is not obstinate: but I trace lines offeree in her face which make me sceptical of her tractability.” He stood considering me some minutes; then added, “She looks sensible, but not at all handsome.” “She is so ill, St. John.” “Ill or well, she would always be plain. The grace and harmony of beauty are quite wanting in those features.”
“I found or devised something for you three weeks ago; but as you seemed both useful and happy here — as my sisters had evidently become attached to you, and your society gave them unusual pleasure — I deemed it inexpedient to break in on your mutual comfort, till their approaching departure from Marsh-End should render yours necessary.”
Comment: I think this passage fits in the novel rather well because this family is faced with caring for a stranger trying to figure out if she has anyone or anything that can account for who she is. While one person (Jane) is trying to decide who they are; others (the Rivers) are also trying to figure out who that individual is themselves. Proving how well this passage really fits in with the book because of the self-discovery and open-minded theme this book portrays. Not only does this passage fit in with the novel but also the concept of what a monster is as considered by Cohen. As he talked about how monsters tend to have an appeal to them and it makes others feel as though they need to know more about them. This is clear here when St. John mentions that his sisters were “evidently attached” to Jane for the time they were together. Even though she wasn’t like them as he described her in the first part of this passage; it was as though she was kind of a stranger that could not be deemed a monster even though she may have looked like one when she first met them.
This passage makes me think about; if someone came upon me the way Jane did to the Rivers. I too would probably have responded the way Hannah did at first and then I would have helped the best I could as long as I knew they were not going to bring harm to me when they had gotten better. In terms of there being an argument it could be that Jane isn’t the prettiest individual, and I mean this has been brought up since the very beginning. But I also feel like it is to the beholder of the eye because different people can see one thing from different perspectives that would make them see it in a different light than others. AKA just because she is considered not the prettiest by most does not mean she is “ugly” to everyone.
Question: It makes you wonder what is really stopping people from being open-minded to others? This one small act of revitalizing Jane led them to have a new friend and someone that would be the mistress of St. John’s girls’ school.
