LOVE AND THE REJECTION OF LOVE IN JANE EYRE Jane Eyre states at the beginning of Chapter 2, "I resisted all the way". It was this attitude, this declaration of a unique female rebelliousness, which sets the perfect note for the entire novel. That a woman will "resist" the terms of her destiny (social or spiritual) is not a new concept in English literature up to the publication of Jane Eyre in 1847. We have after all …showed first 75 words of 3295 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3295 total…orphan, the governess, the small, plain, and "Quaker-like" virgin? The novel ends with a curious aside to St. John Rivers away in India "laboring for his race" and anticipating with a martyr's greed, his "incorruptible crown." It is St. John's grim and exultant language that closes the story, however ironically "'Amen; even so, come, Lord Jesus!'" But those who have love have no need for this particular Lord Jesus as Jane Eyre undoubtedly proves.