Chapter XXXVI Practice Quiz — Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter XXXVI
What does St. John leave under Jane's door before departing?
A note urging her to accept his marriage proposal, saying she was close to laying her hand on "the Christian's cross and the angel's crown," and that he expects her decision when he returns in a fortnight.
Where does Jane tell Diana and Mary she is going?
She says she is going to see or hear news of a friend about whom she has been uneasy, without giving further details.
How long is Jane's coach journey from Whitcross to the area near Thornfield?
Thirty-six hours. She departs on a Tuesday afternoon and arrives early Thursday morning.
What is the name of the inn where Jane stops near Thornfield?
The Rochester Arms.
What does Jane find when she approaches Thornfield Hall?
A blackened ruin — no roof, no battlements, no chimneys, with paneless windows and walls overgrown with grass and weeds.
Who tells Jane the story of the fire at Thornfield?
The host of the inn, who was formerly the butler to the late (elder) Mr. Rochester.
Who set fire to Thornfield Hall?
Bertha Mason (Mrs. Rochester), who took the keys from the sleeping Mrs. Poole and roamed the house setting fires.
Which rooms did Bertha set fire to?
First the hangings of the room next to her own, then the former governess's (Jane's) chamber on a lower floor.
How does Bertha Mason die?
She climbs to the roof of the burning Thornfield and leaps from the battlements, dying instantly on the pavement below.
What injuries does Rochester sustain in the fire?
He loses one eye (knocked out), loses sight in the other (inflamed), and has one hand crushed and amputated by the surgeon Mr. Carter.
Where does Rochester live after the fire?
At Ferndean, a remote manor house on a farm about thirty miles from Thornfield.
What does the innkeeper reveal about Rochester's behavior after Jane left Thornfield?
Rochester searched desperately for Jane, dismissed the household (settling an annuity on Mrs. Fairfax, sending Adele to school), and shut himself up like a hermit, walking the grounds at night like a ghost.
What is Mrs. Poole's critical fault, according to the innkeeper?
She kept a private bottle of gin and sometimes drank too much, falling deeply asleep and allowing Bertha to steal her keys and roam the house.
How does the innkeeper describe the governess (Jane) without knowing he is speaking to her?
He calls her "a little small thing, almost like a child" and "that midge of a governess," saying he wished she had been sunk in the sea before coming to Thornfield.
What biblical allusion does Jane use to describe the supernatural voice she heard?
She compares the shock of feeling to the earthquake that shook the foundations of Paul and Silas's prison, opening the doors of the soul's cell and loosening its bands.
What extended metaphor does Bronte use to convey Jane's shock at finding Thornfield destroyed?
A lover who lifts the veil of his sleeping beloved expecting to see beauty, only to find she is stone dead.
How does the destruction of Thornfield function symbolically?
It represents a purgatorial cleansing of Rochester's secrets and deceptions, destroying the physical site of his attempted bigamy and enabling a fresh start.
How does Rochester's physical condition at the end of the chapter equalize his relationship with Jane?
His blindness and lost hand strip away the physical power and social dominance that defined the earlier imbalance, while Jane's new fortune gives her financial independence, making them equals.
What is ironic about the innkeeper's account of the governess?
He is unknowingly telling Jane her own story and blaming her for Rochester's downfall, not realizing he is speaking to the very woman he condemns.
What contrast is drawn between Jane's two arrivals at Whitcross?
A year earlier she arrived desolate, penniless, and hopeless; now she returns with friends, money, and a sense of purpose, no longer obliged to sacrifice her fortune for a coach fare.