In chapter 31 on page 310, St. John Rivers crumples daisies growing in the ground with his foot during a conversation with Jane. Later, in chapter 34, we find Jane submitting herself to Mr. Rivers every whim: trying very hard to please him, surrendering her study of German to aid him in his study of Hindostanee, etc. Jane does say that even though she is normally willing to serve, in this case it feels like suffocation; like she is compromising most of herself to meet his approval and is extremely unhappy and uncomfortable trying to achieve this impossible feat. This chapter ends with Mr. Rivers trying to force Jane into marrying him, even though they are cousins and Jane refuses multiple times because she considers them "adopted bretheren".
It is my opinion that Mr. Rivers' smashing the daisies with his foot is indicative of the way the patriarchy viewed women during Emily Bronte's time. I also find it to be foreshadowing of the relationship between St. John's and Jane's relationship.
Considering flowers to be symbollic of vaginas, St. John's stomping the flowers represents the patriarchal tendency to diminish women as a whole during this time period. Moreover, the flowers he is crushing are daisies. Daisies, by nature, are not considered the prettiest or most extravagent flower; they are generally viewed as plain and common, yet daisies are more robust than most, and are perennial. This leads me to believe these daisies to be symbollic of Jane herself, thereby foreshadowing Jane's relationship with St. John and his desire to make her submit to his every fancy, crushing her independant spirit and killing her autonomy.
Jeannie, I completely agree. Here I thought I was the only dirty enough to think of vaginas.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. I really like posts like this one--that focus on a seemingly small detail and make a smart observation about it!
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