Diana and Mary Rivers Quotes

“And what business have you here?” she continued. “It is not your place. Mary and I sit in the kitchen sometimes, because at home we like to be free, even to license – but you are a visitor, and must go into the parlour.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 29. Jane is in the kitchen at Moor House, but Diana Rivers tells her to go to the parlor because she is a visitor. Diana is implying that Jane doesn’t belong with them in the kitchen, that she is not completely welcome in their home. It is a reminder to Jane of her homeless situation.

“Mr. Rivers,” I said, turning to him and looking at him as he looked at me, openly and without indifference, “you and your sisters have done me a great service, the greatest man can do a fellow-being; you have rescued me, by your noble hospitality, from death. This benefit conferred gives you an unlimited claim on my gratitude, and a claim, to a certain extent, on my confidence. I will tell you as much of the history of the wanderer you have harboured as I can tell without compromising my own peace of mind – my own security.”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 29. After spending three days and nights in bed recovering at Moor House, Jane thanks St. John and his sisters for rescuing her from certain death.

Diana offered to teach me German. I liked to learn of her: I saw the part of instructress pleased and suited her; that of scholar pleased and suited me no less. Our natures dovetailed: mutual affection – of the strongest kind – was the result. They discovered I could draw: their pencils and colour-boxes were immediately at my service. My skill, greater in this one point than theirs, surprised and charmed them. Mary would sit and watch me by the hour together: then she would take lessons; and a docile, intelligent, assiduous pupil she made.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 30. Being with the Rivers sisters Diana and Mary rekindles Jane’s love of learning. They share an intellectual bond, with Diana teaching Jane German, and Jane in turn giving Mary drawing lessons. Jane observes that Diana’s nature and hers fit together so well.

I had found a brother: one I could be proud of, – one I could love; and two sisters whose qualities were such that, when I knew them but as mere strangers, they had inspired me with genuine affection and admiration. The two girls on whom, kneeling down on the wet ground, and looking through the low, latticed window of Moor House kitchen, I had gazed…were my near kinswomen, and the young and stately gentleman who had found me almost dying at his threshold was my blood relation. Glorious discovery to a lonely wretch! This was wealth indeed! – wealth to the heart! – a mine of pure, genial affections. This was a blessing…not like the ponderous gift of gold: rich and welcome enough in its way, but sobering from its weight.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 33. Jane speaks of her joy of discovering a family and home at last. She has learned that the Rivers family are her blood relatives and cousins. While she has inherited a fortune from her uncle, finding a brother and sisters like St. John, Diana and Mary means more to her than wealth. Using metaphor and simile, Jane speaks of discovering a “mine” of pure affections, not like the “ponderous gift of gold” of her inheritance.

I looked at the blank wall: it seemed a sky thick with ascending stars; – every one lighted me to a purpose or delight. Those who had saved my life, whom, till this hour, I had loved barrenly, I could now benefit. They were under a yoke; – I could free them: they were scattered; – I could reunite them: the independence, the affluence, which was mine, might be theirs too…Now the wealth did not weigh on me: now it was not a mere bequest of coin, – it was a legacy of life, hope, enjoyment.

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 33. A big-hearted woman, Jane is extraordinarily generous and quite unique for a wealthy woman of her era. She decides to share her “ponderous gift of gold” – her inheritance – with her new-found family. Her cousins St. John, Diana, and Mary Rivers had cared for her and shown her love, saving her life. She could now help free the Rivers from their “yoke,” having herself known what it is to struggle in life. She hopes that money will make them financially independent, allowing them to live together without working.

“And you,” I interrupted, “cannot at all imagine the craving I have for fraternal and sisterly love. I never had a home, I never had brothers or sisters; I must and will have them now: you are not reluctant to admit me and own me, are you?”

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 33. This passage emphasizes the importance of a sense of home and family to Jane, who as a child did not have the benefit of a loving family. She is speaking here to St. John about her joy in finding a family with him and his sisters Diana and Mary. She desires to share her twenty thousand pounds legacy with the family that saved her and live with them at Moor House.
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