I am an independent woman now.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 37. Jane declares her independence and asserts that she is no one’s servant. She tells Rochester that her uncle in Madeira is dead and he has left her five thousand pounds. While Jane actually inherited twenty thousand pounds, she has gifted fifteen thousand pounds of that to her cousins, the Rivers. “I am independent, sir, as well as rich: I am my own mistress,” he explains to Rochester.