Stating that she is resisting her captors like a "rebel slave," Jane continues to use the imagery of oppression begun in the previous chapter. When Miss Abbot admonishes Jane for striking John Reed, Jane's "young master," Jane immediately questions her terminology. Is John really her master; is she his servant? Again, Jane's position within the household is questioned, particularly her class identity. When Mr. Lloyd asks about Jane's relatives on her father's side, Jane replies that she "might have some poor, low relations called Eyre." Mr. Lloyd wonders if Jane would prefer to live with them, and she immediately pictures a world of "ragged clothes, scanty food, fireless grates, rude manners, and debasing vices." Fundamentally, Jane shares the Reed's belief that poor people are morally inferior to the wealthy, and she honestly admits that she isn't "heroic" enough to "purchase liberty at the price of caste." Jane is slowly shaping the parameters of her ideal lifestyle; poverty, she realizes, is not acceptable to her. When Mr. Lloyd suggests school as another option, Jane imagines it as inspiring place, where she could learn to paint, sing, and speak French. Unlike poverty, education offers Jane the possibility of improving her position in society; thus, school may allow her freedom with a potential increase in "caste." Learning about her family background reveals that Jane is not from a "beggarly set," as her aunt had suggested. As a clergyman, her father held an acceptable, even gentlemanly position within Victorian society. Thus, this chapter ends with a refinement in the understanding of Jane's class position.
