"Because," he said, "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you-- especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly."
--Chapter XXIII, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
My favourite quote from the book ♥
In one of my second year English literature courses, I was taught to read this book as a story of a woman's oppression and looming entrapment in patriarchy, and I believed that for years until I re-read this book this year. In the time that has passed between readings, I’ve grown, matured, and discovered real love. Under that light, the book reads much differently, and I can identify with much of what Jane feels. To me (and I don't care what my English profs would say about it), this is a story of growth, of perseverance, and definitely of love. It’s perhaps more lucrative to be cynical and force jaded readings into this novel, but I don't believe that was Brontë's intention.
The imagery of this quote is breathtakingly beautiful.
