Jane Eyre, Chapter XXXII quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What is Jane’s initial impression of her village school students?

   • They are already literate and need little instruction
   • They are eager and well-prepared learners
   • Correct answer: They seem hopelessly dull with torpid faculties
   • They are rebellious and refuse to follow her rules

   Jane describes her students as "wholly untaught, with faculties quite torpid" and says they "seemed to me hopelessly dull" at first sight, though she later revises this opinion.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What subjects does Jane teach to the farmers’ daughters who can already read and write?

   • Reading, writing, ciphering, and plain knitting
   • Latin, music, Scripture, and the catechism
   • French, German, drawing, and watercolours
   • Correct answer: Grammar, geography, history, and finer needlework

   Jane states that to the farmers’ daughters who could already read, write, and sew, she "taught the elements of grammar, geography, history, and the finer kinds of needlework."

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Jane dream about every night despite her calm daytime existence?

   • Inheriting a fortune like Rosamond Oliver
   • Correct answer: Passionate encounters with Mr. Rochester
   • Her old school days at Lowood Institution
   • Her lonely childhood at Gateshead Hall

   Jane describes vivid nightly dreams of meeting Mr. Rochester "at some exciting crisis," feeling "the sense of being in his arms, hearing his voice, meeting his eye" and the hope of passing a lifetime at his side.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What poem by Sir Walter Scott does St. John bring Jane on the holiday?

   • Correct answer: Marmion
   • Ivanhoe
   • The Lady of the Lake
   • The Lay of the Last Minstrel

   Jane says she was "eagerly glancing at the bright pages of Marmion (for Marmion it was)" when St. John stooped to examine her drawing.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does St. John measure his moment of romantic fantasy about Rosamond?

   • He asks Jane to count the minutes aloud while he studies the portrait
   • He consults the clock in Jane's cottage for a quarter of an hour
   • Correct answer: He takes out his watch and sets it on the table for fifteen minutes
   • He allows himself to look at the portrait for exactly five minutes

   St. John says "go on for another quarter of an hour" and "actually took out his watch and laid it upon the table to measure the time."

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6. 6

   Question 6. According to St. John, why would Rosamond not make him a good wife?

   • Her father would never consent to her marrying a poor country clergyman
   • Correct answer: She could not sympathize with or cooperate in his missionary aspirations
   • She is secretly promised to one of the regiment's officers she danced with
   • She lacks the education and intelligence that his learned work requires

   St. John says he knows Rosamond "could sympathise in nothing I aspired to—co-operate in nothing I undertook" and asks rhetorically, "Rosamond a sufferer, a labourer, a female apostle? Rosamond a missionary’s wife? No!"

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7. 7

   Question 7. How does St. John describe himself when he strips away his Christian exterior?

   • A frustrated poet and artist longing for a literary career
   • A passionate, emotional man guided by feeling rather than reason
   • A humble servant of God entirely without worldly ambition
   • Correct answer: A cold, hard, ambitious man guided by reason, not feeling

   St. John declares he is, in his "original state," "a cold, hard, ambitious man" and that "Reason, and not feeling, is my guide; my ambition is unlimited."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Mr. Oliver think about the prospect of his daughter marrying St. John?

   • Correct answer: He would welcome the match, considering St. John’s birth and profession sufficient compensation for lack of wealth
   • He is indifferent to the match, leaving the decision entirely to Rosamond’s own judgment
   • He would approve only if St. John abandoned his missionary ambitions and remained in Morton
   • He is firmly opposed, considering St. John’s poverty an insurmountable obstacle to the marriage

   Jane observes that Mr. Oliver "evidently regarded the young clergyman’s good birth, old name, and sacred profession as sufficient compensation for the want of fortune" and would throw no obstacle in the way.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • True or False: St. John accepts Jane’s offer to paint a copy of Rosamond’s portrait for him.

     Didn't happen

     When Jane offers to paint a copy, St. John replies with the Latin phrase "Cui bono?" ("What is the point?") and says "No," declining the offer despite his obvious longing.

   • True or False: Jane identifies what St. John saw on the drawing paper before he tore it.

     Didn't happen

     Jane scrutinizes the paper but sees "nothing on it save a few dingy stains of paint." She cannot determine what caught St. John’s eye and soon dismisses and forgets the mystery.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does the word "torpid" mean as used in the phrase "with faculties quite torpid"?

    • Correct answer: Mentally sluggish and inactive
    • Oppressively hot and humid
    • Emotionally volatile and unstable
    • Extremely alert and intelligent

    "Torpid" means mentally or physically inactive and sluggish. Jane uses it to describe her students’ initially unresponsive mental faculties before teaching awakens their intelligence.

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11. 11

    Question 11. In the context of the chapter, what does "enervate" mean?

    • To irritate; to get on one's nerves
    • To agitate with nervous excitement
    • To energize and invigorate; to rouse
    • Correct answer: To drain of energy or vitality; to weaken

    Jane asks St. John whether a portrait of Rosamond would "bring recollections calculated to enervate and distress." "Enervate" means to weaken or drain vitality—a common word often confused with "energize."

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "Cui bono" mean when St. John uses it to decline the portrait?

    • With great pleasure / Most willingly
    • God willing / If heaven permits
    • Correct answer: To what good? / What is the point?
    • In good faith / Without deceit

    "Cui bono" is a Latin phrase meaning "To whose benefit?" or "What is the point?" St. John uses it rhetorically to indicate there is no benefit in possessing a copy of Rosamond’s portrait when he has resolved to give her up.

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