Jane Eyre, Chapter XXXIV quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What task does Jane undertake at the beginning of Chapter 34?

   • Studying Hindostanee with St. John in the parlour
   • Writing a letter to Mr. Rochester at Thornfield
   • Correct answer: Preparing Moor House for Diana and Mary's return
   • Instructing her sixty pupils at Morton school

   Jane closes her school and devotes herself to cleaning, renovating, and decorating Moor House to welcome her cousins Diana and Mary home for Christmas.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What news does St. John share about Rosamond Oliver?

   • Correct answer: She is engaged to marry Mr. Granby
   • She has decided to become a missionary
   • She has moved away from Morton
   • She has fallen ill

   St. John calmly announces that Rosamond Oliver is about to marry Mr. Granby, grandson and heir to Sir Frederic Granby, whom she met at a county ball two months prior.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why does St. John ask Jane to study Hindostanee?

   • To enable her to instruct Diana and Mary in the language
   • To meet a requirement of the missionary society
   • To satisfy Jane's own curiosity about the languages of the East
   • Correct answer: To prepare her for missionary work and bind her to his plans

   St. John claims he needs a pupil to help him review the basics, but his true purpose is to draw Jane into his missionary plans for India and gradually bring her under his influence.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Jane describe the effect of St. John's influence on her?

   • She feels inspired and enthusiastic about missionary work
   • Correct answer: She falls under a "freezing spell" and loses her freedom of mind
   • She becomes confident and argues with him continually
   • She develops a passionate attachment to her cousin

   Jane says St. John's praise and notice were "more restraining than his indifference" and that she fell under a "freezing spell," unable to talk or laugh freely in his presence.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Where does St. John propose to Jane?

   • At the church in Morton
   • In the parlour at Moor House
   • On the road back from Whitcross Brow
   • Correct answer: During a walk through Marsh Glen

   St. John takes Jane on a walk through Marsh Glen, where they sit among rocks near a waterfall, and he asks her to come to India as his wife and fellow missionary.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What condition does Jane place on agreeing to go to India?

   • That she be allowed to return to England after five years
   • Correct answer: That she go as his sister, not his wife
   • That Diana and Mary accompany them
   • That she first receive news of Mr. Rochester

   Jane tells St. John she is ready to go to India "if I may go free" and proposes they continue as adopted brother and sister rather than marry.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What ultimatum does St. John give Jane before leaving for Cambridge?

   • Correct answer: She has a fortnight to accept his proposal or refuse God's call
   • She must surrender her inheritance to the missionary society
   • She must abandon Moor House before his return from Cambridge
   • She must write to Mr. Rochester and end their connection

   St. John tells Jane to take a fortnight to consider, warning her that refusing him means denying God and limiting herself to "selfish ease and barren obscurity."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What is the source of Jane's deep anxiety throughout the chapter?

   • Regret about dividing her inheritance
   • Her struggle to master the crabbed Hindostanee script
   • Correct answer: Unanswered letters seeking news of Mr. Rochester
   • Anxiety about the dangerous voyage to India

   Jane wrote to Mrs. Fairfax seeking information about Mr. Rochester, but received no reply for six months, causing her hope to die out and leaving her in dark distress.

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9. 9

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

   • St. John expresses great delight at the renovations Jane has made to Moor House.

     Didn't happen

     St. John shows no pleasure at the renovations. He remarks that Jane must have bestowed more thought on the matter than it was worth, then retreats to his window recess to read.

   • St. John walks four miles across the moor at night to visit a dying woman.

     Happened

     When a poor lad comes to fetch him, St. John travels four miles to Whitcross Brow over dangerous moorland in bitter cold to see the boy's dying mother, returning at midnight "happier than when he set out."

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "taciturnity" mean as used in the chapter: "their fluency covered St. John's taciturnity"?

    • The quality of being tactful or discreet
    • Irritability, sullenness, and short temper
    • Correct answer: Habitual silence or reserve in speech
    • Talkativeness; a tendency to chatter

    Taciturnity means being reserved or uncommunicative in speech. The passage indicates that Diana and Mary's lively conversation masked St. John's characteristic silence.

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11. 11

    Question 11. In the context of St. John's proposal, what does "oblation" mean: "Do you think God will be satisfied with half an oblation?"

    • A public confession of one's sins
    • A ritual washing or cleansing
    • A duty or obligation owed to another
    • Correct answer: A religious offering or sacrifice

    An oblation is a religious offering or sacrifice. St. John uses the word to argue that Jane cannot offer only part of herself to God's service—she must give everything, including her hand in marriage.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "hierophant" mean when Jane says she has "a neophyte's respect and submission to his hierophant"?

    • Correct answer: A chief priest or interpreter of sacred mysteries
    • A scholar of ancient Egyptian picture writing
    • A fellow soldier or loyal companion
    • A beginner or newly converted believer

    A hierophant is a chief priest or interpreter of sacred mysteries. Jane uses the term to describe her relationship with St. John as one of student to spiritual teacher, not wife to husband.

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