501 Critical Reading Questions

d. The context here suggests existence or habitation, not captivity or
illness.
277.
c. We can assume that the narrator would go home during vacations,
but she spent all of her vacations at school because Mrs. Reed had
501
Critical Reading Questions

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never sent for me to Gateshead (lines 50–51). Thus we can infer that
Mrs. Reed was her guardian, the one who sent the narrator to
Lowood in the first place.
278.
b. The narrator describes her experience with school-rules and
school-duties (line 53) and how she tired of the routine (line 56)
after Miss Temple left. She also contrasts Lowood with the real
world of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements (lines 35–36)
and that the view from her window seemed a prison-ground, exile
limits (line 44). Thus, it can be inferred that Lowood is both a
structured and isolated place.
279.
a. The narrator states in lines 26–27 that she had undergone a
transforming process and that now she again felt the stirring of old
emotions (line 30) and remembered that the real world was wide and
awaited those who had courage to go forth (lines 36–37). She also
looks at the road from Lowood and states how [she] longed to fol-
low it further! More importantly, she repeats her desire for lib-
erty and prays for a new servitude—something beyond Lowood.
280.
e. In lines 13–15, the narrator states that with Miss Temple at
Lowood, she believed she was content, that to the eyes of others,
usually even to my own, I appeared a disciplined and subdued charac-
ter. This suggests that in her natural element (lines 29–30) she is
not so disciplined or subdued. Her desire for freedom and to
explore the world are also evident in this passage; she longs to
follow the road that leads away from Lowood (line 46) and she
is half desperate in her cry for something new, something beyond
Lowood and the rules and systems she tired of [ . . . ] in one after-
noon (line 56).
281.
d. Because Lowood had been the narrator’s home for eight years
and all she knew of existence was school rules, duties, habits,
faces, etc. (lines 53–55)—because she had had no communication 
[ . . . ] with the outer world (lines 52–53), it is likely that she feels
her initial prayers were unrealistic. At least a new servitude
would provide some familiar territory, and it therefore seems
more realistic and attainable than liberty or change.
282.
c. The women refer to each other as “Mrs.”, and their conversa-
tion reveals that they don’t know much about each other. Mrs.
Hale, for example, asks Mrs. Peters if she knew Mr. Wright line
46) and if she were raised round here (line 58).
283.
a. Mrs. Peters says It would be lonesome for me sitting here alone
(lines 27–28)—to which Mrs. Hale replies, It would, wouldn’t it?
and then expresses her wish that she’d come to see Mrs.
Wright. She says it’s a lonesome place and always was in line 37
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