"None that would own me, sir. Mr. Reed is dead, and his wife cast me off." "Why?" "Because I was poor, and burdensome, and she disliked me."
Chapter 21 · Jane Eyre
Context
Rochester asks Jane about her relationship to Mrs. Reed. Jane explains that she has no family willing to acknowledge her, and describes how her aunt cast her out because she was poor and unwanted.
Analysis
Jane's syntax uses parataxis—three short phrases linked by 'and'—to list the reasons for her rejection: 'poor, and burdensome, and she disliked me.' The rhythm is flat and unemotional, each clause as factual as the last, which makes the cruelty feel normalized rather than exceptional. By placing her aunt's personal 'dislike' on the same grammatical level as the economic facts ('poor,' 'burdensome'), Jane suggests that class prejudice and personal cruelty are inseparable.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Jane narrates her own oppression with deliberate emotional restraint—the flat syntax here makes mistreatment sound like a given fact of her world, which paradoxically exposes how deeply unjust that world is.