A sneer, however, whether covert or open, had now no longer that power over me it once possessed: as I sat between my cousins, I was surprised to find how easy I felt under the total neglect of the one and the semi-sarcastic attentions of the other—Eliza did not mortify, nor Georgiana ruffle me.
Chapter 21 · Narrator
Context
Jane sits with her cousins Eliza and Georgiana in the Gateshead drawing room and realizes that their coldness and condescension, which once would have wounded her deeply, now leave her unaffected.
Analysis
The balanced syntax—'Eliza did not mortify, nor Georgiana ruffle me'—uses parallel structure to dismiss both cousins with equal brevity, as if their power has evaporated. The verbs 'mortify' and 'ruffle' are mild and almost playful, reducing what were once serious emotional injuries to minor irritations. Jane's surprise at 'how easy I felt' positions her former vulnerability as something she has outgrown, and the passage subtly celebrates this as a kind of emotional immunity earned through suffering.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Jane's bildungsroman is about acquiring emotional invulnerability to class snobbery—this quote demonstrates her pride in having become someone whom her former oppressors can no longer wound, a triumph of self-worth over social hierarchy.