skygiants

It's also so key to making the ending work -- like, Jane can't go back to Rochester until she's got her own independence. She loves him but he's proven he can't be trusted. It's only a happy ending if she can walk away whenever she likes, if she can come to him on absolutely her own terms, if he's a reward she's giving herself because he makes her happy, rather than because she needs him for any reason whatsoever.