Everyone has the right to govern themselves as to how to act, where to live and with whom to associate. In Jane Eyre, Jane is controlled and structured by an underlying social and economic critique of conventional patriarchal authority. First, we'll look at the various patriarchs that Jane meets with John Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester, and St. John. Then we can turn our attention to the economics of social class and how Jane behaves where she resides rather than whether it is Gateshead, Lowood or Thornfield and then we will see how Jane becomes an equal. After receiving a huge fortune from her uncle, Jane abandons her inferior role and travels to Ferndean to find Rochester on an equal footing. Jane Eyre's mother decided to marry into a lower social class than her own and therefore did not inherit any wealth from her family. . John Reed, Jane's maternal cousin, however, inherited the family wealth and therefore thought he was superior to Jane. John has made it clear that his position as sole male heir gives him absolute power to harass his dependent cousin. As can be seen when he finds her hiding behind curtains reading a book, John Reed says to Jane: “You're an addict, said mother; you have no money; your father didn't leave you any; you should beg, and not live here with the children of gentlemen like us... I will teach you to search my shelves: for they are mine; the whole house belongs to me” (Bronte 23). John then asks Jane to go stand by the door, to which she complies because she is considered his inferior. John then tossed her the book he had found Jane reading. She fell and hit her head on the door, causing it to bleed. Jane verbally attacks John Reed, and ...... middle of paper ......ction, Volume 31, No. 4. (March 1977) 397-420 JSTOR. Internet. November 11, 2011. .Wyatt, Jean. “Self-Patriarch: Jane Eyre and Romantic Love.” Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Volume 4, No. 2. (1985) 199-216 JSTOR. Internet. November 9, 2011. Roy, Parama. “Unhoused Women and the Poetics of Property in Jane Eyre.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Volume 29, No. 4. Nineteenth Century (Fall 1989) 713-727. JSTOR. Internet. November 11, 2011. .Monahan, Mélodie. “Leaving is not coming home: Jane Eyre.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Volume 28, No. 4. Nineteenth Century (Fall 1988) 589-608. JSTOR. Internet. November 11, 2011. Bronte, Charlotte. “Jane Eyre” Boston: St. Martin's Bedford, (1996) Print.