Read -iscovering Jane Eyre

Is that title a really bad pun? Probably shouldn't even bother with that question...

Basically, at the moment I am studying Jane Eyre, therefore I am reading it for the second time. I read it once when I was a few years younger and I did enjoy it, simply as a love story, but now it has been raised to a higher status for me. There is so much symbolism, so many fires, and holding hands, and saying things without really saying them... I appreciate it so much more now. 

Also, I am really  beginning to identify with Jane. Her quiet, strong reserve is something that some characters in the book are perturbed by, yet I completely understand and often exhibit the same behaviour. Probably the chapter in which Jane is most like me, is when Miss Ingram and her posse stay at Thornfield and Jane sits watching them. She feels she has no right to be involved and in most ways does not feel the need to involve herself, yet I sense her discomfort at being on the edge of something. It would be wrong to say I feel like this all the time, but occasionally there are those moments where there seems to be a divide between me and the people around me. 

I think the understanding of Jane is something the reader can latch onto. In some books, Wuthering Heights is a prime example, the characters are beyond identification on a personal level. Instead of feeling with them, you are inclined to watch them. It is a different experience and one which some people may prefer, as you can distance yourself and look at the general issues and ideas without being forced into a particularly angle. However, I often prefer to connect with a character and experience a story with them. It gives a more biased view and generally leads to a more focused writing style, but this is my preference. 

What do you want from a book? Do you have to like the characters? Do you even have to understand them?