Connections

"'The fact is, once and for all, I don't wish to treat you like an inferior: that is I claim only such superiority as much result from twenty years' difference in age, and a century's advance in experience'" (135). 

 Similar to wealth, family name, and gender, age is also something that can provide people a reason to claim social superiority over others. In this quote, Mr. Rochester is speaking to Jane about how he wishes to treat her like an equal, however because he is older and wiser, he cannot. Being a younger sister, and having a job in which time spent there is integral to how superior you are to other employees, the number of years people claim can be important in raising yourself above others. Older siblings can often claim superiority over younger siblings, not only because they've lived for longer than the younger siblings have, but also because the older siblings know more than the younger siblings do during the time that they are in school. At work, if an employee has been working there for longer than another employee, the former usually knows how to do more things than the latter, allowing the employee who has worked there for longer to raise themselves above the newer employee because they are supposedly inferior.