is no more than a fantasy-one cannot escape when one
             must return for basic sustenance. The link between Jane and birds is
             strengthened by the way Brontë adumbrates poor nutrition at Lowood
             through a bird who is described as "a little hungry robin."
             Brontë brings the buoyant sea theme and the bird theme together in
             the passage describing the first painting of Jane's that Rochester
             examines. This painting depicts a turbulent sea with a sunken ship,
             and on the mast perches a cormorant with a gold bracelet in its mouth,
             apparently taken from a drowning body. While the imagery is perhaps
             too imprecise to afford an exact interpretation, a possible
             explanation can be derived from the context of previous treatments of
             these themes. The sea is surely a metaphor for Rochester and Jane's
             relationship, as we have already seen. Rochester is often described as
             a "dark" and dangerous man, which fits the likeness of a cormorant; it
             is therefore likely that Brontë sees him as the sea bird. As we shall
             see later, Jane goes through a sort of symbolic death, so it makes
             sense for her to represent the drowned corpse. The gold bracelet
             can be the purity and innocence of the old Jane that Rochester managed
             Having established some of the nature themes in "Jane
             ...