The quotation comes from Jane Eyre Chapter 23
Quotation: I said this almost involuntarily, and, with as little sanction of free will, my tears gushed out. I did not cry so as to be heard, however; I avoided sobbing. The thought of Mrs. O’Gall and Bitternutt Lodge struck cold to my heart; and colder the thought of all the brine and foam, destined, as it seemed, to rush between me and the master at whose side I now walked, and coldest the remembrance of the wider ocean—wealth, caste, custom intervened between me and what I naturally and inevitably loved.
Context: Mr. R said he would be soon married with Miss Ingram and therefore Jane must leave. He told Jane he had found a new job for her – “to undertake the education of the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O’Gall of Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland”
===
Hi everyone! I don’t quite understand the bold part. I’ve found the thread arm with as white a hand
Quotation: I said this almost involuntarily, and, with as little sanction of free will, my tears gushed out. I did not cry so as to be heard, however; I avoided sobbing. The thought of Mrs. O’Gall and Bitternutt Lodge struck cold to my heart; and colder the thought of all the brine and foam, destined, as it seemed, to rush between me and the master at whose side I now walked, and coldest the remembrance of the wider ocean—wealth, caste, custom intervened between me and what I naturally and inevitably loved.
Context: Mr. R said he would be soon married with Miss Ingram and therefore Jane must leave. He told Jane he had found a new job for her – “to undertake the education of the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O’Gall of Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland”
===
Hi everyone! I don’t quite understand the bold part. I’ve found the thread arm with as white a hand
[...] he waved a long, thin, delicate arm with as white a hand on the end of it, which fluttered like a silk flag [...]
(M. Peake; Gormenghast)
Is the author thus saying that his hand was as white as his arm?
Thanks.
So I guess the part means “sanction of free will was as little as my tears”, i.e., “free will hardly allowed my tears to gush out”. Is it correct?Yes. He presumes that the reader will expect an arm to be white, but not necessarily a hand.