Jane says this during a charged conversation in the orchard, when she senses she is being tested and cornered. The “bird/net” image turns a private feeling into a vivid picture, making her refusal to be trapped unmistakable. She claims freedom not as a gift from others but as an inner right, which is daring for a poor governess speaking to her employer. The metaphor also flips a common Victorian trope—women as delicate birds—by asserting strength instead of fragility. This is a turning point in how she and Rochester speak to each other: equal to equal, spirit to spirit. The line reveals Jane’s core belief that love without liberty is a cage. Readers feel the rush of dignity in plain words—no decoration, just resolve. It resonates with anyone who has had to state a boundary out loud to be taken seriously.