Describe the irony in Jane's thought: poverty for me was synonymous with degradation.

In context, this quote exemplifies Jane's class conciousness. Although Janes is penniless and forced to live with wealthy relatives because of her circumstances, she says that she "should not like to belong to poor people. Her circumstances make this ironic, as in her own eyes, her poverty doesn't in anyway reflect upon her class. She isn't of the lower classes, she simply penniless.