What about the Austen Craze annoys you?

While I love Jane Austen in all of her amazingness, I would also have to argue that Austen at times does bug me. I mean why write all these love stories, that always have a Cinderella plot line. There are some of her novels that are complex, but they are never difficult to understand. Austen never writes about the love stories that don't work out. Every character gets what they want, they live happily ever after and the novels end there. The reader never gets to see what happend after the characters get married. Also why can't a woman marry the man she wants without regard to money or status. I mean I know at that time period it would be scandalous, and she would be an outcast. Austen never writes about this although I am sure it did happen. Why does Austen always have this Pauper to Rishes story? It never varies. I wish that it could be more complex or use more of the real history/world that it was written in. Why didn't Austen try to write in different time periods, or places, or with vastly different character/stories? That is just what I think.

My future husband...

Well this is an exciting prompt.

My personality is most like:

- Elizabeth = for her rebelliousness
- Elinor = her ability to think about things in a mature way, how she is sensible, humble, and how she takes care of her family
- Jane = her shy/interrelatedness at times (though I am much more talkative)

My future husband's personality would have to be:

-Darcy = his ability to think about things in such a deep and interesting way
- Bingley = for his charismatic personalty, ability to talk easily in big crowds and his fun loving spirit (he always seems like he is smiling and happy)
- Edward = his ability to really listen to someone and offer good advice or comfort
- Brandon = his need to protect Marianne from people like Willoughby

I think it would be a combination between all of these men. I am more like an Elizabeth character now and I might be attracted to a guy like Darcy, or Bingley. I'm not really sure which one I would pick it would really have to depend upon which one I had a stronger connection with in the long run and our ability to be comfortable with each other. I would need to be with someone who is a little extroverted and maybe have a little bit of charisma. Someone that makes me laugh and I can be sarcastic with. I would also want them to be able to talk to a large group of people easily or in a natural/comfortable way, so that when we are in mixed company it wouldn't be awkward or embarrassing.

I would never be attracted to a guy that is arrogant, conceited, all about himself, too quiet or trying to show off in some way about how much they had. I would want someone who is honest and humble, who doesn't care about worldly things but tries to do things for other people without expecting something in return.

Willoughby vs. Wickham

Willoughby

• seduces a young woman
• gets her pregnant and bolts
• lies about this to Marianne
• tries to be overly affectionate to Marianne
• competes with Colonel Brandon and tries to create rumors about him
• the only thing that he really wants is to have sex with Marianne (it seems)
• he leads on poor Marianne who is both innocent and oblivious to what is going on

Wickham

• tries to seduce Darcy's sister Georgiana into marrying/eloping with him
• doesn't get the opportunity to get Georgiana pregnant (thankfully) and bolts
• lies about this to Elizabeth Benet
• tries to get Elizabeth on his side by giving his "side" of the story
• competes with Darcy and spreads lies about him
• all he wants is to flirt with a beautiful girl and then ditch her for someone else
• he is charismatic and seems to go after the girls with low self esteem who make up for it by being flirtatious.

I think the lesser of the two evils in this scenario has to be Wickham. Willoughby is the worse one here. I mean he got some poor woman pregnant, bolted and now here he is again trying to seduce Marianne. He seems older and has more experience in the world with woman and having sex and he seems to pry on the younger women like Marianne. I think he is the more dangerous one. Wickham in contrast is calmer. He seems to want to be in the companionship of young girls that are beautiful so that he can make out with them. He seems a lot less scary than Willoughby. See Wickham tried to seduce Georgiana but when Darcy stepped in to protect his younger sister Wickham backed off, bolted and left her alone. When Willoughby is trying to seduce Marianne everyone around her including Colonel Brandon try and protect her from him, but he is persistent and doesn't give up or go away. I think that is more dangerous than anything Wickham could have done, as that kind of goes into the category of being slightly obsessive and possessive. It is kind of creepy, at least to me. The major problem with both Willoughby and Wickham is that they seem nice (they are certainly handsome, tall, and charismatic), but there is something that is slightly off about both of them. Willoughby wants to have sex with any woman he can seduce and then leave her to become destitute. Wickham wants to go after a woman's fortunes and then leave them with nothing. Both have similar goals but Willoughby's motives are a lot more aggressive and violent.

The characters in Northhanger Abbey being aloof?

James and Isabelle, Catherine and John

The characters in Northhanger Abbey seem to be unaware of each other's feelings. I don't think this is because they are trying to deny the reality of what is going on, but that they are in a way unaware of the deeper feelings between each other. For example when Catherine likes John he has no clue how she feels about him. He wouldn't know how she felt unless she told him, then his perception of her and his interaction with her might change. I had this happen to me recently. I have liked this guy for 2 years now and I have been patiently waiting for him. The other day we hung out and then the next time I saw him I told him how I felt and he said that he liked me as well, but that he didn't know for sure if I did indeed like him. This could be the same thing for the characters. They might sense an intimate connection, but they don't want to get hurt so in order to protect their inner feelings they try to avoid the reality of the situation until they know for sure that both parties feel the same way.

Catherine Morland: worthy of hero status?

I think Catherine Morland will be the underdog of Northhanger Abbey. She is going to surprise everyone. I mean from the very first descriptions of her she is poor and plain. As she gets older however she gets more and more accomplished and beautiful.

I think she will just keep surprising people by her ability to sing, draw, read, write and play the piano, in being an accomplished lady. She will be quick witted and make everyone laugh. She will be the life of the party. That is my prediction but we shall see if this is right.

From her character so far it seems as if she is one of those girls who like to prove people wrong or surprise people with doing something they do not expect. I can say that I identify with her in this way.

I think the way she will rise to the hero status will be in the following way:

She is going to save some one's life. They will be drowning and she will save them. Then she will be rewarded and looked upon as a hero, then she will be given first choice over whom she wants to marry in gratitude to her.

Is there an Emma in your life?

There is a person in my life that is closely related to Emma. She has almost the same personality. She gossips all the time about people. She is not a bad person as we look upon gossipping as a negative connotation, she just has a lot of time on her hands. They both love to gossip, try and figure out who should marry whom and why, they are aware of the latest trends, fashions, etc. and talk to other people about their observations. There are times when it is enjoyable to talk to my friend about something girl related, such as boys, beauty, deep thoughts, day to day events, etc., but then there is also a bad thing about that as well. I almost feel as if I am prying into someone else's life and I feel guilty like I shouldn't know this kind of information. My friend doesn't mean to hurt anyone but I don't think she has any idea how her observations could potentially hurt some one's feelings. I think that is the same with Emma. I mean did anyone ever say to her, "hey this is my life leave me alone!" No, but I think at some point Emma should leave people alone and let them live their lives.

Emma's Facebook

I think Emma's Facebook would be quite entertaining. She would have a lot of friends and realtions and try and hook up different people who she would see as an obvious match, in very subtle ways. She would probably be intensely interested in the Facebook Instant Messenger application and be looking at other people's Facebooks while gossipping with one of her friends about a social situation, who should marry whom, other woman, and so on. She would probably put up pictures of all the parties and outings she had gone on where she had determined the best matches for every person. Here is an example of what it might look like:

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Name: Emma Woodhouse

Location: England
Hobbies: Matchmaking

This is me Emma Woodhouse.

This is a good example of gossiping in the novel of Emma. Whether she is talking to her fahter, Mr. Knightly or a number of other ladies she is always trying to get someone happily married. Here is an example of an amiable bachelor whom Emma would be more than happy to set someone up with.

Another example of a nice looking young man. Here is a whole group of guys that Emma would no doubt pair up with some of her lonlier women friends.

This exemplifies the idea of everyone gossipping about someone else.

I would not be surprized to find on Emma's page a map or chart showing all the matches she has made of happy couples that with her brilliance she paired up together. It would probably be complete with mini stories about how they met, and about how happy they are since Emma introduced them.

The film version vs. the book on the Character of Fanny Price

When I read the book of Mansfield Park the character of Fanny seemed to me to be a sort of fragile, sweet-tempered sort of girl but anxious about a lot of things. You would feel sympathetic towards her as she had a lot of hard experiences in her early life (being treated differently in a bad way and always being put down in some slight or treated unkindly). Then she would complain about everything and write to her brother William or talk with Edmund who were the only people in her life who comforted her and treated her with kindness.

When the movie was shown in class it was very strange. I had imagined Fanny having blonde curly/straight hair and here Fanny had dark brown hair. Even her very personality was different but not in a good way. In the book she seems shy and timid always afraid of something. In the movie she is like Elizabeth in that she is a strong woman, but here she is almost being passive aggressive in a way. When people put her down she is angered in a quiet way, but walks out of the room and cries. She seems always to want to speak her mind and get her opinions known. It seems the movie version is trying to get the readers/audience to sympathize with Fanny's situation where in the book they already care enough about Fanny to be right there with her in the story. In the movie there is a little bit of a disconnect to Fanny. In the book she is annoying at times, always complaining or crying about something or other. In the movie she is more interesting, but in an almost solemnly sad kind of way. I don't think the film accurately portrays the character of Fanny very well. It didn't capture the essence of Fanny, so I feel it is more of a loosely based on version of Mansfield Park as opposed to an adaptation.

10 Things that Puzzle me in Mansfield Park

1) Why does everyone treat Fanny so poorly except for Edmund?

I think the main reason is that the Bertram family whom she is living with is of a higher class than she had come from. They saw her as being of a lower class, and poorly educated and so treated her as such, without giving her a chance to show her knowledge and skills. I also think she is very misunderstood and no one seems to be very caring to her needs. Edmund is the only one in his family who seems to be intuitive enough to care about Fanny.

2) What is the big deal with the play and why is everyone fighting over the roles?

I believe that the roles are somehow feeding into each person's weaknesses of power and praise for their performances. The most important roles are the ones that are the most sought after, as the characters are popular and everyone adores them.

3) Why is Sir Thomas's business in Antigua hardly mentioned?

I believe the whole slave trade business on the side with Sir Thomas going to Antigua is hardly mentioned because the story takes the point of view of a third person narrative. The main focus is on Fanny, Edmund etc. It may also be that Jane Austen didn't write about the slave trade because she had no knowledge of it, didn't want to write about it as she wanted to get away from the horror of it and instead wanted to write a Utopian sort of story, or she didn't want to talk about an issue that the British people seemed to be obsessed with (buying/selling slaves). There is no way to really know the truth.

4) Why was Fanny sent to live with her cousins?

This often has confused me. I could not even imagine why Fanny was sent to live with her cousins the Bertram family. I mean her mother has 8 children, and yet for some reason Fanny is sent to live with her cousins. Does her mother really dislike her that much that she has to send her away to live with another family? I don't get it. I mean why Fanny? Why not William or another child? Why her? Obviously William is the bread winner of the family, the one that is expected to take care of the family when his father dies, but if Fanny is a girl and would be useful to keep around the house to help her mother take care of the younger children why is she sent away? I guess her mother just got tired of having her around (this is hard for me to believe. I mean how could a mother send her daughter away?) and sent her to live with her sister so that in some small way she could be an improved lady of society. It still doesn't make a lot of sense.

5) Why does Mrs. Norris want Fanny and then a few years later want nothing to do with her?

At first I thought it was because Mrs. Norris wanted to improve a young lady and since she had no children and her sister had 8, I guess she thought she would take the youngest and improve her to be a high lady of society. At first Mrs. Price objected and sent Fanny instead to her cousins house the Bertram family. Then Mrs. Norris changed her mind after seeing Fanny some years later, as Fanny was plain, sad and not quite what Mrs. Norris had expected I think. So then Mrs. Norris didn't want to have anything to do with Fanny as she was older by this time, and didn't want to improve her to be a lady as she was already so sad of a person.

6) Why does Fanny cry so much?

I think the reason that Fanny cries so much is that everyone (except Edmund and William), misunderstand her and treat her poorly. No one shows her compassion, gives her encouragement, or is patient with her timidness. Since she has had no one to turn to when she has been treated badly she cries. In her case this is her only emotion to turn to when she is feeling upset about something and this is her defense mechanism. She deals with stress/anger/happiness/sadness/fearfulness/etc. by crying, because this is the only way she knows how to deal with her emotions. She was not taught different emotions by her family as they have always been emotionally vacant. Edmund is an emotionally strong character. He is comfortable with his emotions, and he gives Fanny encouragement in expressing her own emotions by showing her compassion and caring about her needs.

7) Why does Fanny seem so obsessed/enamored with Edmund?

As seen in the previous example Fanny likes to spend time with Edmund because he is the only one (besides William), who treats her with kindness and like a normal person. The rest of her family treat her badly and show her no love at all. while Edmund is all about compassion, sympathy, and love for Fanny. He is her only friend and he really does care about her and how she is doing.

8) Why is the play so scandalous?

The play is all about love and what makes it scandalous is the content it has. The play is about love, marriage, and finding one's relations after many lost years. The cast consisting of women and men was highly scandalous. The women were considered improper if they acted in the theater and they were looked upon as loose women if they tried to make a living acting in a theater. The fact that there were women acting in this play, about finding their lovers, talking about how they want to caress their fiance, etc. is highly controversial especially for a man like Sir Thomas who stresses modesty. It is all around improper.

9) Why does Mansfield Park encompass so many themes?

I think Jane Austen knows a lot about her target audience. She seems to want to incorporate a lot of different ideas that were popular at this time. Some of the themes that can be found in the book are: the slave trade, marriages, the morality of society, the formal education of children, etc. I gather the reason it doesn't have one major theme is that when Jane Austen was writing Mansfield Park was that it was a complicated time for her as their were a lot of social issues going on around her. The biggest one being the Slave trade. I think that she must have had some knowledge of it, but in some small way she wanted to write about a lot of different social issues and not just focus on one theme.

10) Jane Austen when writing Fanny Price tried to create a perfect character, but one that would be well liked. Why is Fanny Price so disliked in Mansfield Park?

Based on Jane Austen: An Illustrated Treasury by Rebecca Dickson, the author points out that Jane Austen in creating the character of Fanny was trying to, "...produce a nearly angelic heroine full of delicacy and good judgement who does not need to face her faults and improve herself...Austen presents another message to her readers: by being consistently patient, passive and good, a woman can rise above difficult circumstances." (Dickson, 78) Creating a character that is good and moral is great, but in the case of Fanny she is too perfect and whines all the time. She cries a lot throughout the book and whines way too much and after awhile it gets annoying. She is not a strong character. She is kind of weak, but that is a given considering how she grew up. In fanny's case I don't think she ever had a chance to rise above her difficult circumstances if Edmund had not helped to encourage her. I think the main reason that Fanny is so disliked is that she does not connect with readers. She complains, she cries, she acts like a child at times, but there is no kind of character trait that readers connect with. I almost want to see her fall in a muddy puddle or see her get her hands dirty or something. Anything that would make me feel that she is human just like everyone else. When she is this perfect character, I think the reader could care less because they can't connect with the main character. If the reader can't connect with the main character that is a big problem and there is something wrong with the story.

Alternative Ending to Pride and Prejudice

If I were to re-write the very last chapter of Pride and Prejudice and create an alternative ending it would probably go something like this:

After the events that followed in the course of the afternoon, Elizabeth went to her father at once to relay the occurrence of her conversation with Mr. Darcy, and his explanations of him slighting her only to find out that he wasn’t. Upon hearing the news her father sat quietly a moment before responding.

“Elizabeth, it sounds as if your favor towards the man has changed. I have quite imagined that you have hated the man, but it seems I am wrong. Do you love him?”

“Very much so father.”

“Well then by all means bring the man here so that I might deliberate on the matter.”

“Thank you father.” Elizabeth hugged her father with much love.

“I cannot believe that you have found someone worthy of you my dearest Lizzy.”

“I am truly the luckiest woman in the world father.”

Elizabeth quickly hastened her steps to send out an urgent message saying that Mr. Darcy should come at once to the invitation of her father. She was about to close the letter when she heard a carriage approach their residence. She ran to the door. The carriage door opened and there was Mr. Darcy. He smiled when he saw Elizabeth.

“Good day Elisabeth. I hope you are faring well.”

“I am thank you. How are you Mr. Darcy? “

“I am fine. I came to talk to your father about our conversation this morning and my intentions.
May I speak with him?” Mr. Darcy had a nervous expression on his face.

“Of course, he’s in his study.” Elizabeth led the way. When she got to the study she rasped her hand on the door.

“Father Mr. Darcy is here and he wishes to speak with you.”

“Let him in Elizabeth.” Elizabeth opened the door and Mr. Darcy walked in and shook Mr. Bennett’s hand. Elizabeth closed the door behind her. She tried to decide what they were saying. All she could make out were the words, “love,” “marriage,” and some unheard amount of money. When she heard shuffling of chairs she lost her nerve and abruptly stopped listening at the door and waited in the hallway.

In a fortnight’s time the announcement of the weddings of Jane Bennett to Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth Bennett to Mr. Darcy were all over the town and perhaps in the nearby counties as well. The weddings were to take place separately one right after the other. Elizabeth voiced that Jane should go first as she was the eldest Miss Bennett. Jane’s wedding was as glorious and happy as any wedding could be. It was set inside a beautiful church. There were many flowers and all the guests were fashioned in their best attire. The whole scene was picturesque and light. Elizabeth’s wedding would take place the next afternoon.

Elizabeth’s wedding was quite different. It took place outside with the sun shining all around. Mr. Darcy and Georgiana were quite excited to receive Elizabeth as a new member of the family, Darcy because he loved her, Georgiana because she was receiving a new sister. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett could not be happier for Elizabeth. Jane and Mr. Bingley, Lydia and Mr. Wickem, Mary, Kitty, Charlotte and Mr. Collins as well as everyone else acquainted or related to the Bennett’s or to Mr. Darcy was there. It was a big event in the small town that day. There were pink and red flowers hanging over the opening to the altar. Jane walked down the aisle towards the altar escorted by Mr. Bennett. Mr. Darcy looked at her and thought to himself how beautiful she was at this moment, more so than he had ever seen her. Elizabeth looked up to see Mr. Darcy looking at her. She smiled and admired how nice his face was when he was happy. The minister started the ceremony and the only thing that Elizabeth could think about was how fortunate she was to have found such a favorable man as Mr. Darcy.

When the ceremony was over Darcy took Elizabeth’s hand and they took a stroll about his estate after they had both said their goodbyes to their well wishers. It was a long walk in which they talked about their first impressions of each other, and when they knew that they were in love with the other. By the time they returned to Darcy’s mansion it was late and the sun was starting to set.

The next morning Elizabeth received a letter from her sister Lydia. In the letter Lydia congratulated Elizabeth on her marriage to Mr. Darcy, and also asked that Mr. Darcy give them more money. Elizabeth sighed. Lydia would always be the same.

Jane and Mr. Bingley were very distinguished in high society as a couple of grace and humbleness. Their temperaments were well suited to each other. Kitty was becoming a most distinguished lady going away from her sister Lydia’s tarnished image. She was well known in high society and was always invited to the most distinguished balls. Mary was still living at home. Though she was encouraged to be more social, she seemed content to be reclined to her readings. Lydia and Mr. Wickem were regularly seen at balls together, though it must be made known that Lydia was more receptive to other people than Mr. Wickem was. His temperament was most distasteful towards Lydia, at times he seemed indifferent towards her, while she was most pleasant to him. As far as Darcy and Elizabeth are concerned, no two people could be happier. They liked discussing topics of the day and taking walks on their estate together. They were always seen together and never alone from one another. In the end they were content about their decision and lived a long happy life together.

End

Charlotte's view on Marriage

"Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance . . . it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life." ~ Charlotte to Elizabeth about marriage (Pride and Prejudice pg. 16)

I disagree with Charlotte when she says that happiness in marriage is by chance. I think that you can be truly happy in marriage if you marry the right person. You could have a completely happy marriage for a while and then turn to hate the person you married as their annoying quirks come out. Or vice-versa you could find out all the annoying qualities that your Fiancé has and still marry them being perfectly happy. It all depends on the temperament and patience that both partners have.

“…there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement. In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better shew more affection than she feels. Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on.” ~ Charlotte to Elizabeth about Jane and Mr. Bingley (Pride and Prejudice pg. 15)

Not knowing the annoying traits that your spouse or future husband or wife has would be like lying to yourself in my mind. I mean yes you could probably save yourself from getting into petty fights by not focusing on your significant other's flaws, but no one is perfect and those quirks are what makes life interesting. Without a thorough knowledge of this you wouldn't be able to express a full range of emotions. You would only be able to be the nice perfect person that society and your significant other would want you to be. For example: My grandfather only knows the side of me that is respectful, kind and honest. He never got to know the free-spirited, creative and rebelliousness side of me. I feel that this would be the same way in this situation. Jane is very quiet and intelligent. What would she be like when no one is in the room with her? No one knows. Would she sing or dance around? No idea. I think she would probably either write in some journal, paint or sing. Mr. Bingley is quite the opposite. He would probably dance on his own time when no one was in a room with him, or maybe write engaging letters to acquaintances. When they got married if they followed Charlotte's advice about knowing as little flaws as possible about your significant other they would never be able to do the things they do when no one is watching them, and they certainly would not feel comfortable doing those things in front of each other. How confining that would feel; to never be able to fully express yourself in a creative way, to show your true self. I could imagine that both partners would eventually feel frustrated and their marriage would be strained and it would lose its spark.

“…though Bingley and Jane meet tolerably often, it is never for many hours together; and as they always see each other in large mixed parties, it is impossible that every moment should be employed in conversing together. Jane should therefore make the most of every half hour in which she can command his attention. When she is secure of him, there will be leisure for falling in love as much as she chuses.” ~ Charlotte to Elizabeth about falling in love (Pride and Prejudice pg. 15)

I have always seen marriage as being love-centered. I guess it is the hopeless romantic in me. When I think of marriage being more strategic I think of a political marriage (like between royal families), or some kind of arranged marriage (based on a tribe or old cultures). I don't think marriage should be a strategic move, because what is marriage without love. If you married for a strategic purpose you would act like some kind of robot. I guess there could be some cases where you could fall in love with the other person, but a lot of times people fall in love with someone they like spending time with and have good chemistry with. They wouldn't usually marry someone for say business purposes. How sad would it be if someone got married by way of some business arrangement? That is not how I picture marriage, and it is certainly not how Jane Austin herself pictured it as well.

Why did Jane Austen never marry?

I wanted to find out why Jane Austen being such a famous romantic writer never married.

In my research I found that her first love (and maybe only love), was a man named Tom Lefroy. He came from a prominent wealthy family who had high expectations of him. He was burdened with supporting his family and sisters. His father wanted him to become a lawyer. Anne Lefroy is the one who might have introduced Tom and Jane.

From what I read online, Jane and Tom had a lot in common, and liked to talk about different authors as both of them read a lot. It seems that Jane may have felt more in love with him than he did for her, as Tom realized his family didn't approve of Jane's social standing and he kept the relationship going a long time before he ended it. I gather that Tom Lefroy's family forced him to marry an heiress, a wealthy woman more suitable to Tom's social standing. After this point when Jane finds out that he has gotten married she never talks about him again. I feel that he must have broken her heart and she never really got over it. I mean this happened when she was about 20 according to my research, and she died when she was 41 years old. That is only 21 years later, that is not a long time to get over someone that she seemed to be very close to over a period of many, many months.

I feel kind of sad for her that she never really found someone to be with. Not that a girl needs a guy to survive in life, but it just makes things easier to have someone to talk to when you are having a bad day or there is some great tragedy happening in your life. I feel like Jane dealt with this by talking with her sister Cassandra. From what I found out it seems that Cassandra and Jane were really close. There was not a single person that could separate the bond that these two sisters shared. They were honest about everything, and left nothing out. Every intimate, secret and detail was shared. I think that is so sweet and amazing, and yet a little sad. Jane confessed that when her sister died she had lost her best friend, a part of herself and that she did not feel that she could communicate or be close to anyone else as she did to her sister. So when her sister died she really was all alone. I just find this idea of Jane Austen not getting married to be a fascinating topic and one shrouded in mystery.