(For the very beginning beginner!)
| It is important to know what you are reading in order to understand what is taking place in a story. Since the articles on this site are mostly addressed to women, I will explain why I recommend Jane Austen in Literature. Critics of both Jane Austen's time (1775-1817) and our own, have said that her stories are too simple to be considered great literature. Certainly there is far more dramatic literature in this world. So, why do you think there is such an interest, or more correctly, a rage, over the Jane Austen novels, her life and times?
There is something quite healthy about the way Jane Austen began, explained, and concluded her stories. Her characters all have choices of doing right or wrong, and are aptly rewarded one way or the other. It is immensely satisfying to read a story about someone's life (real, or imaginary) in which a character ends up happily ever after, even if it looks for a while as though things are not going well. |
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Jane Austen gathered a lot of her insight into people's character from observing the cause and effect in the lives of people around her. She listened to parlor conversations in her own home. She was the 7th of 8 children, the daughter of a minister who was also a schoolmaster, and was devoted to her own brothers and sisters. Cassandra, the oldest sister, was particularly close to her, and it is from the letters exchanged between them, that we know more about her personality and her humor. Her interaction with these people helped form a humorous yet compassionate attitude toward people, a quality reflected in her novels.
If you are expecting some earthshaking, eventful stories, you will have to look elsewhere, for Jane Austen wrote of the ordinary life. If you have ever listened to someone read aloud a letter from a friend, you can get an idea of what her novels are telling. Reading them is like peeking in on the private times of families at home, and in to their joys and disappointments.
The recent film adaptations of her novels, "Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility," "Emma," and "Persuasion," help both the reader and the non-reader better understand the books. Briefly, the stories are about the following:
Pride and Prejudice centers around the five daughters of the Bennet family, whose mother is overly anxious for them to marry. Elizabeth, the second eldest, meets Darcy, and the two of them do not like each other. She thinks he is prideful, and he thinks she is easily prejudiced, but the story shows that they each suffer from both. Jane Austen makes sure they both repent of it before the story comes to a happy ending.
Emma - Jane Austen shows her disgust of snobbery by creating a character who thinks she is above certain types of people and attempts to match-make certain ones the way she thinks it should happen. Her eyes are opened before she makes the biggest mistake of her life.
Sense and Sensibility - Marianne and Elinor are sisters in a home without a father, trying to figure out how they are going to make it in this life, when a dashing hero comes to the aid of Marianne. Without listening to the cautions of her sensible sister, Elinor, who wants her to take her time in finding out the real character of this man, she becomes intensely infatuated over him. She is soon disappointed to the point of being physically ill. In the end, the faithful man she has callously overlooked becomes the one she trusts. The story shows Jane Austen's attempt to expose the "blackguard" of a man, as well as the the silly behavior of young women of her time.
Persuasion features the heroine, Anne, who was persuaded against her better judgment to turn down the offer of marriage to a man who was working his way up in the Royal Navy, because of his lack of status at the time. Eight years later he comes back into her life as the successful and much admired Captain Wentworth. This book has some beautiful descriptions of the journeys of the family as they go to the sea, reside for awhile at Bath, England, go to the opera, and many other events.
Mansfield Park - As far as standing for right, when others are doing wrong, this one is the best of Austen's novels. Cousin Fanny goes to live with her wealthy aunt, only to discover that people in the high society that others admire so much are not what they seem to be. She refuses to participate in scandal and is rightly rewarded. This is my favorite of her novels. The patient Fanny puts more value in being good than in being popular.
I recommend this type of reading to help women develop a love of living in the everyday life of the home and family. This literature gives us a glimpse into the daily lives of English families of the 18th and 19th centuries. The movies bring the stories to life and give you an appreciation of costume and hair design, festively set tables, beautiful fields and meadows filmed in England's Lake District, and of course, the wonderful historic homes with their interesting interior architecture. Watching the Bennet family walking home from church makes one long for modern families to engage in the same activity. It is worth watching these films and reading these books more than once in order to understand more about life than what you see in front of you. The walks in the country, the evenings with family, the music, the seasons she describes in detail, and the interaction of family members is all very important. Jane Austen showed how the folly of one family member could hurt others in the family, as well as ruin their own life, a lesson for all families today.
Several books written about Jane Austen have been instrumental in influencing women of today, including Jane Austen by O. W. Firkins, and Jane Austen and Her Times by G. E. Mitton. There is a host of student reviews posted on the web of each of the novels of Jane Austen, but each student will see something in the stories that they will take so personally that they may even adapt it into their own way of living and speaking. Indeed, Jane Austen societies are now emerging as a result of the current interest in the way of life in these novels. Teas, clothing, and games of the time are now becoming extremely popular.
