... be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." - Jane Austen Sense and Sensibility Chapter 1 Mr Dashwood and his family live in an estate at Norland Park. The estate is not theirs but from an old man who is a relative of Mr John ... him, but it turns out to be Edward Ferrars. He has been visiting other friends and is surprisedly cold-hearted towards Elinor. Chapter 17 Edward softens towards the family and they have a long talk. One of the subjects is prejudice, Elinor says she often prejudices people, because of stories she hears ... and Edwa...

• Word Count: 11136
• Approx Pages: 45
• Grade Level: High School

... her friends, but her crudeness and vanity reinforce our sense of Emma's refinement and fundamentally good heart. Emma's sister, Isabella, is stereotypically feminine "soft-hearted, completely devoted to her family, dependent, and not terribly bright. The novel implicitly prefers Emma's independence and cleverness to her sister's more traditional deportment, although we are still faced with the paradox that though Emma ... around a number of marriages recently completed or anticipated, and, in each case, the match solidifies the participant's social status. In Austen's time, social status...

• Word Count: 4896
• Approx Pages: 20

... -possessed; one recognizes, with Caroline Bingley, that "in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency." Nevertheless the basic situation of the novel explores Elizabeth's recurrent feelings of shame about her family, and the book tends to move from one shame-laden situation to another. Darcy's first proposal of marriage to Elizabeth and his letter of explanation after Elizabeth has rejected his ... lives "within view of his own warehouses." "Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?" Darcy pointedly asks. Still worse than the "situation of your mother's...

• Word Count: 3336
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me' hurt her pride and create her feelings of prejudice against him. It is only in Chapter 36 having read Darcy's letter that Elizabeth begins to appreciate the consequences of her prejudice and misjudgement of both George Wickham and Darcy. ... matter. By becoming Wickham's lover without benefit of marriage, Lydia places herself outside the social norms' and her disgrace threatens the entire Bennet family. The fact that Lydia's terrible judgment would have condemned the other Bennet sisters to marriage-less lives seems unfair by today's stand...

• Word Count: 3094
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... . The novel follows the development of Jeanette as she grows up and makes the decision that she is a lesbian and this causes uproar in the family home and in church as her highly religious mother regards this as a sin thus resulting in the breakdown of the relationship. Jeanette explains that after ... to stand in the stead of a parent to a strange child she could not love, and to see an uncongenial alien permanently intruded on her own family group'. Although there is conflict between them it is almost as if Jane understands to some extent why her Aunt behaves this way because it is .....

• Word Count: 3018
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... , risked falling into poverty. While belonging to the gentry, it is suggested that the Bennets have little or no savings, and furthermore, the family estate, Longbourn, does not make a significant amount of money. This makes it necessary for the Bennet sisters to marry, in order to ensure ... as the truth is revealed. Elizabeth discovers his loyalty and generosity by realising that he was wronged by Wickham, and moreover, has saved her family from humiliation by paying him to marry Lydia. Darcy's assertion that Elizabeth's own fault is "to wilfully misunderstand" people is accurate ... w...

• Word Count: 5516
• Approx Pages: 22
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... not his pride, in perceiving that Elizabeth's personal qualities can in fact outweigh his many objections - some of them well-founded - to her family. Elizabeth, on the othe! r hand, correctly faults not just her prejudice against Darcy, but the wounded pride which allowed that prejudice to ... .ix-xii Commentary After Elizabeth's watershed moment of realization about the truth of Darcy's character and the justice of his accusations concerning his family, Austen's satirical thrusts at characters like Lydia and Mrs. Bennet have become blunter. The episodes described in this section are pa...

• Word Count: 3260
• Approx Pages: 13

... powerful symbolism. She lived in this small countyside,when it appears this idilic place to live. Their life is pleasant, many small things happen. Her family had to move to one place to another because their economic problems, each movement to a new town means a step less of the social class scale. Her ... family had many economic problems so they had to move to other places, so Jane Austen's childhood was not very happy, this is the only things ... other problems: she had two brothers, who were admirant, a very dangerous job at that time (remember we are at time of Napoleonic war). J...

• Word Count: 5680
• Approx Pages: 23
• Grade Level: High School

... published in 1813, Pride and prejudice is a very popular novel written by Jane Austen. It talks about trivial matters of love, marriage, and family life between country squires and fair ladies in Britain in the 18th century. A gentle but witty satire of courtship an marriage, tells the story ... people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother's fortune and their own had been acquired by trade ...

• Word Count: 4276
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

... , George Austen, an Anglican Clergyman, and her mother, Cassandra, a minister's daughter. But the three only contribute to less than half of the entire family. Austen was number 7 of the 8 children born to Reverend George and Cassandra Austen (Lauber 1). Her writings were not limited to novels; she wrote plays ... and a basic cornucopia or literary expressions. Some her earliest writing spread from 1787 to 1793 (Mural 1). Her life style was attributed to her modest family. Apart from hard times, the George Austen always had enough money for books, which were considered a luxury of the ti...

• Word Count: 4144
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... proud to even entertain the possibility that perhaps Elizabeth simply does not want him. Although Collins claims that his economic status will be of great assistance to Elizabeth and her family after Mr. Bennet's death, his true reasons for selecting the second eldest Miss Bennet are purely selfish. While it is natural for the reader to agree that some of Collins ... a more likable character than Collins, both men find self-assurance and power as a result of their wealth and the ability to select a preferred mate. Even Mr. Bennet enjoys reminding his family of how dependent they all are...

• Word Count: 4152
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School