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Title: Pride and Prejudice
Series: ———-
Author: Jane Austen
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 275
Words: 124K
This will be a bit different from my usual review. Lashaan and I did a buddy read of this and we used a series of questions I found online to help us talk about the book. There were 11 questions in total and I chose to answer 7 of them. I found the other 4 stupid, insipid, insulting or just plain not a subject I cared one whit for. After the questions I have some general thoughts. And I’ve included a link to Lashaan’s review at the end. Please visit his review when it goes live to see another whole take on this book 😀
1. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” This first line has become one of the most famous in English literature. In addition to setting the narrative in motion, how does this line alert us to the tone of the novel and our role, as readers, in appreciating it? What does the line imply about women?
I’ll work backwards on this. Addressing that last question first.
When you talk about the opening line, you have to also use the second to put it into context:
“However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.”
So what the opening implies about women, and then about men, is that they are both playing pieces for their elders. It’s not about gender (despite what the questioner is trying to force into this). Both are pawns are on the chessboard of marriage.
The role of the reader is whatever the reader wants it to be. It doesn’t matter what the author thinks, or tries to do. The reader is an independent being and a good author acknowledges this and simply writes their story without forcing their reader into the slavery of being “in a role”. Only Message writers do that.
As for the tone of the novel, I’d say it it sets a jolly good tone! Funny, amusing and yet acknowledging the foibles of the culture the author is living in.
So there we go. My first set of ranty answers to the first question 😀
2. Elizabeth is upset to learn that Charlotte has accepted Mr. Collins’s marriage proposal. Do you think Charlotte should have married Mr. Collins? Did she choose him or did he choose her? What do you think influenced her decision to accept him? Is Charlotte a romantic? Is Elizabeth?
At 27, being plain, poor and unconnected, Charlotte didn’t have much choice if she didn’t want to end up being a burden to her family. While I suspect she will regret in the future her choice of Mr Collins, tempermentally she seems fit to deal with his particular brand of pride and false-humility. And now she is mistress of her own establishment with greater things to come. Her children won’t be in her circumstances and thus will hopefully be able to have more choices open to them.
I’d say Charlotte definitely chose Mr Collins. He was just wafting around like a butterfly, looking for the first open flower. She saw him coming a mile away. Besides, Mr Collins seems to stupid to do any real choosing 😀
I think my answer to the first question also answers this. Material stability goes a long way towards making a relationship stable. Charlotte knew what her future held and so she did what she had to to change it, for the better.
I don’t see Charlotte as romantic at all. She’s just super realistic. Elizabeth on the other hand is fully infected with the “Love is Our Guiding Light” idea. Of course, given what Elizabeth sees between her father and mother, one can forgive her for wanting some genuine love in a relationship.
3. How does Pemberley play a role in Elizabeth’s change of heart? Does she really fall in love with Darcy after seeing his estate? Trace the development of her feelings for him. Why is Darcy attracted to Elizabeth? Trace the development of his feelings for her.
I think this question is a bit too “school report” like for my taste. Plus, you know, feelings. Seeing Pemberley was just another check mark in the positive side for Darcy. Not because it was all big and rich, but because of the character it displayed and thus by extension, Darcy’s character. You can tell a lot about a person by their living quarters. And by the people they keep around them. So it simply helped Elizabeth begin to change her feelings towards Darcy. She saw another side of him displayed through Pemberley. She was discerning enough to see that and to look beyond the wealth itself.
4. What might have happened if Elizabeth had accepted Darcy’s first proposal? Do you think he really expected her to accept? How does the first proposal change their feelings for, and opinions of, each other?
I think their marriage would have ended in disaster. He wouldn’t have respected her and she never would have loved him him. They both needed to change themselves and see the other in a more accurate light before their marriage could have worked.
I do think Darcy expected an acceptance. I’m pretty sure when they are talking about it later he says something like “you had everything to gain and nothing to lose by accepting my proposal. At least that is how I saw it at the time”.
I think Darcy’s proposal opened Elizabeth’s eyes to the fact that Darcy did love her. He wasn’t just attracted to her, but he loved her. That allowed her to realize that her feelings of prejudice might need to change. And Darcy got a good earful from Elizabeth and he needed that to set him on the path of seeing her as an equal in any marriage endeavor and not just an emotional and sexual outlet.
7. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet do not agree on very much, especially when it comes to their daughters’ futures. Who is the better parent—Mr. or Mrs. Bennet? What role does family play in this novel?
Neither of them is the better parent. Mr Bennet is the least worst though. Lydia is exactly like her mother, so it shouldn’t have come as any surprise to anyone at her running away with Wickham and not caring at all about getting married. Mr Bennet could have helped guide his wife’s character growth at the beginning of their marriage but chose not to fight that battle and he reaped the harvest with a selfish, vain, silly woman for a wife.
Family plays a huge role! The Bennetts. Darcy’s sister and Aunt. Mr Bingley’s sister. Elizabeth’s Aunt and Uncle. Even Wickham is a pseudo-family of the Darcy’s. You can’t go very far without a family interaction.
8. Darcy says that Wickham tried to elope with Georgiana for revenge. Does revenge play a part in his elopement with Lydia?
I don’t think it does at all. I think Wickham needed an out and Lydia provided the easiest and most comfortable out. I have to admit, Wickham running away with Lydia still puzzles me.
11. Why is this novel so popular? Why do readers keep coming back to it, even after the original suspense is gone and they know how it ends?
Because it’s a girly romance and there are more women in the world than men.
Is my off the cuff, flippant remark, hahahahaa.
My serious answer would be that the Initially Thwarted Romance between Jane and Mr Bingley and the Enemies to Lovers Romance between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy speaks to a lot of women. “I” like it because it’s a romantic story that shows some real human foibles and it’s some very fine writing.
I skipped a bunch of questions because they pissed me off. I hate social media so wanted to nothing to do with that question. I disliked the leading question about Irony because I don’t like being led down a certain path by somebody else. Finally, I don’t care two figs for what it might have been originally titled. It is called Pride and Prejudice and that’ that. It’s overthinking things for the sake of overthinking to do any more on the title.
Bookstooge’s General Thoughts:
I must admit, I did not like this format of Question and Answer. I felt stifled, hemmed in and like I was back in highschool with a teacher looking over my shoulder. While it made writing a review much easier (I pasted/copied the questions and my answers from my emails to Lashaan), I totally did not enjoy the reading process itself. My brain did not have the freedom to wander down the byways because I was focused on trying to “pay attention” to the story so I could answer the questions.
It’s not that the Q&A is a bad way of doing things, especially for younger people who haven’t been trained to think for themselves yet. It gives them a framework within which to work, otherwise they’d be left floundering and their thoughts would be “I liked this” or “I didn’t like this” without any further explanation. But I am not a kid any more. Sadly, I haven’t been for a long time and I have much vaster reading experience now than I did back when I was a teenager (even as well read as I was then). For me, the reading experience itself is part of the process. I simply flow into the story, absorb it and let it knock around my brain like a pair of dice. Then I release it and see what happens. That’s how I read and review now. It’s been quite the revelation to me to come to that realization.
I am also glad that “I” am the one that chose the questions, that way I have nobody but myself to blame, hahahaahahaa.
Overall, while this Q&A was quite the different approach, and one that I’m happy to have applied, it won’t be happening again.
★★★★★
Complete Set of Questions:
Click to Open
1. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” This first line has become one of the most famous in English literature. In addition to setting the narrative in motion, how does this line alert us to the tone of the novel and our role, as readers, in appreciating it? What does the line imply about women? (From the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago pamphlet on Pride and Prejudice, 2005)
2. Elizabeth is upset to learn that Charlotte has accepted Mr. Collins’s marriage proposal. Do you think Charlotte should have married Mr. Collins? Did she choose him or did he choose her? What do you think influenced her decision to accept him? Is Charlotte a romantic? Is Elizabeth?
3. How does Pemberley play a role in Elizabeth’s change of heart? Does she really fall in love with Darcy after seeing his estate? Trace the development of her feelings for him. Why is Darcy attracted to Elizabeth? Trace the development of his feelings for her.
4. What might have happened if Elizabeth had accepted Darcy’s first proposal? Do you think he really expected her to accept? How does the first proposal change their feelings for, and opinions of, each other?
5. Several letters are reproduced in full in the text. What is the effect on you as a reader when you read a letter instead of getting the information contained in it from the 3rd person narrator? Why do you think Austen might have used letters so often in this novel? (There are 59 references to letters in the book.)
6. How does the title Pride and Prejudice relate to the original title Jane Austen used for the novel, First Impressions? Do you think Pride and Prejudice is a better title? Why? How does it relate to Elizabeth? Darcy? Does it relate to other characters in the novel?
7. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet do not agree on very much, especially when it comes to their daughters’ futures. Who is the better parent—Mr. or Mrs. Bennet? What role does family play in this novel?
8. Darcy says that Wickham tried to elope with Georgiana for revenge. Does revenge play a part in his elopement with Lydia?
9. Lady Catherine’s visit to Elizabeth to persuade her not to marry Darcy actually has the opposite effect and propels them toward the final conclusion, their marriage. What is it about this use of dramatic irony that is so appealing to readers? What other examples of irony do you find in the novel?
10. The novel has many universal themes that make it relevant today and inspire contemporary spin-offs and adaptations. Imagine the Facebook pages of each of the Bennet daughters. Who would be most active on Facebook? How would their entries differ from each other? Would any of them choose not to be on Facebook?
11. Why is this novel so popular? Why do readers keep coming back to it, even after the original suspense is gone and they know how it ends?
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – Click to Open
In the early 19th century, the Bennet family live at their Longbourn estate, situated near the village of Meryton in Hertfordshire, England. Mrs Bennet’s greatest desire is to marry off her five daughters to secure their futures.
The arrival of Mr Bingley, a rich bachelor who rents the neighbouring Netherfield estate, gives her hope that one of her daughters might contract an advantageous marriage, because “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.
At a ball, the family is introduced to the Netherfield party, including Mr Bingley, his two sisters and Mr Darcy, his dearest friend. Mr Bingley’s friendly and cheerful manner earns him popularity among the guests. He appears interested in Jane, the eldest Bennet daughter. Mr Darcy, reputed to be twice as wealthy as Mr Bingley, is haughty and aloof, causing a decided dislike of him. He declines to dance with Elizabeth, the second-eldest Bennet daughter, as she is “not handsome enough”. Although she jokes about it with her friend, Elizabeth is deeply offended. Despite this first impression, Mr Darcy secretly begins to find himself drawn to Elizabeth as they continue to encounter each other at social events, appreciating her wit and frankness.
Mr Collins, the heir to the Longbourn estate, visits the Bennet family with the intention of finding a wife among the five girls under the advice of his patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh, also revealed to be Mr Darcy’s aunt. He decides to pursue Elizabeth. The Bennet family meet the charming army officer George Wickham, who tells Elizabeth in confidence about Mr Darcy’s unpleasant treatment of him in the past. Elizabeth, blinded by her prejudice toward Mr Darcy, believes him.
Elizabeth dances with Mr Darcy at a ball, where Mrs Bennet hints loudly that she expects Jane and Bingley to become engaged. Elizabeth rejects Mr Collins’ marriage proposal, to her mother’s fury and her father’s relief. Mr Collins instead proposes to Charlotte Lucas, a friend of Elizabeth.
Having heard Mrs Bennet’s words at the ball and disapproving of the marriage, Mr Darcy joins Mr Bingley in a trip to London and, with the help of his sisters, persuades him not to return to Netherfield. A heartbroken Jane visits her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner in London to raise her spirits, while Elizabeth’s hatred for Mr Darcy grows as she suspects he was responsible for Mr Bingley’s departure.
In the spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr Collins in Kent. Elizabeth and her hosts are invited to Rosings Park, Lady Catherine’s home. Mr Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, are also visiting Rosings Park. Fitzwilliam tells Elizabeth how Mr Darcy recently saved a friend, presumably Bingley, from an undesirable match. Elizabeth realises that the prevented engagement was to Jane.
Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, declaring his love for her despite her low social connections. She is shocked, as she was unaware of Mr Darcy’s interest, and rejects him angrily, saying that he is the last person she would ever marry and that she could never love a man who caused her sister such unhappiness; she further accuses him of treating Wickham unjustly. Mr Darcy brags about his success in separating Bingley and Jane and sarcastically dismisses the accusation regarding Wickham without addressing it.
The next day, Mr Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter, explaining that Wickham, the son of his late father’s steward, had refused the “living” his father had arranged for him and was instead given money for it. Wickham quickly squandered the money and tried to elope with Darcy’s 15-year-old sister, Georgiana, for her considerable dowry. Mr Darcy also writes that he separated Jane and Bingley because he believed her indifferent to Bingley and because of the lack of propriety displayed by her family. Elizabeth is ashamed by her family’s behaviour and her own prejudice against Mr Darcy.
Months later, Elizabeth accompanies the Gardiners on a tour of Derbyshire. They visit Pemberley, Darcy’s estate. When Mr Darcy returns unexpectedly, he is exceedingly gracious with Elizabeth and the Gardiners. Elizabeth is surprised by Darcy’s behaviour and grows fond of him, even coming to regret rejecting his proposal. She receives news that her sister Lydia has run off with Wickham. She tells Mr Darcy, then departs in haste. After an agonising interim, Wickham agrees to marry Lydia. She visits the family and tells Elizabeth that Mr Darcy was at her wedding. Though Mr Darcy had sworn everyone involved to secrecy, Mrs Gardiner now feels obliged to inform Elizabeth that he secured the match, at great expense and trouble to himself.
Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy return to Netherfield. Jane accepts Mr Bingley’s proposal. Lady Catherine, having heard rumours that Elizabeth intends to marry Mr Darcy, visits her and demands she promise never to accept Mr Darcy’s proposal, as she and Darcy’s late mother had already planned his marriage to her daughter Anne. Elizabeth refuses and asks the outraged Lady Catherine to leave. Darcy, heartened by his aunt’s indignant relaying of Elizabeth’s response, again proposes to her and is accepted.
