#51: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Katarina)

Jane Austen belongs on a list of classics due to her greatness when it comes to 19th century literature. Mansfield Park (1814) is not my first Austen experience, but I must say that I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice a lot more. What I am about to say next might be a little bit like swearing in church, but I find Mansfield Park quite dull. Maybe I am a little bit affected by the fast pace society of today after all. Not much happens and the few times something does, the most drama evolves around who talks to who without a chaperon around. And there is lots of walking and thinking and over-analyzing.

The book centers around Fanny Price, a poor girl, who comes to live with her rich relatives. She falls in love with her cousin, but him marrying someone like her is frowned upon (back then marrying your cousin was not out of the ordinary, especially not if you wee rich). Her female cousins long for marriage, while Fanny is a little bit more focused on good morals – and Edmund.

I understand why Austen’s novels were greatly appreciated 200 years ago, and rightfully so. Today, they serve as a document on what it was like to live in England back then, but even so, I’m sorry to say that it just is not enough. The women, even though given a lot more character than what was expected back then, are still obsessed with marriage (even if Elizabeth pretend not to be). Lately in class, we have been discussing Disney’s princesses and whether they are good role models for children with their tiny waists, pretty dresses and how they always end up with Prince Charming at the end (with some exceptions). And the same discussion goes for Jane Austen’s female protagonists. Sure, they were out of the ordinary in 1814, but today, is this the view on life, love and marriage we want young women, and men, to grow up reading about?

At the same time as I am bothered by many things in Austen’s novels, I appreciate how they would spend so much time together, reading, playing games and walking (oh, the amount of walking!). Back then, they knew how to enjoy each other’s company and that, well, that I really like. Today, we are losing human contact when we prioritize social media instead, and as I am sure it has been made clear by now in several earlier posts, I would rather have a game night in person with my friends than chat with them online. I am old school that way, and Mansfield Park reminded me of that.

In conclusion, yes, I admit I find this book quite dry and dull, but we can learn something from every reading experience.

Rant over.

#16. Persuasion by Jane Austen (Catharina)

Another Jane Austen novel, in fact it is her last. Her brother is thought to have decided on the title of this novel, which was named after her death, and that she referred to it as “The Elliott’s”.

We get to follow the character Anne Elliott here; her father and sister are rather self-involved people and had together with Anne’s friend Lady Russell eight years earlier persuaded Anne to break off an engagement to a young naval officer on the ground that he was beneath her. At age 27 Anne is still unmarried and the family fortune has dwindled. The family estate is leased out, as it turns out to the sister and brother-in-law of Anne’s former fiancée. The poor naval officer have now turned into a fairly rich Captain, he proclaims that he wants to marry, just not Anne, as he is till angry with her for breaking off the engagement.

The book deals with the social pressures of the time, and different types of persuasions by family members on young women to act as they saw fit. I do believe that seeing Jane Austen’s novels as “just love stories,” mean that you have missed the whole point. Rather they give a glimpse into how it was to be a young woman of those times and the different social pressures that you had to conform to.

#1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Catharina)

There is an interesting aspect for me with reading books that are written in an older style of English. My mind will fully embrace it, and for the whole period of reading the book and for some time afterwards, my thoughts will circulate in a nice style of old posh English. I have to brace myself to not speak in it, as I am sure that my husband and my colleagues would think that I have finally gone utterly insane.

The book is clearly a nice love story; the girl with low prospects and quite an awful mother in the end marries the richest man she has ever laid eyes on.  Him being portrayed as quite a cold and not likeable person that only likes other rich people in the end falls for her sparkling personality. The sparkling personality also makes her good looking (as apparently before he realised she had a sparkling personality, she was dreadful looking).  He even rode in on a white shiny horse (with a silver armour, made out of a lot of silver coins), to save her sister from embarrassing them all. In the end the sister was less embarrassing, richer, and stuck in an awful marriage.  He was even nice enough to tell his best friend, who was also rich, to go ahead and marry her other sister to ensure neither of them would die of a broken heart. Any girl would fall for this! I think he even was good looking.

So, besides a thrilling love story, does the book has anything else to tell us? Well for one it gives an account of how life was for women of this age if you came from a good family. A lot of walking seemed to be involved, and sitting around, and dancing. Although dancing seemed to mainly be related to their main occupancy, getting husbands, or getting husbands for your daughters. It is nice to relate it to today’s society, even though a lot of people are still very preoccupied with finding the love of their life. It is not normally what occupies your thoughts most of the day, instead there is often the career. These women lived in an age, when the option of having a career did not exist, the career was to get married, move away from your family, and hopefully get to run a household. Another thing it does very well is showing the nuances of the English language. It shows subtleties of word that can be used to insult a person, or hint at their excellence. By this giving the impression that in that age, emotion was not supposed to be shown openly, but was portrayed subtly, with words. Pride and Prejudice is a fast read, but it does one well to take some time to ponder over the phrasings and the meanings entwined in them.