I
have never read Pride and Prejudice prior to coming to this class. But I must
admit that it is a novel that is worth reading. The brilliance of Jane Austen
is displayed throughout the novel. At first, I thought it would be just another
sexist novel that depicts women as objects and trophies. Because of the time, I
thought the novel wouldn’t showcase women as independent and smart human
beings. But as I read further, that was not the case at all. Elizabeth powered through
the idea of liking men just because he
has all the money in the world. Elizabeth is shown as women who not only looks
at the characteristics of a men before falling in love, but a woman who demands
respect and integrity. For example, when Darcy described her as not “handsome
enough,” she refuses to dance with him.
The novel can be a bit confusing. The introduction of the
characters could’ve been much better. Throughout the novel, characters are
introduced left and right without any depth. Overall, the characters are very
hard to keep up with. It just seems like Jane Austen introduces a new character
on every page. Sometimes I find myself struggling to connect the dialogues
between the characters. Another thing that I dislike about the novel was the
character of Mrs Bennett. I found her very very annoying. And it seems like I’m
not the only one who finds her disturbing. Mr. Bennett seems to be rethinking
why he married her based on their conversations. Since the beginning of the
novel, all she talked about was finding rich men for her children to be with.
Not that there’s nothing wrong with making sure your kids are taken care.
Overall, I think the novel is a masterpiece. It is something
that no one would expect to be written given the time period. It shows the
other side of women that was absent during those times. Besides the annoying
mother and the countless characters, I love everything about it.
Abdou,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that this is an amazing novel (having never read it before either). Combining the ideas of contradicting the norms of marriage views during this time period as well as the potential dangers of first impressions set up a powerful message of pursuing what you believe in (and not what society tells you).
And to give credit to Mrs. Bennet, as annoying and obnoxious as she may be, she was only doing what's best for the girls in the slight chance they lose Mr. Bennet and the estate. Great post!
LA
I completely relate to having problems keeping track of characters. She does introduce people rather haphazardly and they do not get a lot of depth at first.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your assessment of Mr and Mrs. Bennet, and that for Mr. Bennet it does seem as though he is reevaluating their marriage slightly. It's highly contradictory that he completely disapproves of Lizzy marrying Mr. Collins and going against his wife who says she should. But it adds depth to their marriage. We see where Lizzy gets her spunk from.
I agree that Elizabeth analyzes the people that surround her, however in the beginning she did look at characters on a superficial level. An example would be how she thought Mr. Darcy was a prick and Mr. Wickham was a nice gentleman. I agree that Ms. Bennet is slightly disturbing, however keep in mind that it is all for the welfare of her children. Mr. Bennet has a playful air about him and I don't think that he is entirely serious about half the things he says about his wife. I think the fact that characters are introduced left and right has to do with entertainment for the reader.
ReplyDelete