As strange as it may be I have a vague memory of watching Pride and Prejudice at one of the all-girl sleepovers we all had in elementary school. Why we chose to watch a movie based on a literary classic at age 10 I have no idea. However, I was eager to watch the movie once again before tackling the book itself. I have not watched Pride and Prejudice since the young age of 10 so it was almost as if I was enjoying it for the first time.

For starters, I would like to share that I believe Keira Knightley, who played Elizabeth Bennet, is widely talented and will forever be one of my favorite actresses. In this movie, Elizabeth Bennet is clearly different from her sisters and most other girls during this time period. As I said she is one of my favorite actresses because her characters typically are independent from the society standards set for women.

In the movie, it clearly shows how a woman’s lot in life is to marry well and have children as soon as possible. It is shown that woman who are educated are somewhat superior to those without education. However, it seemed almost imposable for the average woman to advance far in her learning as she was pushed to marry and reproduce so quickly. Therefor most rich men were seeking woman of high breeding and education leaving the common farmers daughter to marry in her class maintaining the gap between the higher class and lower class.

I defiantly enjoyed re-watching this film and realized how much of the plot was way over my 10-year-old mind at the time. I really enjoyed the conflict through the film between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth as they attempted to hid their love for each other. I also loved the ending in this film compared to all of the Romeo and Juliet we have read. The two main characters in love finally ended up together and alive! I am a pushover for a happily ever after ending and I finally got it in this film and I’m excited to reach the happily ever after in the book as well.

Romance Sells, Old School Values Still Prevail

I'll be honest. I've never watched, read or really thought I would enjoy Pride or Prejudice, but after I started reading it over break, I couldn't put it down. I ended up reading the entire thing in one day.

My first comment, upon reaching our Vol I Chapter XVII checkpoint was one of confusion. Why on earth does Darcy have to be such an ass? I also found myself really agreeing with Elizabeth's views on Bingley's sisters, and the general behaviors of people.

I suppose this book makes me think of my upbringing, and how manners were such an important thing, and how people perceive you and your family is such an important thing, no matter the time. Even though I'm twenty-one and about to move out, the perception that we're well-mannered and well-behaved always is still very apparent to me.

"Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."

This quote also reminds me a lot of how I grew up, as vanity more describes the need for good outward appearances than pride. I have no trouble being silly and goofing off with friends, laughing and not regarding the opinions of others because I know that there are some things you just don't do, and there are some things that you can do. My mother on the other hand, alike her mother, believe that best behavior in public is always necessary. Sometimes this makes me wonder how any of them handled my brother and I in our quite normal, crazy toddler years.

I also started thinking of why so many people like this book. I do agree Jane Austen's way of writing does encourage a person to really think about society and how absurd it can be. I also think it encourages us to think about class, and what it really means to have class versus having grace. As shows up in what we have already read, just because you are of high class doesn't mean you have good grace, and just because you aren't of high class doesn't mean you can't have good grace.

I'm also led to think about all the descriptors that were used for me growing up, that even now represent how much women should be seen a certain way. I was a tom-boy, just because I preferred to play football at recess and not house. I was too nerdy, because I liked model rockets. I wasn't girly enough, because my first interaction with the boy I really liked, was, according to my "friend" I was supposed to kiss him and show off my chest. Suffice to say I didn't do that, and still don't understand why they thought it was appropriate for 12 year olds.

This book was a fantastic look, in my opinion, at romance, a woman’s place in the world, class and behavior, as well as family.

The Pride in My Prejudice

I have never encountered the book Pride and Prejudice nor have I had any slight interest in reading it. It seemed like one of those old books on a shelf that just collects dust. Judging from the cover before reading this book looked boring however, looks can be deceiving.  This book has gotten high remarks so, that must mean there is something positive about it. After reading this though I feel that there are a lot of clichés in the plot.

I figured that this novel would be uninteresting and hard to read, however, I found it quite the opposite. Jane Austen made the characters interesting in the way she wrote and developed the characters.  They had life and there were distinct characteristics about each one.  For example, Ms. Bennett comes off as crazy while Mr. Bennett is really sarcastic. In a weird way, I think that they complement each other.

One thing that this book is heavily based around is a patriarchal society. It’s important to any girl in their era as well as Elizabeth to retrieve a wealthy man to marry. I can see why marrying a wealthy man is important because if you’re a parent you want the best financial situation possible which means you get to worry less if you know that your daughter is being taken care of. If you don’t have an abundance of money then you aren’t important and you don’t matter in the slightest. Money is what makes the world go ‘round. These kinds of ideals about money are still around today because some people are famous just because the amount of wealth they have. The excitement due to Mr. Bigley reminded me of Cinderella where women are lining up to get a chance to be with the prince.

I think that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcys relationship is extremely childish. If you like someone then show them. Kindergarten is the time where boys show they like girls by being rude and mean to them. This is not kindergarten, however, I think the way they interact with each other adds to their relationship. I can also relate this to how in popular shows and movies such as, Beauty and the Beast, women are attracted to the guy they shouldn’t like. Somehow being the “bad” guy is attractive for some reason. I think as we read on the relationships between people will be more developed to the reader and as a result become an even better story over time. 

Love is Complicated

I found this story to be a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. In my mind I was picturing a story that would be stuffy and boring but I was pleasantly surprised.

Marriage is a theme that carries on throughout the chapters. Mrs. Bennet seems all but obsessed with the idea of having her daughters married off. I found it a bit sad how this has essentially become her life’s purpose. It was kind of funny but also kind of sad when Mrs. Bennet was happy that her daughter Jane was sick because it meant that she would get to spend extra time with Mr. Bingely. She is very dedicated to the cause.

"Now you have more time with him!"-Mrs. Bennet

When Mr. Bingely comes to town, I found it funny how everyone (at least the parents) were excited to go over and visit him to see if he would make a good match for one of their daughters. It created a funny scene in my mind where there’s a line of people standing outside of his door, just waiting for their chance to get in. It also seemed kind of cut throat in the sense that there is only one Mr. Bingely so the families have to present their daughter as the best of them all. It also reminded me of a Black Friday sale how everyone lines up outside of the store to hopefully get the best deal on that new toaster. In that sense, I guess the scene ends up kind of sad. 

I really like Elizabeth as a character. I thought it was smart when she was discussing how Jane barely knows Mr. Bingely and therefore doesn’t (and really shouldn’t) know how to feel about him for sure. It’s definitely a change from Romeo and Juliet. It seems like so many of the adults in this story are just pushing their daughters into marrying these potential suitors just for a sense of security, and not actual love. I also liked Elizabeth’s initial apprehensiveness toward the Bingely family. It shows that she doesn’t just jump into unknown situations without thinking it through first.

On a side note, I know how it was common to describe women as handsome during these times, but when (or why) exactly did people stop using that term?

Lizzy Pride

            So despite hearing about the book Pride and Prejudice throughout high school, I have never had the opportunity to read it (nor am I the casual reader type, either). I guess it depended on the teacher (or a drastic curriculum change since I graduated) considering my sister, a high school junior, has already read this book. Nonetheless, Pride and Prejudice is so far a pretty interesting read, especially the character Elizabeth Bennet. Lizzy appears to have a more sophisticated outlook not only on life but also on the personalities of others as well. The women of this time period, as shown by Lizzy’s sisters Jane, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia, mainly portrayed the typical character personality of wanting to marry a handsome gentleman with respectable wealth.

            Lizzy’s uniqueness was first signified by her father Mr. Bennet, who wanted to solely introduce Lizzy to Mr. Bingley whenever he decided to inquire with him. The second major instance I saw was when she began pursuing Mr. Darcy. I can only speculate what drove Lizzy to want to know more about Mr. Darcy (curiosity? Love?), but this drive became ever so apparent through her actions. Mr. Darcy represents a person who is arrogant to strangers and less arrogant to his close companions; this is not an uncommon trait nowadays (and possibly throughout history), expect sometimes replacing the shy attribute with arrogance. Lizzy was the only daughter driven by the possibility that Mr. Darcy is a wonderful gentleman once you actually connect and become close with him.

            So I know this whole love story-type genre may be overdone for some people (especially with the Romeo and Juliet portion of our class), but it is a strong motivator for both Lizzy and Mr. Darcy. Lizzy, with all her sophisticated personality, still remains loyal to the tradition of marrying a well-off male individual. When she ventured three miles to Netherfield to see her sick sister Jane, I felt the greater reason of wanting to interact more with Mr. Darcy overpower the former reason. Now, I may or may not have offended Lizzy admirers by mentioning this, but this scene perfectly contributed to a typical love story scenario: using some other plausible reason to visit a potential lover. The other scene was with the interaction between Lizzy and Mr. Wickham. Initially, it was just a typical flirt between the two; but since Mr. Wickham began discussing his acquaintance with Mr. Darcy, Lizzy became more engrossed in that than the flirting.