A Few Parting Words

A Few Parting Words

First impressions are important. It's hard to change first impressions and most people are unwilling to, but even if this is a universal truth that doesn't mean first impressions is accurate. It was hard to find a theme in Pride & Prejudice mostly because I was so entertained by the drama and dialogue that I didn't spend my time actively searching for one, but it was hidden in plain sight. Before Pride & Prejudice had it's published title it was titled "First Impressions" and this title fits the storyline perfectly. In every meeting of a new character you get your first impression then realize that what you see initially isn't the only thing. The character of Wickham,  a young soldier who is stationed in Meryton for a time is introduced as an underdog. He is polite and charming and impresses the whole Bennet family but as the story continues you find out that he isn't as cookie cutter clean as he lets on. Mr. Darcy has a similar character development. When Mr. Darcy appears he has a pompous air to him and instantly Elizabeth is thrown off by him. She finds him rude and intolerable and vows to never like him. But as his character develops and the drama begins he shows his true colors and Elizabeth is forced to reconsider her first impression of him. Reworking first impressions is always a difficult task, but necessary in moving forward in life. Which is what Austen is showing us. Even if it hurts our pride of being wrong on the first impression we have to get rid of our prejudice and come to realize people are not always what they seem; good or bad. Both titles Pride & Prejudice and First Impressions reveal a lot about the story without giving everything away. They can be attention grabbers but then the world of the books is what draws you in and keeps you there. While the original title of First Impressions reveals what the message can be, the published title Pride & Prejudice reveals more about the character's actions.
I didn't really keep any of Nabokov, or Perrine, or O'Connor in the back of my mind as I read; I just read. But even if I wasn't actively thinking about them I think I did use some of their techniques. Pride & Prejudice seems like a character study as much of a romantic comedy/drama story. All of the characters had distinguishable personalities that demanded special attention. So I paid special attention to them and it revealed a lot about the message in the book and made the reading of the book much richer. It helped to reveal the motives of what happened in the book and how it moved the plot forward. If I were to give tips to someone who was going to read Pride & Prejudice I would tell them to pay attention to characters and their personalities because O'Connor speaks the truth when she says that they make the action important.
Since I began reading Pride & Prejudice I have recommended it to everyone to read. There's a reason books like this stick around for a long time. Stories like Pride  & Prejudice are timeless. The characters are all interesting and the way they are written makes you want to know what happens to them long after the last page. I also think that it's very different from most modern books because of the setting and societal norms it's like a window into the past and makes the book all the more interesting that way. It's a great book as a challenge. The language makes you slow down and really pay attention. This book can't be read laying in bed and half asleep. It calls for an active and awake mind; ready to wade through the extensive vocabulary and poetic dialogue. Although it was one of the difficulty aspects of the books it's what also drew me in. I loved the way they spoke. It was elegant and fluid, it created a rhythm that helped read the book even if the words could be difficult to comprehend.

Divide and Conquer

Divide and Conquer

Something I found interesting about Pride & Prejudice was the structure of it. The book is split into three parts which I was unaware of. I don't understand why it was divided like this because the book could be all one part. I can identify the shift of  the story line at these breaks though. At the end of the first part the story really seems to begin because during the first part it's kind of an introduction to all of the characters since there are a lot of them. The first part also ends where the first dose of drama begins. Then throughout the second part of the book there are a lot of journeys. The eldest Bennet sister, Jane leaves to London, while Elizabeth goes to visit her best friend Charlotte who has been recently married to Mr. Collins.All of the Bennets are going on their own path. So even though there are definite shifts in the plot how does it contribute to the story of  the book? What if the book had been just one full volume instead of three little ones? I don't know if it's because I've read the book the way it is as three volumes or if it being divided actually does contribute to the book but it just feels right that it's divided. If it had been just one big part then how each individual volume had ended might not have been as important. At the end of  the 2nd volume Elizabeth has returned to Longbourn, which is her family's estate in their town Meryton. Elizabeth had been with her friend Charlotte in the whole of the 2nd volume and had just returned in the last few chapters. During her stay at Hunsford, where Charlotte now resides, she spent some time with Mr. Darcy who had been visiting his aunt. Their relationship had grown from mutual contempt to something a little more complicated. So Elizabeth has grown as a person. So much so that at the end of the 2nd volume she decides to visit Pemberley estate which is an estate that Darcy owns. The last sentence in the middle volume is "To Pemberley, therefore, they would go." (236) But what if the that section had not ended and it had gone straight into the next chapter. If it had I think the significance of Elizabeth's decision would have been diminished. It shows how she has grown as a character. Even though she still has an aversion towards Darcy she is intrigued by his life and who he is. It's like a checkpoint in their relationship. 

Without the breaks the story's most important bits would lose it's significance. They might be skated over and not fully understood that they are major parts in the story.

A Story with a Face Lift

A Story with a Face Lift

There are many versions and interpretations of Pride & Prejudice. There was a 6 hour TV adaptation done in the 80's, a blockbuster movie with Kiera Knightley and most recently a youtube adaptation named the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. The first two mentioned are adapted very closely to the book. They have the exact same characters, in the same setting and time period and with the same conflicts. But with The Lizzie Bennet Diaries it was set in the modern day and several things were changed. One of my favorite parallels between Pride  Prejudice and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was the relationship between Charlotte who is Elizabeth's best friend and Elizabeth's cousin Mr. Collins. In the book Mr. Collins and Charlotte get married but since the Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a modern adaption that's a little more difficult to translate but they did it very well. What they did was instead of them is getting married they formed a business relationship. It was a really clever way of keeping the storyline true to the original book but having it translate well into the 21st century. Ultimately Charlotte and Mr. Collins' relationship was in fact business. During the 18th century every parent worried about getting their daughters married off because in those days if your daughter wasn't married they would most likely live out the rest of their life in poverty because of the inequality between men and women at the time. So Charlotte and Mr. Collins didn't marry out of love. They married because it would benefit both of them.
Another clever transition from the original setting to 21st century was the concept of Pemberley Estate. In the books Pemberley is the estate that Darcy owns. It's an important factor in the story and something you can't just take out. But in the 21st century it's not like people still own estates so how do you transfer that? Well the way they did it was Pemberley became a company that Darcy was the CEO of, and it's title was tweaked to become Pemberley Digital.
One great thing about The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is how easily you can enjoy it without having read Pride & Prejudice. Although I highly recommend reading the book along with watching the series it isn't required because everything is explained in the series because it's as much of it's own story as it is an adaption of another. Pride & Prejudice is an easily adaptable book because of it's universal story concepts of love and drama. It's kind of like a well that won't ever run dry because it leaves so much room for interpretation, modernization, and adaptations.

What's in a Name?

What's in a Name?

Pride & Prejudice by: Jane Austen is a different kind of book than we normally read in class. Books we read in class have a lot of apparent depth. For example: The Great Gatsby, it is about the idea of the american dream or "The Metamorphosis" which reveals alienation in society. But Pride & Prejudice, it seems like a novel that was just written for enjoyment; a romantic comedy of the era. It's all about falling in love and how a relationship can go from hate to love. Even in the beginning of the book you can just feel the tension between Elizabeth and Darcy from the moment they meet. The instant dislike, but the fact that Darcy's best friend Charles Bingley is infatuated with Elizabeth's older sister Jane adds to the storyline and shows the differences in the developments in relationships. All throughout the novel there are love triangles and jealousy and all of these components that make it an exciting but seemingly shallow novel. But throughout all of this there seems to be some sort of deeper meaning. The title of the book is a packed title! Pride, and Prejudice. Just let those two words sink in for a moment... Pride: a deep satisfaction of your own accomplishments. Pride isn't a bad thing but if it's paired with Prejudice: an opinion of someone or something that isn't based on reason. That can be deadly combination towards someone's character. Many of the characters in the book have pride. The female protagonist, Elizabeth has a lot. She is the second oldest of the 5 Bennet sisters and the most serious and headstrong of them. She speaks her mind and doesn't reserve her loathing for Darcy. For example, in one scene where Elizabeth is playing the piano, Darcy comes over to stand by her. Elizabeth who knows that Darcy's sister Georgiana is an amazing pianist immediately thinks Darcy is going to criticize her so she says to him: "You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming in all this state to hear me...My courage always arises with every attempt to intimidate me." So not only does this show her pride and readiness to defend herself to nonexistent attacks it also shows her prejudiced attitude towards Mr. Darcy. She has no plausible argument to be rude to him because although he acts a little rude sometimes it is just part of his awkwardness. But Darcy too has his prejudices, when he meets the Bennet family he makes unprecedented opinions of them. He believes the family is full of immature and flirtatious girls. So the book is about more than just a love story. It reveals a lot about the characters and can be a statement towards the current society. It's making a statement about women; maybe saying that women are more than just future wives and caretakers and they can be just as dominant as men.