Started: December 9, 2023 | Finished: February 23. 2024
Pride and Prejudice
Welcome to the world of the gentry. A world where most everyone need not work - since they live on investment income of varying amounts. It is also a world where there is a legality called an entailment; a rule by which a person's investment income gets passed on to another person after death. Entailment, as it so happens, is through the male line of a family.
And this is the big problem of Mr. and Mrs Bennet: they only have daughters. After Mr. Bennet passes on, his modest yet ample income will pass outside his immediate family to his nearest male relative. His daughters will have nothing to live on except Mrs. Bennet's inheritance which is bound to run out. Therefore, the sensible thing to do is to ensure that the daughters marry into money.
Towards this goal, two very eligible "candidates" appear in the Bennet's town of Longbourn: Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. The former is rich, the latter stupendously so. Mr. Bingley seems to have been effectively paired with Jane, eldest of the Bennet daughters. As for Mr. Darcy, well, he appears to be quite the impossible target for any pairing on account of his aloofness and his tendency to look down on his social inferiors - which in this book comprises everybody except his Aunt, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, a member of the nobility.
What happened in this novel is that Darcy changes. And the catalyst of that change is Elizabeth, the second eldest Bennet daughter. Darcy has everything: looks, money, pedigree. And having everything has been bad for him. Although far from being an out-and-out villain or scoundrel, Darcy had an abrasiveness of manner that made him unlikeable in spite of never intending to be unlikeable.
It was Elizabeth, who would confront him with brutal honesty about this in a moment when he stood defenseless from an emotional point of view.
It was also Elizabeth, who would slowly awaken to the change in Darcy and come to love him.
This is the centerpiece of the story, the romance between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Remarkable for the uniqueness of how it came about - a gradual shift of both mind and emotion for both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. It's a great showcase of just how unexpected and wild love can be; blossoming where we think it would not.
The book is written in the third person with only one point-of-view throughout: Elizabeth’s. The writing is exceptional. Jane Austen is not a lyrical writer. She uses a mix of straightforward and complex sentences - though not as complex as a Dickensian sentence. But the magic really is in how she can capture the subtle nuances in a person’s character and the equally subtle shifts in mind and mood. This artistry gives this book so much depth.
The story, in discussing routine activites and everyday conversations, celebrates the ordinary and shows how satisfying, nerve-racking, heartbreaking, joyous, and exciting everyday lives can be. A good thing too because that is what most of us have - everyday lives.