(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters.)

S: Well! After the last section, I was not quite expecting all that Chapter 46 contains! Crawford leaving Fanny for Jullia? Sure! Crawford changing so drastically that Fanny ends up loving him? That would work as well. Crawford seducing young Susan? Possibly even that. Crawford leaving Fanny for the married Maria? Not at all! My emotions were like Fanny’s – grieved yet also happy because his true character is finally revealed and she gets to go home to Mansfield Park. 

R: This was an unexpected but not surprising event, if that makes any sense. I’m glad too that Fanny gets to go home and that her original assessment of Mr. Crawford’s character is vindicated. It makes me wonder how Sir Thomas feels about pushing Fanny to marry Mr. Crawford when he finds out. 

S: Yes, I wonder how he really feels as well, but perhaps he’s a person who acknowledges a deficiency in his character and moves on.

It makes my heart so happy that Sir Thomas invites Susan to Mansfield; even though he was wrong in his estimation of Mr. Crawford, I still hold him in high regard. Fanny really sees now, I think, that she is loved and the reader sees that she is the glue that holds the family together. That quiet strength she has always possessed has served her family well.

R: Yes, Sir Thomas’ blindness toward Mr. Crawford’s deficiencies notwithstanding, he shows himself to really care for Fanny and her family, much more than her actual blood relatives seem to, and be a good man. It’s amazing to see how much of an impact Fanny has on every member of the Bertram family. 

S: I wonder what Edmund will do. Will he look past this and still want Miss Crawford as his wife? I really hope not, because they are just not a good match. His greeting to Fanny when he arrives to pick her up is so beautiful and tender I can’t help but want them to end up together.

R: Still with the will they-won’t they! It’s excruciating. The reader knows that even though Fanny finally develops some feelings for Mr. Crawford, she still loves Edmund.

S: My favourite line in Chapter 46 is, ‘Never had Fanny more wanted a cordial.’ 

R: I love this line as well! Throughout the whole book, Fanny is shown as quietly taking whatever abuses her family throws at her, but here we catch a glimpse of the fact that it does wear on her.

S: Chapter 47 is a rather difficult chapter to read, but it is worth wading through all the emotions. It’s painful that Mrs. Norris still chooses to blame Fanny for Mr. Crawford’s and Mrs. Rushworth’s choices, yet Fanny says nothing to her and simply loves on Lady Bertram as best she can. 

R: It reiterates again that despite the poor treatment she received from Mrs. Norris and the, at minimum, indifference from most of the rest of the Bertrams, Fanny has retained a sense of her own value. She feels sometimes like she doesn’t deserve even what she has, but don’t we all feel that way sometimes?

S: Indeed!

When Edmund tells of Miss Crawford’s reaction my heart was very sad. I can completely see where she’s coming from but the fact is Mr. Crawford and Mrs. Rushworth were wrong. Her advice sounds good but from a Christian perspective it is not and Edmund sees, finally, that they cannot be together. Unfortunately it took him a long time and very sad circumstances for his mind and heart to start changing, and he could ignore it, but he chooses not to and chooses to go a better way. His recognition that he had made a sort of ideal of what he wanted Miss Crawford to be endears me to him. 

R: Edmund finally sees the light! It’s sad that it took him so long to understand that Miss Crawford has a very warped view of the world and certainly would not be suitable for a clergyman’s wife.

S: As I was thinking more about Mr. Crawford and Mrs. Rushworth it dawned on me that Austen had already set this up, earlier in the story, when Mr. Crawford and Miss Bertram sneak off from the others at the Rushworth estate. Julia, too, has such fierce competition with her sister that it seems she did not want to be outdone and so chooses to elope with Mr. Yates. The whole thing is very sad, but you raise children as best you can and then they have to make their own choices. 

R: Exactly! But I can see all of this as a direct consequence of the Bertrams’ neglectful parenting. They failed to instill good values into their daughters and elder son. 

S: The final chapter is so delightfully written! Austen breaks the fourth wall and addresses the readers, calling Fanny ‘My Fanny’, and does such a wonderful job of giving everyone the ending they deserve; even if they get a happier ending than they deserve, it’s still a good ending. 

R: I am glad the story ended with Fanny marrying Edmund! But I hate that Austen crammed the happiness into just a few pages. I feel like it wasn’t very satisfying. I did enjoy the story overall; however, it was a bit of a hard slog to read. It was so different from the two previous novels and I don’t think the pacing was as good as either of them.

S: I’ll admit, it was a difficult story for me to read through and wasn’t nearly as quick of a read for me as Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice – the plot moves slowly and Fanny is usually found between a rock and a hard place, but despite those things, I think this has become one of my favourite novels. 

Coming up next, we will discuss a movie adaptation of Mansfield Park!