(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters and possibly for future chapters.)
S: Hello, again! I have to say, as I’ve been saying to myself and anyone who’ll listen over the past few weeks, ‘Why, oh why did it take me so long to read the beauty that is Jane Austen?!’ I feel with this book as I felt after I had finally read Anne of Green Gables – my growing up missed out on so much. I mean, better late than never, but still!
R: Greetings! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the book. It’s a lot of fun to share this with you. Anne of Green Gables is another favorite of mine. We might have to add it to the list of books for the blog.
Chapter 6 gives us a major tone shift within the very first sentence. The story goes from the melancholy of loss to the excitement of new experiences.
S: I agree – this chapter is like a breath of fresh air, as though the story can finally ‘start’.
Still, I thought it was rather presumptuous of Mrs. Dashwood to assume she would be able to change up the cottage (although, I rather liked how Austen stated she was ‘…a woman who had never saved in her life…’ It reminds the reader that they really have been thrown out of their element.
R: The description of the ‘cottage’ is interesting, too. I don’t know about you, but when I think of a cottage, it’s something small and cute, maybe on a beach or something like that. This place is huge! Four bedrooms, two sitting rooms, and probably several rooms for servants. Their small living sounds pretty nice.
S: I did enjoy the cottage description – it makes me want to go visit!
I’m not quite sure what to think about Lady Middleton. Is she shy? Is she aloof? Is she annoyed with her husband for renting out their cottage, even though it was for a good cause and to their extended family?
R: I’m not sure, either. She’s certainly not as gregarious as her husband, and quite a bit younger. You’d think that would give her a little more in common with the Misses Dashwood, even though she’s still nearly ten years their senior, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. She has nothing really to contribute except for her children. We meet the oldest one in chapter six, though he’s not named.
Sir John arrives at the cottage almost as soon as the ladies do. He’s described as being around forty and good-looking, as well as being friendly. He brings invitations to dine with his family and offers of carrying their mail and food and game from his own stores.
S: I was almost put off by Sir John’s insistence about them dining with his family often, so I suppose that’s something to be aware of – will he rub the Dashwood’s the wrong way after a while, or is it simply because he truly wants to help them and make them feel that they are not alone?
R: I think he really is just that friendly, but Austen writes of him: ‘…though his entreaties were carried to a point of perseverance beyond civility, they could not give offence.’ I’m not sure I can agree with that entirely. I’ve actually had people be so overly solicitous that I just wanted to tell them, ‘I’ll ask for help if I need it! Stop asking me!’ But maybe that’s just me.
Austin’s comparison of Sir John and his wife is interesting: ‘…however dissimilar in temper and outward behavior, they strongly resembled each other in that total want of talent and taste which confined their employments…’ Their primary enjoyments were hunting and mothering respectively. They did both like having lots of people around, but for different reasons. It allowed Lady Middleton to show off her elegance, and Sir John to surround himself with young people.
S: The fact that Lady Middleton is absolutely unaware of anything but her children almost reminds me of Petunia Dursley from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (although I hope she’s isn’t nearly as nasty). When we find out in Chapter 7 that Sir John and Mrs. Jennings appear to have the same sense of humour (Mrs. Jennings being the ‘vulgar’ one), it cracked me up – it sort of makes the reader go, ‘Oh, that’s how Lady Middleton ended up with Sir John!’
R: Oh, my goodness, yes! On both of these points. Both Lady Middleton and Mrs. Jennings are cringeworthy in their own way. Lady Middleton cares for nothing but her children and showing of her elegance, but her children are beastly and her mother is the type of person whose jokes make you want to hide in a corner if they’re directed at you. Poor Elinor! And then Marianne makes it worse by calling more attention to Elinor’s situation.
S: There are so many hilarious moments! I love that Austen makes fun of teenage girls (because, really, it’s quite easy to do so, especially when you’ve lived through it!).
And then we have Colonel Brandon introduced! – oh, the feels. By the way, regarding Colonel Brandon, I’m already rather taken with his character. It is a bit difficult to forget the storyline, since I’ve seen the movie countless times, but I’m really trying to read it as though it’s completely new to me, and even from this chapter I want to get to know this character better.
R: Ah, Colonel Brandon. Sigh. It’s hard to separate the character between the novel and the adaptation played by Alan Rickman. The colonel and Sir John are good friends, but he stands in contrast to Sir John and Mrs. Jennings’ ridiculous behavior. According to Marianne, Colonel Brandon is far too old to be interesting. In fact, he’s only five years younger than her mother.
S: When I read that I was so surprised! I can see how Marianne would feel shocked at the idea, but she has a nearly hysterical reaction toward everything, so it’s difficult to take her seriously. The character reads as though she has decided she’s a woman whilst her words remind everyone she’s still not quite grown up. Austen so well captures the feelings of being a seventeen-year-old girl bent toward the romantic. She has opinions formed only by ideas, not real life.
R: Marianne’s romanticism is shown through her musical inclination; she is quite gifted at singing and playing the pianoforte. Colonel Brandon is the only person who listens to her attentively, a contrast to the chaos caused by everyone else. It raises Marianne’s opinion of the colonel, slightly, but at thirty-five, she still considers him to be in an ‘advanced state of life.’ Wow, that makes me feel old, and it continues with Elinor and her mother defending the poor colonel against Marianne’s aspersions against his person. It doesn’t help that Mrs. Jennings has noticed that Colonel Brandon seems to like Marianne very much and has set about trying to matchmake them.
S: So, at the time I’m reading this, I’m also reading Anne of Green Gables, and Mrs. Jennings almost reminds me of Mrs. Rachel Lynde (except that Mrs. Jennings has a very, erm, established sense of humour, and ‘…she had now therefore nothing to do but to marry all the rest of the world…’).
R: While Mrs. Jennings is trying to marry off the Misses Dashwood, Marianne is mostly worried that Edward still hasn’t come to visit, though it’s only been two weeks since they moved into the cottage.
S: We are also left wondering if he truly does think of Elinor as a sister. At least Mrs. Dashwood understands what is happening and tries to gently nudge Marianne that way.
So, the events in Chapters 9 and 10 happen so fast it almost gives the reader mental whiplash. We go from feeling like life has settled down for everyone and they are enjoying getting to know their new surroundings, when we are suddenly introduced to a new possible admirer – Mr. Willoughby.
R: Willoughby has a dramatic entrance because of Marianne’s accident, and he and Marianne fall into each other’s confidence very quickly.
S: My first impressions of him are that he seems gallant and everything Marianne could ever want, but he almost seems – unreal, perhaps? He listens and responds to everything Marianne says and disagrees with her about very little, but is that because he truly agrees with her, or because he’s more of a people pleaser and he’s riding the wave of emotion? I just don’t know how much I should be allowed to like him, especially since we now know that Colonel Brandon is smitten with Marianne.
Then, I start to like Willoughby less and less. Austen seems to be saying through observation that he and Marianne, though they share the same interests, stoke the fire of unkindness and selfishness in each other, particularly toward Colonel Brandon. Elinor even observes that Willoughby has little decorum and will say whatever he wants whenever he wants, even if it hurts someone’s feelings. I am tending to trust Elinor’s observations more than Mrs. Dashwood’s or Marianne’s.
R: It’s hard to not let prior knowledge of Willoughby color my opinion of him. At this point, I think we’re supposed to think he’s a viable suitor for Marianne, but the reader can quickly see that he is yet another sharp contrast to Colonel Brandon. We get an opportunity to see more of Elinor’s apparent good sense, and even more of Marianne’s silliness in these last couple of chapters.
S: Overall, I was really pleased with this section, because Austen, rather than telling us, shows us how each person behaves. We even have a small glimpse of Margaret’s character earlier on, and it makes me wonder if she will end up closer to Marianne’s exuberance or Elinor’s quiet decorum. I’m excited to read Chapters 11-15!
All the Writings 