Welcome back Haley! I'll admit I'm anxious to get to the end of the book, just so I can get this narrator out of my head. She seems to have decided to try her hand at narrating my life too. It's like a song snippet that becomes an ear worm. They say the only way to cure those is to listen to the song in its entirety. I'm ready to get to the end of the story so I can put this narrator back in her book.
I am noticing a rhythm in how Austen paces the novel. I characterized the first few chapters of Volume 2 as the doldrums. Now at the end of Volume 2, we get another bit of a breather after the passions exhibited in the chapters just preceding. That's not to say that nothing is happening. The younger sisters are back on the page and we're getting to know a lot about the Bennet family dynamics. Lydia and Kitty are so giddy and goofy. They've frittered away an hour at an inn "dressing a sallad and cucumber" and laying out a cold meat spread to treat their sisters to lunch. But they've also been using their upstairs vantage to gawk at soldiers and to shop for "ugly" hats at the milliner's across the street. Such that they now have to ask Jane and Elizabeth to pay for their "treat" since they've spent their money. Then they all cram into the carriage with Lydia taking up too much space, both physically with her hat boxes and with her loud exuberance and gossiping. Elizabeth who wants to get her feelings sorted and find the first opportunity to tell her secrets to her confidant, Jane, must just want to slap the silliness out of her younger siblings. I have three sisters and we often paired up (threes don't play well). But our pairings were fluid and could change with the activity or mood. The Bennet sisters seem permanently stratified with the two oldest and two youngest always together and poor Mary left out. There really isn't that great an age spread from Jane to Kitty, but it almost seems like they grew up in different families. Elizabeth seems to be seeing her family with new eyes. Darcy certainly pointed out flaws, but is she also considering Lady Catherine' critique of her mother's parenting even though she had seemed to dismiss it during that conversation? I love this line: "Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort." She had "been blind to the impropriety of her father's behavior as a husband." Because she appreciated his attention to her, she has overlooked how his behavior has been detrimental to her mother, other siblings, and maybe even to herself. That's definitely a hard lesson of adulthood to start to see your parents as imperfect and real people. Thank goodness Elizabeth has her trip to the Lakes with the Gardiners to counteract all this "gloom over their domestic circle." Uh, nope. That trip is delayed and now is to be shorter and only as far as Derbyshire and...Pemberly! Looks like the action is ready to pick back up. The stage is set for the next encounter with Darcy even though Elizabeth has let her guard down as she's been assured he won't be there when they visit.
It's so interesting that you mention it seems almost like the sisters were raised in different households. I wonder if they were, in a way. You notice how fond of Jane and Elizabeth Mrs. and Mr. Bennet are respectively, and I wonder if Mr. Bennet in particular was more involved in their early upbringing but got discouraged after dealing with Mrs. Bennet for so long (and not having a boy) and sort of resigned himself and backed off. I've thought a lot in my personal life about the way that parents can change significantly over time so that siblings have a very different experience with them, and I think that makes sense in this context.
#justiceforMary <- my brother and I every time we read/watch/discuss Pride and Prejudice. She was right there Mr. Collins!!! The actress in the 1995 version was especially good at highlighting this.
Have you heard of the book ‘The Other Bennet Sister’ ? it gives Mary’s story during and after P&P whilst not a patch on Austen (obviously) I really enjoyed it. I believe the BBC is currently making an adaptation of it , shame the actress from 1995 will be a bit too old now (!) as agree she was brilliant as Mary.
I know what it is like to for life to get on top of you! I am glad you took a walk to clear the head of an evening - books and closely reading will always be there waiting.
I was struck by similar themes especially with regard to her father’s behaviour which I have never really considered in previous readings and how strongly Lizzy regrets certain choices her father has made - or let slide.
I agree wholeheartedly, this is a different, matured?, experienced? Lizzy we are seeing. Events have lowered the proverbial blinkers and she is seeing the world through others eyes or, as you say, with clarity.
Old Lizzy did not take well to being challenged I dare to say. The Lizzy we see now has a growing understanding of the range of variables that can contribute and account for events and peoples responses to them.
First: Look after yourself, Haley... Hope things calm down soon... Second: Although I watched the serial when it came out, I've not actually read this novel for -- gulp -- 50 years... And I'd completely forgotten (and have therefore been surprised by) the family dynamics. Back then I thought Mrs Bennet a silly old bat, and Mr Bennet an enviably cool customer, sailing calmly above the chaos around him, and staying detached and witty. Now I feel a bit sorry for Mrs B, who probably couldn't really help the limited education that led to her "weak understanding and illiberal mind". (She actually sounds as though she was once a bit like Lydia, captivating Mr B "by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humor which youth and beauty generally give".) Mr B, on the other hand, is now annoying me very much with his totally irresponsible hands-off approach, his refusal to take anything seriously, and his readiness to expose "his wife to the contempt of her own children".
I'm also reading them both differently this time around. I still have compassion for Mr. B even though I'm also frustrated by him, but I can see all the factors that led poor Mrs. Bennet to seem so neurotic. I'd have a similar anxiety if I were in her position, and sensible Mr. Bennet should be able to understand and sympathize with that to a greater extent than he apparently does.
This book, this group, Haley’s guidance and thoughts - what a pleasure!
Something that stood out to me this week - Mr. Bennet sort of blew my mind rationalizing his reasoning for allowing Lydia to go to Brighton to Lizzy. “Lydia will never be easy till she has exposed herself in some public place or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present circumstances.” So….he feels she is going to make a fool of herself in public sooner or later and he rather it occur far from home when he isn’t around to witness it. Makes sense, but “WOW Mr. B!”
In this section, the word “appearance” stuck out. Like you included in the title, our new reflective Lizzy realizes that Wickham only has the “appearance” of goodness. Then, Wickham uses the word to suggest Darcy seemed different at Rosings because he was trying to appear a certain way in front of Lady Catherine, but Lizzy reveals she knows him better now and doesn’t think it’s an appearance, which makes Wickham realize she sees through him! She’s learning the difference between appearance and what is really true and it seems like a suggestion that she’s recognizing and moving past her prejudices.
So glad all OK Haley - I am so enjoying this and was watching out all week, but no harm waiting and more important to take care of yourself. I’m always intrigued by who Chamberlayne is that Lydia & co dress us as a woman (chap 39) a servant I guess? Sounds pretty humiliating. My favourite line apart from your headline is “'But surely,' said she, 'I may enter his county with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me.'” Partly because it intrigued me enough to google what petrified spars were (some sort of famous mineral. I imagine Derbyshire would be a bit less enticing than the lakes! Although very different in those pre Industrial Revolution days - pretty sure Derbyshire has changed a lot more than the Lake District.
I laughed at that part about "petrified spars" because Lizzy was essentially thinking, " I just want to take my little trip and collect some nice rocks without being bothered" - which, same.
I found Mr. Bennet’s storyline to be the most interesting in this section of the book. When we are first introduced to him, he’s painted as a sympathetic character—clearly Lizzie is his favorite, and he spends a lot of time reading, so is presumably a thoughtful and intelligent man. I wouldn’t call this a full heel turn, but more of a coming of age theme about seeing a loved parent as a flawed and frail human, and also understanding more about your parents’ marriage than you want to. Mr. Bennet isn’t willing to do the hard work of parenting—he has checked out of both his marriage and his obligations as a father. He’s self indulgent and selfish—so a lot more like his wife than we are initially led to believe.
Mrs. Bennet favors Jane because of her looks and probably her biddable, sweet nature, but the daughter who is most like her is Lydia. One wonders how in the world Mr. Bennet ended up married to her.
So glad you took the time needed for yourself Haley!
I love Jane's character more and more. She's looking for the best in everybody, she isn't ready to condemn anyone, not even a scoundrel like Wickham, for whom she says "He is now perhaps sorry for what he has done, and anxious to re-establish a character. We must not make him desperate." Although I am aghast that the two sisters should decide to simply not reveal anything about his past to their social circle, this being my least favourite bit about this section.
This also seems to establish, to my mind, that Wickham's character is now irredeemable. There's no coming back from this attempted ruination of Darcy's sister.
Mr Bennet is shown in an even worse light and my sympathy for Mrs Bennet continues to grow.
"One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty" and "all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace" was a literal laugh out loud moments.
It's so pleasantly shocking how contemporary Austen sounds in "a little sea-bathing would set me up forever".
The self awareness sprint that Lizzie is on is no doubt spurred by the disclosures in Darcy's letter. Towards the end of this section, her musings on expectation versus reality was such a delight, I read it over and over. " ..an event to which she had looked forward with impatient desire, did not in taking place bring all the satisfaction she had promised herself. It was consequently necessary to name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity; to have some other point on which her wishes and hopes may be fixed, and by again enjoying the pleasure of anticipation, console herself for the present, and prepare for future disappointment." and
"A scheme of which every part promises delight can never be successful; a general disappointment is only warded off by the defence of some little peculiar vexation."
But my most favourite part was the depth of Lizzie's character we get to see: "it was not in her nature to increase her vexations by dwelling on them....to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety was no part of her disposition." I love that!
I also loved those “musings on expectation”! They seemed very familiar to me— I think on a past reading of the novel, I’d copied that whole passage down in my notebook!
Oh, and I do like the exercises, and they are especially helpful in the early chapters when I'm just getting into the book. But I don't think you have to force coming up with new ones if nothing strikes you as an obvious activity for a particular section. I'm not a visual learner AT ALL. (IKEA directions with no words drive me bonkers!) So the picture related activities - word maps, diagrams, collage - have been good stretch activities for me (even if I only think about doing them and don't follow through).
In response to Lydia expressing a completely rude and indelicate insult to the girl Wickham had been showing interest towards:
“Elizabeth was shocked to think that, however incapable of such coarseness of expresssion herself, the coarseness of the sentiment was little other than her own breast had formerly harboured and fancied liberal!”
Elizabeth is doing some self reflection and evaluation and in this moment of self awareness realizes how far she is from, say, Jane’s goodness. Elizabeth and Jane both stand out in their family as being well mannered enough to not express such opinions out loud — but Jane doesn’t even have them, she thinks well of everyone, while Elizabeth thinks such things, but keeps them to herself.
Later, when she and Jane have decided not to make Wickham’s faults known to their circle, Elizabeth says “sometime hence it will be all found out, and then we may laugh at their stupidity in not knowing before.” This shows some pride and lack of self awareness (despite her recent enlightenment) that she does not see the hypocrisy in criticizing as stupid an opinion which she herself held until she recently received some new information. She continues to hold herself & her character evaluation up as superior to others. “The general prejudice against Mr. Darcy is so violent, that it would be the death of half the good people of Meryton to attempt to place him in an amiable light.” Here again, the “general prejudice” is invoked as a powerful force immune to truth.
I also love the moment in the carriage when Maria says “How much I shall have to tell!” & Elizabeth privately added, “and how much I shall have to conceal.”
I'll admit that this was the first week I've caught up to the reading, so - since all is well with you - the delay came in handy! :) I've read P&P more times than I can count, and this is probably my least favorite section. Normally I'd rush through to tie up all these dangling plot lines, so my free-writing has turned self-reflective (maybe my discomfort at Jane's fortitude in the face of thwarted love means that I... have that same strength? Hmm, no, that's not it...). But these are good ideas to be grappling with, so thank you for the invitation to slow down with them!
While I always intend to do the week's exercises, I've mostly just done the reading log prompts. Those have been great!
I was hoping all was well with you. I'm glad to hear you took the time you needed!
My energy is a bit lower/directed elsewhere this week so I don't have anything to add, but I'm excited to read what others think.
Welcome back Haley! I'll admit I'm anxious to get to the end of the book, just so I can get this narrator out of my head. She seems to have decided to try her hand at narrating my life too. It's like a song snippet that becomes an ear worm. They say the only way to cure those is to listen to the song in its entirety. I'm ready to get to the end of the story so I can put this narrator back in her book.
I am noticing a rhythm in how Austen paces the novel. I characterized the first few chapters of Volume 2 as the doldrums. Now at the end of Volume 2, we get another bit of a breather after the passions exhibited in the chapters just preceding. That's not to say that nothing is happening. The younger sisters are back on the page and we're getting to know a lot about the Bennet family dynamics. Lydia and Kitty are so giddy and goofy. They've frittered away an hour at an inn "dressing a sallad and cucumber" and laying out a cold meat spread to treat their sisters to lunch. But they've also been using their upstairs vantage to gawk at soldiers and to shop for "ugly" hats at the milliner's across the street. Such that they now have to ask Jane and Elizabeth to pay for their "treat" since they've spent their money. Then they all cram into the carriage with Lydia taking up too much space, both physically with her hat boxes and with her loud exuberance and gossiping. Elizabeth who wants to get her feelings sorted and find the first opportunity to tell her secrets to her confidant, Jane, must just want to slap the silliness out of her younger siblings. I have three sisters and we often paired up (threes don't play well). But our pairings were fluid and could change with the activity or mood. The Bennet sisters seem permanently stratified with the two oldest and two youngest always together and poor Mary left out. There really isn't that great an age spread from Jane to Kitty, but it almost seems like they grew up in different families. Elizabeth seems to be seeing her family with new eyes. Darcy certainly pointed out flaws, but is she also considering Lady Catherine' critique of her mother's parenting even though she had seemed to dismiss it during that conversation? I love this line: "Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort." She had "been blind to the impropriety of her father's behavior as a husband." Because she appreciated his attention to her, she has overlooked how his behavior has been detrimental to her mother, other siblings, and maybe even to herself. That's definitely a hard lesson of adulthood to start to see your parents as imperfect and real people. Thank goodness Elizabeth has her trip to the Lakes with the Gardiners to counteract all this "gloom over their domestic circle." Uh, nope. That trip is delayed and now is to be shorter and only as far as Derbyshire and...Pemberly! Looks like the action is ready to pick back up. The stage is set for the next encounter with Darcy even though Elizabeth has let her guard down as she's been assured he won't be there when they visit.
It's so interesting that you mention it seems almost like the sisters were raised in different households. I wonder if they were, in a way. You notice how fond of Jane and Elizabeth Mrs. and Mr. Bennet are respectively, and I wonder if Mr. Bennet in particular was more involved in their early upbringing but got discouraged after dealing with Mrs. Bennet for so long (and not having a boy) and sort of resigned himself and backed off. I've thought a lot in my personal life about the way that parents can change significantly over time so that siblings have a very different experience with them, and I think that makes sense in this context.
#justiceforMary <- my brother and I every time we read/watch/discuss Pride and Prejudice. She was right there Mr. Collins!!! The actress in the 1995 version was especially good at highlighting this.
Yes!
Have you heard of the book ‘The Other Bennet Sister’ ? it gives Mary’s story during and after P&P whilst not a patch on Austen (obviously) I really enjoyed it. I believe the BBC is currently making an adaptation of it , shame the actress from 1995 will be a bit too old now (!) as agree she was brilliant as Mary.
I haven't! That's a good rec, thanks Hilary! I'll put it on the list. Will need to keep my eyes peeled for that new BBC adaptation.
I know what it is like to for life to get on top of you! I am glad you took a walk to clear the head of an evening - books and closely reading will always be there waiting.
I was struck by similar themes especially with regard to her father’s behaviour which I have never really considered in previous readings and how strongly Lizzy regrets certain choices her father has made - or let slide.
I agree wholeheartedly, this is a different, matured?, experienced? Lizzy we are seeing. Events have lowered the proverbial blinkers and she is seeing the world through others eyes or, as you say, with clarity.
Old Lizzy did not take well to being challenged I dare to say. The Lizzy we see now has a growing understanding of the range of variables that can contribute and account for events and peoples responses to them.
Likewise, I am here for it.
First: Look after yourself, Haley... Hope things calm down soon... Second: Although I watched the serial when it came out, I've not actually read this novel for -- gulp -- 50 years... And I'd completely forgotten (and have therefore been surprised by) the family dynamics. Back then I thought Mrs Bennet a silly old bat, and Mr Bennet an enviably cool customer, sailing calmly above the chaos around him, and staying detached and witty. Now I feel a bit sorry for Mrs B, who probably couldn't really help the limited education that led to her "weak understanding and illiberal mind". (She actually sounds as though she was once a bit like Lydia, captivating Mr B "by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humor which youth and beauty generally give".) Mr B, on the other hand, is now annoying me very much with his totally irresponsible hands-off approach, his refusal to take anything seriously, and his readiness to expose "his wife to the contempt of her own children".
I'm also reading them both differently this time around. I still have compassion for Mr. B even though I'm also frustrated by him, but I can see all the factors that led poor Mrs. Bennet to seem so neurotic. I'd have a similar anxiety if I were in her position, and sensible Mr. Bennet should be able to understand and sympathize with that to a greater extent than he apparently does.
I wonder if close reading makes me pay more attention to the supporting characters
This book, this group, Haley’s guidance and thoughts - what a pleasure!
Something that stood out to me this week - Mr. Bennet sort of blew my mind rationalizing his reasoning for allowing Lydia to go to Brighton to Lizzy. “Lydia will never be easy till she has exposed herself in some public place or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present circumstances.” So….he feels she is going to make a fool of herself in public sooner or later and he rather it occur far from home when he isn’t around to witness it. Makes sense, but “WOW Mr. B!”
In this section, the word “appearance” stuck out. Like you included in the title, our new reflective Lizzy realizes that Wickham only has the “appearance” of goodness. Then, Wickham uses the word to suggest Darcy seemed different at Rosings because he was trying to appear a certain way in front of Lady Catherine, but Lizzy reveals she knows him better now and doesn’t think it’s an appearance, which makes Wickham realize she sees through him! She’s learning the difference between appearance and what is really true and it seems like a suggestion that she’s recognizing and moving past her prejudices.
So glad all OK Haley - I am so enjoying this and was watching out all week, but no harm waiting and more important to take care of yourself. I’m always intrigued by who Chamberlayne is that Lydia & co dress us as a woman (chap 39) a servant I guess? Sounds pretty humiliating. My favourite line apart from your headline is “'But surely,' said she, 'I may enter his county with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me.'” Partly because it intrigued me enough to google what petrified spars were (some sort of famous mineral. I imagine Derbyshire would be a bit less enticing than the lakes! Although very different in those pre Industrial Revolution days - pretty sure Derbyshire has changed a lot more than the Lake District.
I laughed at that part about "petrified spars" because Lizzy was essentially thinking, " I just want to take my little trip and collect some nice rocks without being bothered" - which, same.
I found Mr. Bennet’s storyline to be the most interesting in this section of the book. When we are first introduced to him, he’s painted as a sympathetic character—clearly Lizzie is his favorite, and he spends a lot of time reading, so is presumably a thoughtful and intelligent man. I wouldn’t call this a full heel turn, but more of a coming of age theme about seeing a loved parent as a flawed and frail human, and also understanding more about your parents’ marriage than you want to. Mr. Bennet isn’t willing to do the hard work of parenting—he has checked out of both his marriage and his obligations as a father. He’s self indulgent and selfish—so a lot more like his wife than we are initially led to believe.
Mrs. Bennet favors Jane because of her looks and probably her biddable, sweet nature, but the daughter who is most like her is Lydia. One wonders how in the world Mr. Bennet ended up married to her.
So glad you took the time needed for yourself Haley!
I love Jane's character more and more. She's looking for the best in everybody, she isn't ready to condemn anyone, not even a scoundrel like Wickham, for whom she says "He is now perhaps sorry for what he has done, and anxious to re-establish a character. We must not make him desperate." Although I am aghast that the two sisters should decide to simply not reveal anything about his past to their social circle, this being my least favourite bit about this section.
This also seems to establish, to my mind, that Wickham's character is now irredeemable. There's no coming back from this attempted ruination of Darcy's sister.
Mr Bennet is shown in an even worse light and my sympathy for Mrs Bennet continues to grow.
"One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty" and "all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace" was a literal laugh out loud moments.
It's so pleasantly shocking how contemporary Austen sounds in "a little sea-bathing would set me up forever".
The self awareness sprint that Lizzie is on is no doubt spurred by the disclosures in Darcy's letter. Towards the end of this section, her musings on expectation versus reality was such a delight, I read it over and over. " ..an event to which she had looked forward with impatient desire, did not in taking place bring all the satisfaction she had promised herself. It was consequently necessary to name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity; to have some other point on which her wishes and hopes may be fixed, and by again enjoying the pleasure of anticipation, console herself for the present, and prepare for future disappointment." and
"A scheme of which every part promises delight can never be successful; a general disappointment is only warded off by the defence of some little peculiar vexation."
But my most favourite part was the depth of Lizzie's character we get to see: "it was not in her nature to increase her vexations by dwelling on them....to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety was no part of her disposition." I love that!
I also loved those “musings on expectation”! They seemed very familiar to me— I think on a past reading of the novel, I’d copied that whole passage down in my notebook!
Yes, so thought-provoking and a problem of existence, almost.
Oh, and I do like the exercises, and they are especially helpful in the early chapters when I'm just getting into the book. But I don't think you have to force coming up with new ones if nothing strikes you as an obvious activity for a particular section. I'm not a visual learner AT ALL. (IKEA directions with no words drive me bonkers!) So the picture related activities - word maps, diagrams, collage - have been good stretch activities for me (even if I only think about doing them and don't follow through).
In response to Lydia expressing a completely rude and indelicate insult to the girl Wickham had been showing interest towards:
“Elizabeth was shocked to think that, however incapable of such coarseness of expresssion herself, the coarseness of the sentiment was little other than her own breast had formerly harboured and fancied liberal!”
Elizabeth is doing some self reflection and evaluation and in this moment of self awareness realizes how far she is from, say, Jane’s goodness. Elizabeth and Jane both stand out in their family as being well mannered enough to not express such opinions out loud — but Jane doesn’t even have them, she thinks well of everyone, while Elizabeth thinks such things, but keeps them to herself.
Later, when she and Jane have decided not to make Wickham’s faults known to their circle, Elizabeth says “sometime hence it will be all found out, and then we may laugh at their stupidity in not knowing before.” This shows some pride and lack of self awareness (despite her recent enlightenment) that she does not see the hypocrisy in criticizing as stupid an opinion which she herself held until she recently received some new information. She continues to hold herself & her character evaluation up as superior to others. “The general prejudice against Mr. Darcy is so violent, that it would be the death of half the good people of Meryton to attempt to place him in an amiable light.” Here again, the “general prejudice” is invoked as a powerful force immune to truth.
I also love the moment in the carriage when Maria says “How much I shall have to tell!” & Elizabeth privately added, “and how much I shall have to conceal.”
I'll admit that this was the first week I've caught up to the reading, so - since all is well with you - the delay came in handy! :) I've read P&P more times than I can count, and this is probably my least favorite section. Normally I'd rush through to tie up all these dangling plot lines, so my free-writing has turned self-reflective (maybe my discomfort at Jane's fortitude in the face of thwarted love means that I... have that same strength? Hmm, no, that's not it...). But these are good ideas to be grappling with, so thank you for the invitation to slow down with them!
While I always intend to do the week's exercises, I've mostly just done the reading log prompts. Those have been great!