the town and the country

Pride & Prejudice | Week 2: Volume 1, Chapters 2-9 | on the differences between the ladies from longbourn and the ladies from netherfield

Welcome to the Closely Reading book club: a space where we closely read classic literature together and discuss assigned chapters each week.

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Welcome to week 2 of our Pride & Prejudice read-a-long!

This week, we are reading chapters 2 through 9 (read all of chapter 9!) before moving onto our next assignment. Many ballrooms await us.

If you have not completed those chapters yet, I encourage you to do so before reading if you want to avoid spoilers.

Want to really dig in this week? Open your free writing prompts or look back at your annotations for the last few chapters. If you’re someone who is trying to become more thoughtful about what they read, I highly recommend pausing to write a reflection.

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One of my favorite scenes in any novel, and any film, is the “accomplished woman” scene in which Caroline Bingley rattles off the endless expectations for women. Bingley and Darcy weigh in with their own expectations, and Lizzy finally calls them out: “I never saw such a woman,” she says.

Below, for your enjoyment, is that scene from the impeccable 2005 film adaptation. If you’ve done the reading, you’ll find no spoilers in this clip. You will find the audaciously adorable Matthew McFayden: a picture perfect Mr. Darcy if ever I saw one.

So very much happens in this week’s chapters. Caroline accuses Lizzy of being a “pick me” girl, Mrs. Bennet goes off the rails of defensive sarcasm, and the word “tolerable” is used many times to deeply funny and ironic effect. And so much more!

In chronological order, here are some highlights (with new characters in bold):

• Mr. Bennet teases (again!) his wife and daughters and secretly meets with Mr. Bingley to pave the way for family relations.

• Mr. Bingley isn’t just a single man in possession of a good fortune. He’s also: “quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.” My, what a catch!

• Mr. Darcy, by contrast, is a moody devil isn’t he? He’s a “fine, tall person” with “handsome features” and “noble mien” (a word we don’t see much often these days—it means the “look or manner” of a person). Despite all these fine qualities, however, he is ultimately found by the group to be damningly forbidding, disagreeable, and proud.

This contrast between two eligible bachelors sets us up for what is perhaps the starker contrast that makes up the rest of the chapters: the differences between the Bennet girls, the Lucases, and the ladies of Netherfield, which includes Mr. Bingley’s sister Caroline (an unreal piece of work!). I’d invite you to notice the way the novel leverages these differences moving forward, especially if you’re interested in our theme of “class and social rank” for book club. This contrast is rooted in their society’s class system — and dictates so much of their public and private behaviors, and of what and whom can be deemed “tolerable.”

• Darcy snubs Lizzy at a ball by not dancing with her; his excuse is that she is not beautiful enough to tempt him. She’s “tolerable.”

• Bingley, by contrast, dances with Jane twice! Egads!

• Lizzy meets with her best friend, Charlotte Lucas, who warns Lizzy that if Jane does not eagerly move Mr. Bingley along, he may not know how she feels and won’t propose. Lizzy defends Jane’s shyness.

• Darcy is forced to ask Lizzy to dance at another gathering, but this time Lizzy snubs him.

• Cue the marching band! The militia arrives to the country, much to the teenage glee of Lizzy’s younger sisters Kitty and Lydia.

• Caroline Bingley invites Jane to dine and Mrs. Bennet refuses to let her take the carriage; Jane therefore arrives to dinner sopping wet from the rain and catches a horrible cold. She—and then Lizzy—end up staying at Netherfield with Bingley and company for days on end as Jane heals.

• During this time, Lizzy experiences the prejudices of the Netherfield ladies, who perform niceties in front of Jane and the men, but who clearly harbor strong feelings (and concerns!) about the lower social rank—and class—of the Bennet family.

• Lizzy also experiences the pride of Darcy, whose personality and behaviors are a stark contrast to the friend group that surrounds him.

• Bingley, Darcy, Caroline, and Lizzy have a fascinating conversation about what makes an “accomplished” woman, Darcy writes a letter and reads many books to avoid conversing with Caroline, and Lizzy can’t bring herself to mock Darcy’s strength of character. The intrigue abounds!

• Finally, Mr. Bingley vows to hold a ball at Netherfield as soon as Jane is feeling better.

Of course, there is so much more that happens in these chapters and based on what themes you’re tracking, other moments may have stood out to you as keenly important to the story. I’m excited to hear about them in the comments!

Kilburne, A Game of Chess, from the 19th century. Isn’t this a perfect painting to capture this week’s energy? This is so Darcy-Caroline.

Last week, I brought up the topic of worldbuilding (the process of creating a fictional world for a story), and how the first line of the novel brings us into the world of Lizzy and Darcy.

This week, I am curious about how our first line continues to be relevant as our fuller cast of characters is introduced.

We now know that Mr. Bingley is the “single man in possession of a good fortune” who has arrived into the bustling marriage market of Meryton and Longbourn where dozens of eligible young ladies vie for his attention. It seems clear from these chapters that, while a flighty and somewhat superficial fellow, Mr. Bingley is certainly “in want of a wife,” and is making the rounds with his money and his freedom in a quest to meet the right girl.

We also meet another single man with a grand fortune—but unlike his best friend, who dances eagerly and makes friends and compliments his dancing partners, Mr. Darcy seems to have neither desire for a wife nor the kind of “lack” that would incite such a desire. He doesn’t want to dance; he’s taciturn and bored and seems deeply uncomfortable with most of what is happening around him. (An introverted king!)

I’ve been tracking a few themes — and here’s how I saw them evolving this week.

• Truth: at the end of chapter 2, the ladies spend the evening “conjecturing” about Mr. Bingley and when they’ll finally meet him. I found this a fitting mental activity in a world where truths are profoundly social (they are “universally acknowledged”). What I mean by this is that truth is often created by the appearance of circumstance and the demands of society. For example: Mrs. Bennet seems to create the truth for her daughters—that one of them is going to marry Bingley; but it is a truth weighted by the reality of the marriage laws of the time. Likewise, Charlotte Lucas invites the possibility that Jane, despite the truth of her feelings, might lose out on Bingley if she does not show proper feeling and make it evident how she feels. So, I’m starting to develop this idea, and understanding, that because truth is “universally acknowledged” in this world, it is also, critically, performative. Can truth be a performance? Aren’t those two things opposed?! How will such tensions be reconciled?!

• Possession: I loved the evolution of this theme as Mrs. Bennet seems to reach out, grab, and then hold on for dear life to the idea of Mr. Bingley marrying Jane. This theme laps over so nicely with Caroline Bingley’s obvious protection and possession over her brother, who she seems to want to control like a puppet. There is, likewise, some possessiveness going on with how these different social groups feel that certain individuals “belong” to them and should not deviate from what is “tolerable.”

• Wants — I was struck by the attention paid in this weeks’ chapters to appearances and inward feeling, and the profound disconnect between the two. Let’s dive into that.

Chapter six opens with Jane’s feelings being obscured by her composure and shyness. Take a look at the first paragraph of chapter six:

“Jane united with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and a uniform cheerfulness of manner, which would guard her from the suspicions of the impertinent.”

And yet, as Charlotte Lucas tells Lizzy, “it is sometimes a disadvantage to be so guarded…Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on.”

There is, then, a disconnect between the depth of excitement and desire Jane may be feeling (the truth) for Mr. Bingley and the “guarded” composure she shows to the crowd (the social, the performance).

As we continue on through the chapter, we get another excellent exercise in contrasts. We see how Darcy’s feelings are likewise obscured by his composure—and how Darcy uses intentional silences (especially when pressed for detail by Caroline) to keep him safe from judgements and Lizzy’s increasingly devastating clapbacks.

“He listened to her (Caroline) with perfect indifference, while she chose to entertain herself in this manner, and as his composure convinced her that all was safe, her wit flowed long.”

There is, then, a disconnect between the true feelings Darcy is experiencing about Elizabeth and the Bennet family and the similarly “guarded” or, in this case, “indifferent” nature—the performance—he shows to the crowd.

These contrasts invite me to wonder a few things:

• What feelings are safe for a woman to show? To whom? In what settings?

• What feelings, or desires, must a woman be careful about showing? Why?

• What feelings are safe for a “single man in possession of a good fortune” to show? To whom? In what settings?

• Likewise, what feelings, or desires, must that man be careful about showing? Why? To what end?

• How are feelings performed in the novel? What kinds of performances are not tolerable? What kinds are necessary? (Is love a performance or a feeling?)

Last week, I had asked: Who feels desire? Who is desired? What does desire feel like when you’re a person? When you’re a possession? When you’re a wife?

I feel, with each chapter, I am becoming ever closer to answers as I learn to expect that some characters, like Jane and Lizzy and Darcy and Bingley, have good reasons not to show their every feeling, and that some other characters, like Lydia and Mrs. Bennet and Caroline Bingley seem to show their feelings in much more conniving or unbridled ways.

This week, my key question has somewhat evolved: Who has the luxury of showing feeling in the world of the novel?

Now, it’s your turn.

Your exercise(s) this week are many and varied. You can do all of them, some of them, one of them, none of them. (There will be no pop quiz!)

Here are your options.

1. Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half. Label one half “town” and one half “country.” Then, fill each half with the words, characters, and scenes that align to each setting in this week’s assigned reading. Are there any overlaps? Who belongs to which side? What characteristics are aligned with “country” people that are resented or judged by the “town” people?

2. Adopt a “voice” for Darcy. How does his voice change if you take him at his word? Or at Lizzy’s assumptions? How does his voice change when you view him purely as Mrs. Bennet does? Does pride dial up? What emotional tenors come with that trait? In other words: what does “pride” sound like? (Sniveling? Giggling? Haughty? Silence?)

3. Watch the first episode of the BBC miniseries. We’ve made it through all of that part of the story in our reading so far, so if you’d like to watch along (the series is streaming on Amazon Prime and available to rent or buy elsewhere online), you could start that this week!

4. Go back through the reading with a new color highlighter or pen and make fresh annotations based on what you learn or think about as you read today’s guide and peruse the comment section.

Every week, I share my favorite sentence. And I invite you to do the same in the comments.

This week, I had a hell of a time picking. There are so many daggers in these chapters—those scorpion-shaped sentences were in full swing as Darcy and Lizzy do a delicate dance around one another to suss out character.

But my favorite line came from Miss Charlotte Lucas, the increasingly jaded 27-year-old unmarried woman who Mrs. Bennet really does not think is pretty, who says:

“Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”

Damn, girl.

This line really highlights the “truth” underlying that universal truth of the first sentence: in a world where the rules are so strict and people like Caroline Bingley are so devoted to protecting the boundaries of their class system, “happiness” is hardly a factor that it seems safe for a person—especially a woman, who so often has no choice in the matter of who proposes to her—to hope for in their marriage. Financial security and social stability seem to be the core tenets of the “matches” being made across the system. And can you blame them for it?

This is, perhaps, why the word “tolerable” gets so much play this week. While Austen wields it brilliantly as a term of irony and sarcasm, she also wields it as a kind of perfect word, and concept, for these social creatures to use. After all, to “tolerate” something is to endure it—to find it manageable or acceptable within a given framework. Can you tolerate an unhappy marriage if it offers financial stability? Social safety?

When do those conditions become intolerable?

Our form has a handful of submissions this week. Fun!

Question 1

Question
I would love to hear more of what you think Austen is conveying through the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. You used the words "teasing" and "impatience" in your summary, but I often feel that mocking and dissatisfied (or at least weary) is more consistent with their dialogue. Mr. Bennet seems to think that Mrs. Bennet is at best silly and at worse pathetic in her nervous disposition. Do you agree?

My response
I thought of this as I read Charlotte Lucas’s devastatingly sad definition of marriage this week—that happiness is nothing but a strike of chance in a marriage, and that a woman should not waste any time in securing a husband (meaning: she shouldn’t even bother to think about love or connection or passion; if he’s got the good fortune, he’s worth her consideration).

I think of this as I consider Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. They seem to me a couple that has, in many ways, “lucked out” given the circumstances of marriage. Remember that historically, at this moment in Britain, divorce was not a thing—you can read more about marriage and divorce laws of the time. I think Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are tired, not of each other, of perhaps of circumstance. With no male heirs (which will become a huge plot point next week), their family is wholly dependent on the good marriage of their daughters in order to secure any future for their family estate. Much of their tension comes from how to manage this “business” of marrying the girls, since Mr. Bennet must make the introductions and Mrs. Bennet must make sure her girls get the right invitations to the right ballrooms.

Question 2

Question
In the exercise section, you reference "The idea of Possession". That a wife, like a fortune, is something a "single man" can possess" in the world. The opening line in the book, when it speaks of "universal truth" does it not refer to the line in the next paragraph, "the truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters". While it is true that at that time many men considered their wives as property, the first chapter speaks of the man as property and not of the woman. Not having read further at this time, I speculate that the next sections will explore how the families plan to acquire the man as a possession for their daughter. Your thoughts and comments will be appreciated.

My response
I think this is one of the smartest and funnest things about this novel: it shows us that Bingley and Darcy are also affected by and shaped by the marriage customs of the time. I appreciate scholars like bell hooks who wisely argue that feminism is for everybody and that, likewise, domineering patriarchal system hurt everybody (men included!). I believe hooks would appreciate a reading of this novel that explores how the Bennet family wants to “claim” or “possess” these men, as much as they want their daughters to become their wives (and therefore, under the law at the time, a legal possession of a husband).

I do think it’s wise to remember the historical timeline of this novel: women were not allowed to own property (family estates had to pass through male heirs) and, once married, they were considered the property of their husbands. Before that, they are the property of their father.

So while we can certainly attune ourselves to the way the men are treated as possessions in this novel, we’d also be wise to keep an eye on the material realities of this world, in which a man could be self-possessed (Bingley does not have to marry; if and when he decides to marry is entirely up to him) and a woman would be possessed (Jane Bennet does not have to marry, but if she does not, she’ll increasingly become like poor Charlotte Lucas—a burden to parents who cannot afford to keep her on).

Simply put: a single man, in this world, is a valuable asset and holds most of the cards (the finances, the properties, the education and training, the power to hold political office and communicate with powers-that-be). A single woman, by contrast, is a liability—who’ll eventually age-out into spinsterhood if she fails to find a single man with a good fortune who wants a wife like her.

Question 3

Question
I read somewhere (long back) that alliteration was the (or part of the) reason for the title “Pride and Prejudice.” I’d love to hear if you have any thoughts on that. (I haven’t read the novel yet. Excited to read it as part of this read-along.)

My response
A few thoughts here! The working title of the novel was First Impressions before Austen changed it to Pride and Prejudice during the long course of her composing and revising and eventual publishing of the novel.

Her previous novel, Sense and Sensibility, had done well commercially. One scholar has pointed out that Austen may have been encouraged to change the novel’s title to align with the successful formula (antithesis and alliteration) of her former success. That may be part of what’s at play in the final title we have today. If I learn more about this, I’ll update you!

Off we go into volume 1, chapters 10 through 16. Remind yourself to slow down and savor the experience as you go. I’ll post next week’s guide early next week, so you can reference it whenever you’re ready.

• Here is the form you can use to submit questions.

• Here is a basic free write template designed to help you think more deeply about the text.

The full schedule is available here:

our Pride & Prejudice read-a-long begins next week

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Here are a few questions to help you get started:

• What was your favorite part?

• What was your favorite quote?

• What was something you didn’t expect or were surprised to find as you closely read?

• Did you learn anything about annotation this week?

• How did the themes you’re tracking evolve this week? Are you adding any new ones?

‘Til next time…happy reading!