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The clock hits 1 AM, and there we are: a heap of friends lounging in the basement re-watching Pride and Prejudice just over 200 years after its original publication. The cheap nightstand to my right is caving under the weight of Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi, Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, Longbourn by Joe Baker, and Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith. Although I’ve forgotten about it, the drawer holds an early birthday present for my cooking-obsessed friend: the well-known Jane Austen Cookbook by Deirdre Le Faye and Maggie Black chosen randomly over similar works called Dinner with Darcy and Jane Austen’s Table. My basement begs the question: who is this writer who’s inspired books about body insecurity and gentrification alike? Who has cookbooks with her name in the title instead of as the author? Whose legacy, unlike other writers of her time, continues not just in school curriculums, but in popular entertainment? Well, we’re all writers here, so let’s analyze and understand her work from a writing lens, dig into her world, and then, as a treat, take a look at my ranking of her novels. Shakespeare’s Influence Shakespeare was a major influence on Austen. This is shown explicitly through the well-known Henry the VIII passage read aloud in Mansfield Park (well-placed because Henry the VIII had six wives and Henry Crawford, the man reading it, struggles with staying with one woman). But it goes deeper than that. Austen’s work strikes through today because her characters are three-dimensional, complex, and dynamic while still sticking to a set of personality traits. This parallel’s Shakespeare's characters and serves as a chief reason that both authors have stood the test of time. Austen observed the people around her and kept readers on their toes by going to great lengths to avoid caricature. For example, her books had no lack of jealous characters, but they all responded to jealousy in different ways. Similarly, as you will see later, Austen’s books were full of women looking to marry, and all these women expressed this one need in different ways as per their personalities. Shakespeare’s influence allowed Austen to create psychologically realistic characters that we can relate to, understand, and root for today–even if they are unlikeable. Narration and Dialogue Witty, engaging, and most importantly, friendly, narration sets Austen apart from other prominent authors (looking at you, Dickens), making her close to the reader. Using the collective “us,” for example, in Northanger Abbey, allows Austen to include the reader in the story, stat “The most charming young man in the world is instantly before the imagination of us all” (Chapter 31), invites the reader into the book. In an exceptional case, Austen’s posthumous Northanger Abbey also addresses the reader to build upon its satirical, witty tone. Austen also inserts herself into the book by way of sarcasm and jokes, some less appropriate than others. Jokes about serious situations like death allow the reader to understand how Austen wants the character in question to be viewed. Austen flits between the mind of the character (often, a flawed perception) and the narrator’s account to the point where it can be difficult to know who’s saying what. In some cases, it is difficult to understand why it matters until the very end when the reader realizes that they were fed a flawed perception through a character that interpreted the clues all wrong. This is known as free indirect discourse and was perfected by Jane Austen. Austen’s ability to use omniscient third-person to keep the reader informed while combining it with the personal prejudices of characters to help the reader understand that the characters were not informed is unique to her work. Austen also uses conversation as a moving factor and as a way to get to know a character. Just form one line of dialogue, Austen gives a perfect overview of Lady Catherine from Pride and Prejudice. “I must have my share in the conversation… There are few people in England, I suppose, who have a more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste” (Chapter 31). We see her arrogant and self-centered nature immediately from her interrupting a conversation and overestimating the worth of her contribution. Austen also uses dialogue to symbolize class. For example, she has Sense and Sensibility's Lucy Steele make frequent grammar errors to highlight that she is not a lady. (The word “lady” in this context means a woman of the gentry, well-bred, well-respected, ad well-educated, and Lucy is poor and uneducated.) (A fun fact about Austen: She first published under the name “By A Lady.” This distinguished her from poor women who had to write to feed their families by showing that she wrote for personal fulfillment because as a “Lady,” she did not need money. Furthermore, a “Lady” writer was expected to write sophisticated novels about the upper class, which is exactly what Austen did.) Since contact between single men and women is so limited at this time (something we will explore later), Austen relies on her strong dialogue to show connections in flashes of conversation before a lady is whisked away. She triumphs over banter, casual flirting, and small manipulations through words rather than actions. Characters are not allowed to take each other on walks or dates, so Austen has to rely solely on dialogue to prove to the reader that two characters have a spark. Austen’s rich dialogue is probably influenced by her family’s tradition of family plays, where they all assume roles. Austen writes characters as if they are on a stage. While she uses snarky narration to be engaging, she keeps the actual character traits within the actions, mannerisms, and dialogue. Societal Norms In Austen’s time, small things went a long way. For example, when a woman was seated, it was socially necessary for a man to ask her to dance. Not doing so was incredibly rude. Mr. Darcy failing to ask Elizabeth to dance and, as fans of Pride and Prejudice will know, snubbing her for being “slighted by other men,” adds to her dislike of him and lets readers during that time know that Darcy, while wealthy, is not a socially acceptable man. Other etiquettes that show up in dances in Austen’s work include a common theme of respect for one’s partner; the two-dance rule where a couple may not have more than two dances together; and the proper way for a lady to decline an invitation to dance (say she is tired rather than say she does not wish to dance.) Characters defying these small norms means a lot in Austen’s novels even though it may not seem like much to us. Austen, as someone whose characters love defying all norms, shows deviance often and uses these actions to characterize people concerning how they react to others. Another example of this is that at the time, it was improper for an unrelated man and woman to write letters to each other unless they were engaged. This is shown in Pride and Prejudice where Jane Bennet can’t write Bingley a letter and has to rely on his sisters to convey a message, resulting in a good 200 pages of mishaps. It was also improper for an unrelated, unengaged man and woman to exchange gifts, another social norm that causes conflict in Mansfield Park, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility among others. Austen characterizes characters and relationships alike by showing their ability and willingness to either adhere to or break these rules and also uses other characters’ reactions to broken rules to reflect society as a whole. Marriage: A Brief Background to Understanding Austen Marriage was financially necessary for women and their families to take the burden off a girl’s father. While marriage was not forced on the gentry, it was known to be a necessity. In fact, women who truly couldn’t secure husbands would go off to British colonies full of single men. The need for money through marriage is seen best in Persuasion, where Lady Russel advises Anne Elliot to reject Fredrick because he does not have enough money. Anne Elliot happens to spend the majority of a book regretting that decision. The reason hardheaded Emma, the eponymous heroine of Emma, can afford to refuse to marry is because she has 30,000 euros to her name and no brothers to claim the money. Unlike Emma, who eventually marries, Austen never does, which results in her, her widowed mother, and her unmarried sister living off of the kindness of sons and brothers since all their father’s property and money went to the men. Austen’s family was at the lower end of the gentry, which is why she never could have had the security Emma did. Even though she herself is unmarried, Austen writes almost exclusively about marriage. Women in Austen's novels generally came into the marriage world with elaborate game plans whether it is throwing themselves at a man like Pride and Prejudice's Lydia Bennet or faking enough sincerity to get two very different brothers to fall for her like Sense and Sensibility’s uneducated by shrewd Lucy Steele. When her first conquest is disinherited, she immediately begins to manipulate his egotistical younger brother to secure a fortune. To represent true love, however, Austen uses unintentional and unplanned flirting, most famously between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, and lets the relationship develop organically even though it is a fact that Bennet needs the money. By zooming out of the necessity for this marriage (with Elizabeth bearing little regard for it in comparison to her hatred for Darcy), Austen can allow the banter to solidify love over tactic. Another societal norm Austen acknowledges is the separate world of women and men at this time. She does so by completely subverting it on the women’s side. Austen’s heroines are a direct contradiction to everything women are asked to be at the time. According to Jane Austen for Dummies, Austen would have been 16 at the time the famous Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft was published and would have grown into adulthood in the thick of the women’s rights movement. While Austen is hard-pressed to explicitly say anything at all, she makes it clear enough that her strong heroines have a place in this world. Ranking As promised, here are my rankings! These are only Austen’s published novels (the big six), but she has a body of novellas and letters I highly recommend taking a look at if you like these!
Citation: Elizabeth, Klingel Ray Joan. Jane Austen for Dummies. Wiley, 2011. Stuti Desaiis a high school student in New Jersey. They like (in no particular order) books, music, science, history, running, and (of course) writing and are always up to learn something new! Find them on Instagram at @writing_stoot.
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