Persuasion

Jane Austen is perhaps one of the best-known female authors of the last two hundred years. She proved that 19th century women have thoughts, just like their male counterparts. Her heroines are often proper ladies, but there is always an undercurrent of their true feelings on every subject matter. Persuasion contains all of these elements.

Austen wrote Persuasion late in her life, but it still conforms to the typical story line of many of her other novels. A rich family is losing money and is forced to rent out their residence. The family consists of Sir Walter Elliot and his daughters Elizabeth, Mary, and Anne. Elizabeth is the lady of the house as a result of her mother's death but is unmarried and past her prime. As a result, she is very bitter. Mary, the middle child, is married to Charles Musgrove, an unemployed gentleman, and resides in a cottage near Charles's parents' house. Mary is very much the comic relief of the story, but more on that later. The youngest oft-ignored sister is Anne. Anne is easily the most interesting character because she goes through a more significant change than any of the other characters in the book.

The highlighted plot line of this book is the failed relationship between Anne and Captain Wentworth. She and Wentworth were engaged when Anne was 19, but Lady Russel, a family friend, persuaded Anne to break off the engagement. Wentworth, being a sailor, was not seen as someone good enough to belong to the family. When Anne meets him after several years, he has been very successful but still has not forgiven her for rejecting him. She frets about him for a long time, and I will leave it up to you to figure out Anne's decision about this problem.

Mary is by far my favorite character in Austen's book. She is extremely funny in her attempts to be the center of attention. In the first part of the book she insists that Ann come to her cottage because she is very ill and of course must be dying. She acts sick until Anne comes to the home. Once Anne is there, she becomes lively enough to insist that they take a walk together. Throughout the story Mary feels it is her prime responsibility to know what is going on at all times and to contribute to conversation in every possible way. She reminds me of a spoiled child who always insists on his or her parent's attention by saying things like "look at me! look at me!"

Part of Austen's charm is the wit that comes out in very subtle ways. Even though everyone is very prim and proper, some of the characters very eloquently make jabs at other characters. Austen herself pokes fun at her own characters in her descriptions of them. In fact, Persuasion really is all about the characters. Austen almost never takes the time to describe places in detail and usually leaves event descriptions up to the characters. This really allows the reader to get into the characters', and subsequently the author's, heads.

I have to admit that I had a difficult time reading this novel, mostly due to the writing style that was common in Austen's time. The story is slow-moving, especially in the middle. However, I would recommend this book. As I have already said, Austen is very witty and really takes care in developing her characters. Like many of her other books,Persuasion is a fascinating look into the 19th century upper class.

Next time I will go in a completely different direction by reviewing Four Ways to Forgivenes, a collection of novellas by Ursula K. LeGuin. I also want to remind you that if you are in fact reading this I would really appreciate feedback. Are there any books I should check out? I would love to take requests.