the jane austen club organized by wits and nuts have been reading Persuasion for the month of august. i haven't really read except a few pages until late last week, the deadline of course. i checked out the book from the town's library, together with jane austen's biography. i thought jane was a writer distinct from that of her contemporaries, and to understand her novels, i might as well try to learn more of her. i have never finished the biography yet, as a few pages through it, and the dishes on my sink have piled up high, there was no more milk on the refrigerator, and then it's about time to make dinner again. the last few nights i begged off kj already to have some pizza for dinner, because obviously, i am quite preoccupied. some days you just discover that there are so many interesting things than vaccuuming the floor, or washing the dishes or thinking what to eat for dinner. anywho....
right on to persuasion! let me share some facts i have read:
- it was believed to be written between 1815-1816, the time when jane austen began to suffer from her illness
- it was one of the last two books published in 1818, the year after her death, original title of which was the elliots
- the only novel for which any part (the remnant of which are two chapters, complete with crossings out and margin notes) of the original manuscript is still in existence, now at the British Museum in London
cast of characters: anne elliot, captain frederick wentworth, sir walter elliot, elizabeth elliot, lady russel, the musgroves, the crofts, the harvilles, captain benwick, mrs. smith, mr. (william) elliot, mrs. clay.
anne elliot born to an important, respectable line of the baronets, but plain and unwanted in her own family, found her greatest ally and true friendship in lady russel. such that when she fell in love with frederick wentworth, a man without connection and fortune, lady russel had to persuade anne to break off the engagement. at 19, anne felt the proddings of a motherly figure to be true and so with silent protests of her heart, rejected frederick.
eight years later, the wheel of fortune turned. sir walter elliot found his family in financial turmoil, and had to let their famous family home to, ironically, the admiral croft and his wife, brother-in-law and sister to frederick wentworth.
anne and frederick found themselves thrown into each other's company, though not without the awkwardness of their painful past. a maze of proper decorums, vanity, unrequited love, jealousy, and twists of fates later, frederick hands anne a letter. fast forward to chapter 23, the love story comes to a full circle, and no persuasion could come between anne and frederick anymore.
in the final chapter, anne reconciles lady russel and frederick. anne believes the former rejection that her friend's persuasion insisted on, has been for the good of everyone. (frederick with his gained fortune and respectable stance was accepted readily into the elliot family). though anne had to bear the pain of her loss for the last eight years, she knew that she couldn't stand either to hurt the rest of the people that she loves, in favor of one man. bound by the dictates of the norms and standards of her society, anne learns her lesson anyhow, and the second time love came around, she's deciding for herself.
a true love story with a happy ending, persuasion will leave you with the usual warm fuzzy feelings of being in love. while the society depicted dates back to almost 200 years ago, there are lessons to be learned - to listen to our own convictions, to rise above all forms of pretense, to be happy in our decisions, to marry only for love.
and now, indulge me to my favorite quote in the book (not about our heroine though, but well, please indulge me anyway, as i fiercely believe it to be true!) :
"it sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before..."
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