Book #37: Persuasion

Book #37: Persuasion by Jane Austen

August 8, 2013


This is the third Jane Austen text that I have read. I have, of course, read Pride and Prejudice (twice, in fact), both times in college (once as part of my student teaching). The first Austen text I ever read was Emma. I read it (and didn't really understand it very well) in the 7th grade. See, at the time, I had this "frenemy," I guess you could say. who was bragging about how she was reading it, and talking about how the film Clueless (which is still a hilarious movie, I like to watch it every once in a blue moon for a good laugh) had been a modern day adaptation of it, yada yada. Kind of to show her up, I borrowed the book from her when she was finished. I could keep track of which scenes resembled those from the familiar movie, but otherwise, I was kind of lost in the writing style. One thing that I've noticed about Austen's writing, with a more sophisticated eye as a grad student than when I was in middle school, is that the conventions of English grammar observed in her time are different enough from our time that it would be confusing.

Here's an example of something that tripped me up as I read Persuasion. Anne (the main character, and just as likable as Elizabeth Bennett) would recount some conversation that she had with another character. The character's speech would be in quotations, but the pronouns would be in the third person. See, if the quotations weren't there, the reader would just assume that the narrator (or in Anne's mind) was simply summarizing what the character had said. Anyway, that got confusing, the use of "he" or "she" rather than "I" in some instances, and I would be like "who the hell are they talking about?", but I soon figured it out. I don't become easily frustrated with challenging writing styles, and often find myself able to immerse myself in the language (as I described being able to do when I read Pygmy, or as I read a work by Shakespeare). Anyone who has read Austen's works can tell you that she was a fine writer. But...

The themes of Persuasion had many similarities to Pride and Prejudice. So many, in fact, that I found myself becoming a little annoyed...like, come on Austen, you're kind of retelling the same story here. Not quite, but there are the themes or circumstances that reminded me so much of the early (and even more highly regarded) work.

Anne's father and sisters remind me of Mrs. Bennett and her youngest daughters. Sir Walter Elliot is a very vain man, not very smart with his money, yet a very stuck-up snob. His eldest daughter Elizabeth is the same way. Though she is lovely, she has never married; she has only found one man who she feels worthy of marrying her, and that would be Mr. Elliot, her cousin and the heir to the family estate and title. Mary Musgrove, Anne's younger married sister, is much like Lydia Bennett, and she can be described with a single word: brat. Anne is the only voice of reason in her family...not that they ever listen to or appreciate her. The difference here is that, unlike in the Bennett family, where Elizabeth has Jane and her father to help balance out the family, Anne is the only voice of reason...besides Lady Russell, a widowed neighbor who somewhat stands in the place of the late Lady Elliot as a mother-figure for the girls, but most of all for Anne.

I found, in Anne's conversations with her silly family, that there was the same humor as in the conversations between Mrs. Bennett and her sometimes-tolerating husband. So in that similarity, I can't really complain, as I found those scenes to be my favorites in Pride and Prejudice. I think that these sort of scenes are where Austen really showed her wit and brilliance as a writer. She was successfully lampooning the society people of her day with these outlandish characters, yet she gave them enough personality and emotion to keep them from being one-dimensional characters, for the most part. I found Mary Musgrove to be especially silly; she lived among her relations, a large and good-humored family who put up with her bratty demands. Her children, unfortunately, were starting to become out of hand...fortunately, Anne was able to exercise some influence over them.

Like in that other book, the plot of Persuasion is driven by mistaken intentions, lies and deception, and the ultimate goal of marriage. Anne, though she seems to be a perfectly lovely person, has been single for eight years as of the start of the book. Though she is popular among her neighbors (moreso than her haughty sister and braggart father), it seems that she's pretty lonely, spending much of her time with her neighbor Lady Russell. This lady has good sense, and she loves Anne dearly and hates that she's treated like Meg Griffin in her own family. But eight years ago, she gave Anne some bad advice. She told her not to marry the love of her life.

Since breaking Captain Wentworth heart, I guess, she's thought of him. It's shown that she had other suitors, including her now brother-in-law. The Musgroves much preferred kind and sensible Anne to her bratty younger sister, but Anne refused him...assumably, because she always had feelings for Captain Wentworth. At the beginning of the book, she learns that her father will be 'letting' (renting) the estate to Captain Wentworth's sister and brother-in-law (being in financial dire straits after irresponsible spending), and mostly she fears running into her ex-boyfriend again. She'd broken things off with him pretty abruptly, and she's afraid for him to see her as she is at twenty-seven, not quite so young or pretty as before.

Well, they do run into each other eventually. Anne opts to stay with her sister Mary instead of going immediately with her father and older sister to the fashionable city of Bath. Among the Musgroves, she meets Captain Wentworth, who becomes an object of infatuation for both of the Musgrove sisters. That's Austen's schtick, make it seem like the other guy is involved with someone else, though all along he really is pining after the girl he's "supposed" to be with. It happened with Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, and (spoiler alert), it happens for Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth. But I was happy to see them together in the end,

But, unlike Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, Captain Wentworth and Anne actually did pine for each other all along. Like, even during those years of their separation, Wentworth never loved another woman. I thought that was sweet! Even if it was bullshit, it was a sweet thing for him to say. And of course, there was a logical and completely understandable reason for his involvement with Louisa Musgrove. Now, that whole thing with her getting hurt during the visit to Lyme kind of confused me. Did Wentworth fail to catch her? Did she land so hard on her feet that it sent those waves of shock into her head (it being the early 19th century, I don't imagine that her shoes were very supportive)? Anyway, she somehow got a concussion, and was laid up in Lyme for, like, two months? Same sort of thing happened to Jane Bennett, when she was laid up with a cold for what seemed like a ridiculous amount of time at a neighbor's house. Or in Wuthering Heights, when Catherine was laid up at the Earnshaws' with a hurt ankle or a cold or something for like a whole season? But then, I remind myself that this was well before the days of modern medicine, of course. Life was even more fragile then than it is now, and (for the very wealthy, at least), if something was wrong, you better drop everything and lay up up awhile, and not take any chances. For someone who is poor, I would imagine that this may not be possible, and so...

Anyway, Austen's works do deal with social class (and the hypocrisies of their practices), but it doesn't get as political as all that. Basically, Lady Russell felt like Wentworth wasn't good enough for Anne. But then he goes off and makes his fortune. Now, though Austen is not afraid to point the finger at hypocrites, the ending here seems almost hypocritical in itself. See, I had thought that from the title, Anne would show growth in not allowing people to persuade her, and would act in her own way. This kind of happened, but really, even though she was finally doing what she'd wanted to do all along, it was "okay" in Austen's world for her to finally marry Wentworth because he had money and success in the navy. If he hadn't been successful, what then? It was all tied up in a 19th-century appropriate ending, with Anne better off both emotionally and financially for the marriage, her social standing only growing with this union. Though she did reject the marriage that would have meant maintaining the family title (for Mr. Elliot had set his sights on her, instead of Elizabeth), this was ultimately because Mr. Elliot was a dick who bad-mouthed her family, had a large hand in bringing her friend Mrs. Smith to financial ruin, and was only looking out for his own interests. His parallel in that other story would be Wickham, of course. If Mr. Elliot had been the upstanding guy that he initially appeared to be, wouldn't her choice have been more respectable, or more romantic? Maybe not in Austen's time...maybe it would have just been considered stupid to not marry the perfectly nice, wealthy guy who is going to have guaranteed title and property.

So it is important to read Austen's work with the time period in mind, because while it may not unfold in a way that would be satisfying in a 21st century sense, it does work for her time. I cannot say why Pride and Prejudice would be more lauded than Persuasion, because I found the main characters to be just as likable (Anne and Elizabeth Bennett have their flaws, but mostly are easy to root for), and the conclusions to be just as satisfying (all things considered). I don't see why Captain Wentworth would not be as idolized as Mr. Darcy. He's a freaking Navy captain, he's kind but forceful, he has a strong sense of morals...that's oftentimes more than can be said about the ever-loved Mr. Darcy, a character that I've never been so smitten with. Works of fiction based on Austen's most famous work are practically a subgenre in and of themselves (such as Bridget Jones's Diary, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Mr. Darcy Broke my Heart, to name just a very few). I guess the only logical explanation is that Pride and Prejudice came first, and became famous while Austen was still alive, while the very similar Persuasion was published just a few months after her death. But for any readers whose only exposure to Austen has been her most famous text, I would highly recommend Persuasion as being a logical next read. I intend to read more Jane Austen (eventually, I want to read all of her works), but before I do that, I will probably read one of those books that is inspired by her work. I have loved Bridget Jones's Diary for years, I've probably read it more times than I've read any other book, in fact. It's impressive that a woman, from a time when women had so little power and so few rights, could not only make a name for herself while she was still living, but still be so widely read and so well loved two hundred years later.

In the scenes where Anne is being bossed around or ignored by her family, I couldn't help but think of poor Meg.  This ill treatment didn't stop Anne from being upset when she learned that Mr. Elliot had been talking smack about her father and older sister.

Rupert Penry-Jones playing Captain Wentworth is a 2007 TV film version of Persuasion. He is hot, and I love the sideburns, but the tossled-n-gelled hair looks a little too modern for the early 19th century...