Friday Book Report: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of those novels that every book lover should read.  Whether you enjoy it or not is based on your personal style, but one cannot deny that Austen is still one of the best novelists out there, and that she can take a story from 200 years ago and still it is relevant in today’s society.  The various themes of this book can very well be applied to today’s modern world, and it’s amazing that anyone familiar with the literary world knows exactly who Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are.  Their characters transcend time, and that in itself is a testament to just how remarkable an author Jane Austen was.  This book was originally published in 1813, and after 200 years is still one of the most famous works of fiction to ever grace a page.

The story revolves around the Bennett family and their five daughters.  Elizabeth, the second oldest is a young woman able to speak her mind and unafraid to do so despite what polite society might say.  She’s strong, independent and truly believes she can assess a person’s true character.  When she first meets Mr. Darcy, she finds him to be horrible and arrogant and she cannot stand him at all.  All her comments towards Darcy are filled with disdain, and she makes no apologies for speaking her mind to him so freely.   During the course of their acquantaince Elizabeth feels she has justly evaluated Darcy’s character and her stubbornness won’t allow her to change her thinking.  But of course, certain situations come to head and Elizabeth must soon realize that her first impressions of Darcy are not what they seem, and so this wonderful romantic tale takes off and Austen leads the way with her witty and humorous writing.

There of course are two main themes of this book; pride and prejudice, and both the main characters have ample amounts of both.  Darcy is an extremely proud man, his wealth and station in life have given him reason to believe he is above most in society and therefore he comes off as haughty and unsociable.  This is what Elizabeth sees when she first meets Darcy and he so grossly humiliates her with his cold comments about her appearance as well as the entire social scene he is thrust into.  Elizabeth is full of her own pride.  She overhears his insults and her stubborn nature will not allow her to shift her prejudice of this discomfiting man.  It’s really a remarkable thing to witness, the two are so much alike and so vastly different we all know they are perfect for each other; if they could just swallow their pride and be done with it.  Pride is shown and brought up throughout the book, and while it is usually considered a fault to have pride, Darcy says it best when he describes the differences of pride, “Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity to what we would have others think of us.”  And that is the crux of the situation, Darcy has loads of pride (and he should, for he is a wealthy man with a profitable estate to be proud of) but all Elizabeth can see at first is vanity, and not in a good way.  She sees an egotistical man, instead of a man proud of his accomplishments.  

Mr. Darcy on the other hand, is bothered by Elizabeth and he doesn’t like it at all.  Her manners and straightforward approach unsettle him and he has to battle with those first impressions that Elizabeth has thrust upon him.   He’s attracted to her but he doesn’t want to be.  Jane Austen writes his displeasure in loving her so perfectly in quite possibly the greatest scene ever written.  His first proposal of marriage to Elizabeth is one of the funniest things I think I’ve ever read.  The way he reluctantly acquiesces to the idea that he loves Elizabeth despite all her shortcomings is written brilliantly and Elizabeth’s response to his overwhelmingly “romantic” proposal is downright hilarious.

I very much enjoyed this book, and not just because it’s recognized as a “classic” and a must read.  It’s an intellectual romance, and the writing engages the reader to feel what the characters are feeling.  Having lived during that era, Austen can write with extreme conviction that the events that take place in Pride and Prejudice could most certainly happen in 18^th century England.  The writing can be hard to understand sometimes (British English 200 years ago is not exactly the same as American English in the present day), and I found myself taking breaks after reading a few chapters to let my mind digest the information I just read.  These breaks weren’t from a lack of interest, I just felt that at times the writing got over my head and I needed to stop reading and really absorb what I had just read so that I could follow the storyline and grasp just what Austen was writing about more coherently.

I wholly recommend this book to anyone and everyone, but I think those that read often will appreciate this book more than the casual reader.  I do not think I would have liked this book 5 years ago, but having read so much more in the past few years than I used to I can definitely recognize the value this book has in the literary world.  This book is an A, the writing is wonderful, the storyline and themes prevalent throughout the book and are explained and justified beautifully.  It’s suitable for any age, but younger readers may not have the patience to finish this book.  If you love books, and if you love witty romances set in the 18^th Century, you should really read this book, if you are among the few that haven’t already.  Pride and Prejudice is a delightfully entertaining book and I would definitely read it again.