Pride and Prejudice

Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen
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Long time no blog. The reason? I've been reading this here wonderful book.

I tried reading this book when I was in middle school, I believe. It didn't work out very well; I couldn't handle the language and gave up halfway through. Still, my cousin bought me the movie and I liked the story. This year, I decided to give it another try.

I had a rough start on this book. When I began to read the first chapter, I wasn't yet used to her language, and it confused me slightly. As I progressed, though, her sentences' phrasing came more naturally to me and their speech didn't confuse me as much.

As the story progressed, I found myself increasingly enthralled by it. How human the plot is compared with Jane Austen's wonderful writing makes for a very good read, and it seems as though Jane Austen is one of your friends that complains about guy problems.

Although this is undoubtedly what some would call a "girly" book, don't let that scare you male gender away from the book. Jane Austen's writing may still spur you to think about which character you're most like, and if there's- for example- an Elizabeth Bennet for you.

Something that you need to take into mind is the period that Austen lived in- pre-Victorian times, before Charles Dickens. The way she phrases her sentences puts the emphasis at the end, instead of the beginning as we do now. The culture then was also extremely different from what it is now, and I find it very interesting.

Reading this book helped me in how I view things and how I write; it facilitated writing one of my character's speech (He was from the 1600's, and for a while I had him speaking like educated individuals do now. Finding out how Austen's characters spoke helped me correct his syntax.) and had me begin to keep an eye open for chivalrous individuals.

Overall, Pride and Prejudice was a great read, and I hope to read more of Jane Austen's books in the future. The Masterpiece Theater version of the book- with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle- was also a very good movie. I believe it captured the overall sense of the book, and their use of quotes from the book itself helped contribute to that feeling. I would definitely recommend this book to someone, especially if you enjoy reading a good romance novel.



Question to discuss; Would you marry for love or money? (Both isn't an answer, unless you're Elizabeth or Jane.) Why? Also, do you believe that gentlemanly and educated ideals mentioned in the book are still around today, or are they gone?