Back to Mansfield Park! Chapter Two. about 23 hours ago from web
Fanny Price: "..though there might not be much in her first appearance to captivate, there was, at least, nothing to disgust her relations." about 23 hours ago from web
Mrs. Norris is horrible and so is Sir Thomas. I haven't made me mind up about Lady Bertram yet, but I'm not v. inclined to like her either. about 23 hours ago from web
"Nobody meant to be unkind, but nobody put themselves out of their way to secure her comfort." about 23 hours ago from web
Mary Lennox should give Fanny Price some 'How to Grow a Spine' lessons. about 23 hours ago from web
Lady Bertram: "...spent her days in sitting nicely on a sofa, doing some piece of needlework, of little use and no beauty,..." about 23 hours ago from web
"...thinking more of her pug than her children, but very indulgent to the latter, when it did not put herself to inconvenience." about 23 hours ago from web
"There was no positive ill-nature in Maria or Julia; and though Fanny was often mortified by their treatment of her,..." about 23 hours ago from web
...she thought too lowly of her own claims to feel injured by it." Okay, I'm seeing why some people might get irritated with Fanny Price. about 23 hours ago from web
Sir Thomas helped Fanny's brothers re: education and employment. So he's not really horrible, I guess. (So far.) Just an ass. about 23 hours ago from web
Huh. So I assume Cousin Edmund is the love interest? I can't believe I've never actually read this book. http://tinyurl.com/3hr5a7 about 23 hours ago from web
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Previously:
Some folks see Fanny as the prototype of the Victorian conception of "the Angel in the House", keeper of the moral center. But at the recent AGM of the Jane Austen Society of North America, I heard Emily Auerbach (from Wisconsin) argue quite convincingly in favor of Fanny as a Romantic heroine, in keeping with the likes of Wordsworth, because Fanny is most elegant when in nature, and when discussing nature, and she is guided by her own moral compass (drawn from nature, really, since clearly there's nobody around her to be a guide, apart from Edmund, of course, and he has his foibles).
Also? I've heard theories that Austen had characters depicting the seven deadly sins. Mrs. Norris = greed, Lady Bertram = sloth. Happy reading pegging the other five!
I believe I'll pull out my MP and re-read it, too, to keep you company.
Posted by: Kelly Fineman | 22 October 2008 at 08:17 PM
That's really cool about the seven deadly sins -- I'll watch out for 'em. And so is the Romantic/Victorian argument. As this is my first time through, I'm mostly reading for the story, but I know that both of those things will be wandering around my brain as I read...
Posted by: Leila | 23 October 2008 at 07:24 AM