So this blog has basically become a Jane Austen fanpage, and I will unapologetically flaunt it.
Sense and Sensibility revolves around two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who share similar romantic fates, although handle them very differently. Elinor represents “sense,” as she responds to her emotions with strength and thinks rationally before jumping to conclusions. She thinks of the feelings of others before her own and will even hide her own suffering to lessen that of others. On the other hand, Marianne represents “sensibility,” as she indulges her emotions and allows them to fully take control of her mind, no matter if they are pleasant or devastating. Both sisters are intelligent, clever, and beautiful, so it is no surprise this literary classic chronicles their romantic endeavors.
This book is so well written that I cannot describe it in my own words. The only thing I can do is put a few of my favorite quotes here and let you judge for yourself how incredible of an author Austen is:
“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience- or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.”
“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”
“It is not everyone,’ said Elinor, ‘who has your passion for dead leaves.”
“I will be calm. I will be mistress of myself.”
“I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my natural awkwardness. […] Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. If I could persuade myself that my manners were perfectly easy and graceful, I should not be shy.”
“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.”
“She was stronger alone; and her own good sense so well supported her, that her firmness was as unshaken, her appearance of cheerfulness as invariable, as, with regrets so poignant and so fresh, it was possible for them to be.”
“It is not what we think or feel that makes us who we are. It is what we do. Or fail to do…”
These are just of the few eloquently written lines that caught my attention and made me fall in love with this book. The plot was wonderful, but the characters themselves and the thoughts they possessed, as written through Elinor’s point of view, is what made the story so fulfilling. I wish I had Elinor and Marianne as friends; conversations with them would be fascinating and thoughtful. If you read this book, I promise you will feel the same.
Oh, and also watch the BBC show version; it has all of the elements from the book and is so fun to watch!
