Okay, we're done with the 4 questions, since I want you to focus on just reading as much of the book as possible. It's a longer book, so do your best to get as close to the required reading as possible.
However, instead of questions, I want you to do a short response each day (unless we have an in-class writing) where you identify a short passage you found interesting and explain why. You don't have to quote the entire passage, but you might say,
"In Chapter 5, there's an interesting passage where Henry Crawford tells his sister and Mrs. Grant that "An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged" (43). This is an important moment because...
You don't have to write much, just a short paragraph; I'll use these to start discussion and to build some of the main themes in class. If you're not sure what to look for, consider some of the following themes as you read:
* The education of women
* The marriage market
* Relations between husbands and wives
* Relations between different family members, esp. brothers & sisters
* Gossip
* Satirical narration
Good luck and we'll talk more on Wednesday!
I really liked the passage where Mrs. Norris says to Sir Thomas on page 8, "Don't let us be frightened from a good deed by a trifle. Give a girl an education, and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of sitting well, without farther expense at anybody." She goes on to say something along the lines of that the educated girl would be less handsome than her cousins, however her education would give her a credible establishment. It feels very satirical when she mentions that being educated would make you less handsome than that of someone uneducated. It feels like she's trying really hard to not get into too much trouble, but still get her point across
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, there are so many characters that it’s hard to keep track of them all!
ReplyDeleteSecondly, it blows my mind how Fanny’s family (Price) decide they can’t keep track of all those kids and decide to relinquish one. I mean it is just crazy how they just ship off their child because they can’t afford it!
In chapter one, Mrs. Norris decides that the Bertrams should take the oldest Price girl, Fanny. Sir Thomas is quick to be against that because he hears of cousins falling in love, and he hates the idea of his sons falling in love with Fanny and vice versa. Mrs. Norris interrupts him saying they will be raised “like brothers and sisters” and really it shouldn’t be a problem (4).
In chapter two, we see that Fanny is beginning to have feelings for Edmund because he is the only one that is nice to her. In my opinion, I don’t think the Bertram boys see her as anything more than their young girl cousin. We see this later in chapter seven when Fanny is getting jealous of the time Edmund is spending with Mary. Edmund even asks to borrow her horse to take Mary out which further explains how Fanny loves Edmund, but the feeling is not mutual. From what I have seen thus far, Edmund seems like a nice guy and doesn’t like to treat people poorly.
Throughout the story thus far, it seems to me that Fanny is the “Cinderella” character. Even though she is being taken in by family (even though in Cinderella it was step-family), no one seems to love her or really treat her like anything other than a burden. It seems to me that they treat her as an obligation rather than a member of their family.
Side note: The whole cousins getting married, especially first cousins, is really weird!