Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, when our assignment to read the book was given to us I was less than eager to read it. It was just another old book that I had managed to avoid reading throughout high school, and a love story at that. But my dread as I read the first pages quickly turned to interest. I found myself relating to the story, as I am sure many people can. From the romantic relationships to the relationships of parent and child and the bond of siblings, Pride and Prejudice has all. It is a book not driven by action, but by the characters.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are just like many parents of today. Mrs. Bennet is noisy and often embarrassing, exactly as teenagers see their parents today, although she only wants the best for her daughters. On a personal level, my mother has the same eagerness for me to meet someone as Mrs. Bennet did for her daughters. My parents were married at 18, and my mother is always asking if there is any new man in my life. If I ever happen to say yes, she wants to know everything.

From a romantic standpoint, the book shows a fairytale romance between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, but also shows the opposite in the relationship between Wickham and Lydia. Wickham exploits and woos young women for their wealth. This still happens today, especially in young adults, relationships and women are exploited for sex then once a man gets what he wants he leaves her. Although in the case of Wickham and Lydia, he is paid to marry her. I relate this to today in the sense of marrying only because the woman gets pregnant. It isn’t marriage for love, but rather out of a sense of obligation.

From a sisterly view, these sisters are as close as siblings can get. Perhaps the biggest example of this in Pride and Prejudice is when Jane falls sick at Bingley’s estate thanks to their mother who insisted she go on horseback, Elizabeth was determined to go visit her and on foot at that. Having a sister, I relate to this greatly. When one of us would get in a fight with our mother, our sister would always be there to take our side. We were together in everything.