Honors III/Harvey: Austen Worksheet

SOME ODDS & ENDS

--Keep in mind this is a comedy of manners, not a straight depiction of rural, gentry-class England in 1813. 

--So you don’t see…. impoverished wool-spinners put out of work by emerging new technologies; the kitchen where servants are arm’s thick in mutton grease, etc.; all the nasty diseases or operations (if you had kidney stones, pain would be immense, etc.); the Napoleonic wars in Europe, and so on

--Austen looks at mostly high-middle class (gentry, living on and off of estates/farms—in which you would get in rent perhaps 2000 pounds a year which would equal at least $400,000 in today) and aristocrats who have residences in London and the countryside

--Mr. Bennett’s money/estate is entailed, meaning most of it will not go to his daughters

PRIDE & PREJUDICE ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORKSHEET

--let’s examine it the way we would anthropologically examine, say, pygmy life

--below are some categories.  As you read, come up with more or jot down observations for us to discuss in the next two meetings

--I’ll make one large anthropological observation: in “Forest People” the pygmies spend a good deal of time looking at each other to see whether proper social behavior and rules are being followed.  It is the same in the “Pride and Prejudice” world, but also very different because, if nothing else, Austen’s universe is one shaped by capitalism, property, and social status based on property.

CATEGORIES:

WHAT DO PEOPLE TALK ABOUT?  DON’T TALK ABOUT?

WHAT ARE THE RULES OF TALKING?

WHAT ARE THE RULES OF COURTSHIP?

WHAT ARE THE OCCASIONS FOR SOCIAL EXCHANGES? WHAT ARE THE RULES?

WHAT CHARACTERISTICS MAKE ONE “WORTHY” IN THE MARKET OF SOCIAL RELATIONS IN THIS WORLD?

WHAT MAKES ONE SUBJECT TO OTHER CHARACTERS’ OR AUSTEN’S RIDICULE?

IF YOU WANTED TO KNOW WHETHER THE DEPICTIONS IN THE NOVEL ARE REALISTIC, HOW WOULD YOU FIND OUT?