Ah, the Antigua estate. I remember being with a friend of my mom's once and we were talking about Austen and he said he had seen a movie version of Mansfield Park and was very impressed that she commented on the issue of slavery and I was like "Ahahaha that was only in the movie."
I agree that Fanny has internalized the fact that she shouldn't be included in the social stuff, but I also think she wouldn't want to be. She's very quiet, anxious, and sensitive -- not the type of person to enjoy social gatherings. (Of course that gets into a nature/nurture thing -- is she anxious and sensitive because of how she was raised? did the way she was raised exacerbate natural timidity? or would she be that level of anxious even if she had been raised with more kindness and encouragement?)
I don't think Edmund's dislike of Mr. Rushworth is related to his affinity for religion, though. I think he simply doesn't like the guy. His objection to the match doesn't seem rooted in a lack of love between Maria and Mr. Rushworth, but in the fact that Mr. Rushworth has nothing to recommend him except his fortune. I see it as part of Edmund's innate practicality more than anything else. He looks at relationships almost mathematically -- like when he thought Fanny would move in with Mrs. Norris and he thought that would be a good match because Mrs. Norris needed a companion and Fanny needed someone to push her out of her comfort zone. Nice in theory, but totally ignoring the emotional reality of how people relate.
One of the things I found interesting about Mary's introduction is that Austen took the time to discuss her and Henry's family situation. It wasn't long, but it was a level of detail that the narrative did not require to explain why Mary would come to live with Mrs. Grant. She could have just said that Mary decided to live with her half-sister for awhile without going into the details about Admiral and Mrs. Crawford's relationship, how they raised Mary & Henry, and the fact that Admiral Crawford brought his mistress into the house after Mrs. Crawford died. Its only importance that families are important to Austen. Nobody's character is formed entirely by themselves; families form the context of all people and therefore all relationships. So that little sidebar about Admiral & Mrs. Crawford was structurally unnecessary but thematically critical.
Mrs. Grant's comments remind me of what asexual people get told all the time -- just replace the word "marriage" with "relationship."
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Date: 2013-06-08 05:38 pm (UTC)I agree that Fanny has internalized the fact that she shouldn't be included in the social stuff, but I also think she wouldn't want to be. She's very quiet, anxious, and sensitive -- not the type of person to enjoy social gatherings. (Of course that gets into a nature/nurture thing -- is she anxious and sensitive because of how she was raised? did the way she was raised exacerbate natural timidity? or would she be that level of anxious even if she had been raised with more kindness and encouragement?)
I don't think Edmund's dislike of Mr. Rushworth is related to his affinity for religion, though. I think he simply doesn't like the guy. His objection to the match doesn't seem rooted in a lack of love between Maria and Mr. Rushworth, but in the fact that Mr. Rushworth has nothing to recommend him except his fortune. I see it as part of Edmund's innate practicality more than anything else. He looks at relationships almost mathematically -- like when he thought Fanny would move in with Mrs. Norris and he thought that would be a good match because Mrs. Norris needed a companion and Fanny needed someone to push her out of her comfort zone. Nice in theory, but totally ignoring the emotional reality of how people relate.
One of the things I found interesting about Mary's introduction is that Austen took the time to discuss her and Henry's family situation. It wasn't long, but it was a level of detail that the narrative did not require to explain why Mary would come to live with Mrs. Grant. She could have just said that Mary decided to live with her half-sister for awhile without going into the details about Admiral and Mrs. Crawford's relationship, how they raised Mary & Henry, and the fact that Admiral Crawford brought his mistress into the house after Mrs. Crawford died. Its only importance that families are important to Austen. Nobody's character is formed entirely by themselves; families form the context of all people and therefore all relationships. So that little sidebar about Admiral & Mrs. Crawford was structurally unnecessary but thematically critical.
Mrs. Grant's comments remind me of what asexual people get told all the time -- just replace the word "marriage" with "relationship."