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Chapter 18
That was probably his last triumph. If Maria had doubts, he took them away by offering care at a difficult time; if he had not, she might have had a warning. He might not have left their relationship on his own terms.
Mrs. Norris so far seems the kind of person everyone finds caring and decent, because she tries to make herself important by pretending to look after them. I think it's the first time it's explicitly said, but it does help me understand my previous impressions of her. She's only cruel to people she can treat as beneath her, not only because she can get away with it but because she can use it to increase the impression of her goodness: bragging about preventing the ten year old son of the carpenter from getting a free meal with the servants, for example.
I almost feel sorry for Sir Thomas. I know his business in Antigua is slavery-related, his failures as a parent, and how he enables Mrs. Norris, but I almost feel bad that he feels unmissed (though that was a peek into first bit of the next chapter) and that his world isn't what he thought it was. He's also letting himself be misled by Mr. Rushworth; of course Mr. Rushworth has no interest in acting, he was getting jealous and ignored. Later Sir Thomas will make the mistake of offering Maria a way out without offering his strong support of both options.
I've been thinking that while Fanny is too soft on the people above her, at least it does come from the same morality that will give her strength to say no to them later. It's one of those complex multi-sided traits, firmness of principle and sense of self-worth. Makes sense, too, since she probably didn't expect that marriage would be pushed on her given the way she was raised. She developed opinions with less influence from the family save Edmund, I would guess. But I'm leaking into future chapters again! Anyway, it's natural for the character that she would see Edmund's mistakes but not want him to suffer for them, and not think of his flaws.
That was probably his last triumph. If Maria had doubts, he took them away by offering care at a difficult time; if he had not, she might have had a warning. He might not have left their relationship on his own terms.
Mrs. Norris so far seems the kind of person everyone finds caring and decent, because she tries to make herself important by pretending to look after them. I think it's the first time it's explicitly said, but it does help me understand my previous impressions of her. She's only cruel to people she can treat as beneath her, not only because she can get away with it but because she can use it to increase the impression of her goodness: bragging about preventing the ten year old son of the carpenter from getting a free meal with the servants, for example.
I almost feel sorry for Sir Thomas. I know his business in Antigua is slavery-related, his failures as a parent, and how he enables Mrs. Norris, but I almost feel bad that he feels unmissed (though that was a peek into first bit of the next chapter) and that his world isn't what he thought it was. He's also letting himself be misled by Mr. Rushworth; of course Mr. Rushworth has no interest in acting, he was getting jealous and ignored. Later Sir Thomas will make the mistake of offering Maria a way out without offering his strong support of both options.
I've been thinking that while Fanny is too soft on the people above her, at least it does come from the same morality that will give her strength to say no to them later. It's one of those complex multi-sided traits, firmness of principle and sense of self-worth. Makes sense, too, since she probably didn't expect that marriage would be pushed on her given the way she was raised. She developed opinions with less influence from the family save Edmund, I would guess. But I'm leaking into future chapters again! Anyway, it's natural for the character that she would see Edmund's mistakes but not want him to suffer for them, and not think of his flaws.
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Mrs. Norris just wants to be important.
I feel very sorry for Sir Thomas. He has the same problem as everyone else in that he sees the world the way he wants to see it and ignores all evidence to the contrary (see: his treatment of Mr. Rushworth), but I think it bothers me less because he's older and that's a flaw I associate with being old. (I also just sympathize in general with parents who are ill-equipped to actually be parents. Parenting is freaking hard.)
Fanny's not wanting to see Sir Thomas be angry at Edmund is totally natural, but I still found myself wanting to take her aside and go "Honey...."
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She does want to be important. It's the way she goes about it that bothers me. I can sympathize with wanting it, but she's really close to real life (and my issues) in how she abuses others and brags about how she protected the higher-ups from them. Then higher-ups act as if she's kind and wants to take care of people. Just fulfilling her feminine role! Important here means being able to order people around, give confusing instructions to people beneath you, and insult them. That's part of the context of her situation, time, and place(though it's also a timeless fantasy and attitude.)
I think it's a realistic portrayal of a woman balancing power-seeking with a feminine role in a negative way, and interesting to compare with Fanny, in that they both depend on Sir Thomas' charity. Mrs. Norris has a little more power because she's married and older and Sir Thomas lets her have it, because he sees it as beneficial. It's fine for Sir Thomas so far, because she can't control him with that sort of behavior and he only minds her not being him while he was away. Part of the reason Fanny is so kind is her lack of power over anyone in the house but the servants. She has to empathize up with everyone.
For me, that flaw is associated with everyone regardless of age. I also think Sir Thomas has this problem in part because of how assured he is by society that he is near the top of the human race - wealthy British Christian white dude with a proper wife and family and all - until this cracks a bit at the end.
I don't mind Fanny doing this much, since she does see his mistakes. But if she were in a stronger position to criticize from...