Jane Austen Read A Long discussion

Discuss Chapters 1-10 Here.

It's so funny to me how much importance was put on getting married back in the day. Literally, Jane's parents were plotting on hooking her up before the guy got into town. Lol.

Exactly that's what I find so interes

**interesting

I am loving the sarcasm! Am I the only one who finds the sarcasm funny?

I'm a fan of sarcasm too. Lol. So Elizabeth is who he likes. Idk how I got Jane. Think I said the author's name by mistake. Lol.

Okay. I got Mr. Bingley and his brother in law mixed up. Lol. Had to go back and check that.

So Darcy is Bingley's homeboy not his brother in law.

Lol yeaaa Darcy and Bingley are close friends

I'm catching on slowly but surely. Lol.

I love in the first chapter how Mr. Bennet is forced to listen to the gossip of his wife like "I suppose you're going to tell me whether I want to hear it or not". And then plays dumb like "how can this man being single effect our daughters?"
I feel like husbands haven't changed a bit.

I only read two chapters but I'm catching on. The beginning made me giggle though. Very sassy

I've read this so many times and I have to say sassy is the perfect description.

How's everyone doing???

Started reading it a bit late but I am enjoying it so far.

Finally done ✅ with chapter ten! I am loving it! Darcy is the king of a-holes. Lol. But he met his match with Elizabeth. I wanna choke Miss Bingley.

just finished chapter 10... it really reads like the romantic comedy of its time. Darcy and Elizabeth both don't like each other and then he says "were it not for the inferiority of her connexions, he should be in some danger" um is that a compliment or a put down. lol I love it

I'm glad to hear everybody is enjoying it!!

I'm reading P & P for the ninth or tenth time. This time, I'm focused on the pressure to marry - and to marry well. The very first sentence tells us that the book is about finding a man with a fortune. The Bennet girls must feel the pressure constantly, as their mother often reminds them that the house is entailed to their cousin Mr. Collins. Only Elizabeth and Jane seem aware that they lack cash.

Elizabeth and Jane are the "right" age to marry and, apparently, they have not found anyone suitable among their acquaintances. Mary seems - to me - unlikely to marry. I imagine her living with her parents until they die, and then being shunted from one sister to another. I feel sorry for her because she probably imagined that she would be happy married to Mr. Collins. I think that marriage would have been dreadful for Mary. Lady Catherine would have belittled her constantly, and Mr. Collins is much too pretentious. Kitty and Lydia are too busy flirting to think seriously of marriage. They seem too self-absorbed to be aware of the effort required in marriage.

No wonder Mrs. Bennet is so thrilled to hear of Mr. Bingley and his fortune. I admire her for rejecting Mr. Darcy as a suitor - despite his larger fortune - because of his rudeness.

Charlotte Lucas is quite blunt about her desire to marry, even though her family home indicates that the Lucases are much wealthier than the Bennets. She is described as not pretty, but her money and her father's title must make her attractive to someone. Her acceptance of Mr. Collins' proposal after such a fleeting acquaintance is evidence of the pressure to marry that she must feel.

Like Charlotte, Caroline Bingley is older than Jane and Elizabeth. Her youth is slipping by, but she has not "landed" a husband. Her sister's husband is a constant reminder that desirable men are rare. Unfortunately for Caroline, Darcy is just not interested in her. He and Bingley resister her efforts to make a foursome with Darcy's sister, who is too young for Bingley.

And sad Miss DeBourgh. Does she say anything? But she doesn't need to because her mother says everything for her. Can't you imagine the idle conversation between sisters that led Lady Catherine to believe that Darcy and her daughter are engaged?

I'm excluding Lydia from this discussion of marriage, because I think she was thinking more about lust than marriage. She feels no pressure to marry; her wedding results from flirtation gone amok.

Perhaps I'm in a cynical mood, but the action of this novel seems to focus on finding a husband rather than on finding love.