Pride and Prejudice 4

Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
66 of 262 pages
Classic Novel

Quote from the book: “’Both,’ replied Elizabeth archly; ‘for I have always seen a great similarity in the turn of our minds.—We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb.’” This is something Elizabeth says to Mr. Darcy while they are dancing together at the ball Mr. Bingley gave at Netherfields. It is, I think, very true, although for now it describes Mr. Darcy a bit more than Elizabeth, who is not always that way; while Mr. Darcy seems to always act that way. They are similar, and even though Elizabeth says she hates Mr. Darcy, or that he is a “very unagreeable man”, I know that she doesn’t hate him as much as she thinks she does now.

What happened until now: I sadly didn’t read a lot this week, but what happened is that Mr. Bingley gave a ball at Netherfields, and Elizabeth was for once excited for it, maybe not as much as her other sisters, but still a bit, still she knew that Mr. Wickham was supposed to come and she expected him to ask her to dance with him for the first two dances. But then Mr. Wickham didn’t show up, they heard from his friend that he had to go away to town and didn’t know when he was coming back, although even his friend said that could be because of a certain person he wants to avoid. Mr. Wickham told Elizabeth before, when they first met, that Mr. Darcy’s father, before he died, wanted Mr. Wickham to have a good life, since he was always fond of him and Mr. Wickham a great friend and apprentice to him, but Mr. Darcy junior apparently didn’t give Mr. Wickham the money he deserved (at least that’s how I understood it).           
At the ball though, although Elizabeth doesn’t, or doesn’t want to believe it, Mrs. Bingley (Mr. Bingley’s sister) tells her that what Mr. Wickham told her about Mr. Darcy is not true and that actually Mr. Wickham is a not very agreeable person; lying and not to be trusted.

The book is interesting, but right now there is not a lot happening, and it can get a bit boring. My mum says so too, although the beginning was actually pretty interesting. I hope it’s just a short part and it will get better and more interesting again.

Blog Question #4: One definite theme is the importance of marriage and getting married as early as possible. Mrs. Bennet does everything to get her daughters to get married soon, so they will have someone to supply them with a home and money. Another theme is love, although what I read until now doesn’t have a lot to do with love, so it is only a minor theme. Love is still a theme because marriage should be, and here it actually is, about love, because Jane and Mr. Bingley actually fall in love, and since Elizabeth has a really good personality and knows what she wants, so I really don’t think that she would marry anyone without having feelings for that person.           
The author includes these themes, by simply talking about them and mentioning them in the book. Mrs. Bennet actually says that she wants her daughters to get married soon so they are taken care of and don’t have to worry about anything anymore. You can clearly see that Jane and Mr. Bingley are close from falling in love, and also Mary and Lydia are really fond of the officers, and they also say that several times. The book is enjoyable to both of us, just as I said before, it can get a bit boring sometimes.