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A review by nhborg
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
4.0
4.25
My second Austen after kicking it off with «Northanger Abbey» last fall! I’m increasingly realizing the quality of her writing and its incredible ability to draw me right into the story. She writes as a sharp observer with so much wit and underlying commentary. It takes me a while to read her books because I usually reread paragraphs several times to appreciate them fully, and because I love to engage with the story by underlining/writing in the margins along the way. My own writing style has always been characterized by (too) long sentences which are convoluted yet substantial, and though I can by no means compare it to Austen’s writing, I see her example as a treat worth the extra time spent reading.
«Sense and Sensibility» revolves around two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and their coming of age within a society where everything that matters is wealth and social standing. They are initially presented as the antithesis of sense = Elinor and sensibility = Marianne, with Marianne as a heroine in her opposition to social hypocrisy and Elinor as a heroine in her mindful adaptability. While they are sometimes presented as polar opposites, the real interest comes in the dynamics between the sisters and unity of these characteristics. I loved seeing them discuss, clash, and grow in the light of each other.
This feels like a book which has a lot more than what meets the eye, or rather, that the simplistic setup covers up for a wide range of subtle nuances and blows against social conventions. I think I would highly enjoy giving it another read in the future to do a deeper personal analysis than this time. Some interesting discussion points I picked up include:
- Linking sense & sensibility to stoicism and hedonism, self control vs. indulgence
- In regards to finding a romantic partner: Discerning self-preserving high standards from starry-eyed idealism
- Victorian society’s fixed social roles, by which everyone is supposed to follow a predetermined script
- The difficult task of balancing individuality/honesty with agreeable behavior in social settings
- The tendency of viewing young women in the family as sales objects and tools to promote everyone else’s interests
- Manipulation and harassment in the form of forced friendship
- What is more burdensome for your close relations: an excessive showcase of your misery or always pretending like everything is fine?
Lastly, I wanted to add a few amusing quotes that highlight the contrasting perspectives seen in the two sisters:
« ‘I am afraid,’ replied Elinor, ‘that the pleasantness of an employment does not always envince its propriety.’
‘On the contrary, nothing can be stronger proof of it, Elinor; for if there had been any real impropriety in what I did, I should have been sensible at the time, for we always know when we are acting wrong, and with such a conviction I could have had no pleasure.’ »
« ‘I was at Norland about a month ago.’
‘And how does dear, dear Norland look?’ cried Marianne.
‘Dear, dear Norland,’ said Elinor, ‘probably looks much as it always does at this time of the year. The woods and walks thickly covered with dead leaves.’
‘Oh!’ cried Marianne, ‘with what transporting sensations have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are only seen as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.’
‘It is not every one,’ said Elinor, ‘who has your passion for dead leaves.’ »
My second Austen after kicking it off with «Northanger Abbey» last fall! I’m increasingly realizing the quality of her writing and its incredible ability to draw me right into the story. She writes as a sharp observer with so much wit and underlying commentary. It takes me a while to read her books because I usually reread paragraphs several times to appreciate them fully, and because I love to engage with the story by underlining/writing in the margins along the way. My own writing style has always been characterized by (too) long sentences which are convoluted yet substantial, and though I can by no means compare it to Austen’s writing, I see her example as a treat worth the extra time spent reading.
«Sense and Sensibility» revolves around two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and their coming of age within a society where everything that matters is wealth and social standing. They are initially presented as the antithesis of sense = Elinor and sensibility = Marianne, with Marianne as a heroine in her opposition to social hypocrisy and Elinor as a heroine in her mindful adaptability. While they are sometimes presented as polar opposites, the real interest comes in the dynamics between the sisters and unity of these characteristics. I loved seeing them discuss, clash, and grow in the light of each other.
This feels like a book which has a lot more than what meets the eye, or rather, that the simplistic setup covers up for a wide range of subtle nuances and blows against social conventions. I think I would highly enjoy giving it another read in the future to do a deeper personal analysis than this time. Some interesting discussion points I picked up include:
- Linking sense & sensibility to stoicism and hedonism, self control vs. indulgence
- In regards to finding a romantic partner: Discerning self-preserving high standards from starry-eyed idealism
- Victorian society’s fixed social roles, by which everyone is supposed to follow a predetermined script
- The difficult task of balancing individuality/honesty with agreeable behavior in social settings
- The tendency of viewing young women in the family as sales objects and tools to promote everyone else’s interests
- Manipulation and harassment in the form of forced friendship
- What is more burdensome for your close relations: an excessive showcase of your misery or always pretending like everything is fine?
Lastly, I wanted to add a few amusing quotes that highlight the contrasting perspectives seen in the two sisters:
« ‘I am afraid,’ replied Elinor, ‘that the pleasantness of an employment does not always envince its propriety.’
‘On the contrary, nothing can be stronger proof of it, Elinor; for if there had been any real impropriety in what I did, I should have been sensible at the time, for we always know when we are acting wrong, and with such a conviction I could have had no pleasure.’ »
« ‘I was at Norland about a month ago.’
‘And how does dear, dear Norland look?’ cried Marianne.
‘Dear, dear Norland,’ said Elinor, ‘probably looks much as it always does at this time of the year. The woods and walks thickly covered with dead leaves.’
‘Oh!’ cried Marianne, ‘with what transporting sensations have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are only seen as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.’
‘It is not every one,’ said Elinor, ‘who has your passion for dead leaves.’ »