Blog Post 10/8

1a) “…as Tony Tanner writes, to show ‘the relief with which an intricate person seeks out some solitude away from the miseries which can be caused by the constant company of more limited minds’” (Woloch 46).

1b) “Lizzy is not a bit better than the others; and I am sure she is not half as Jane, nor half so good humored as Lydia.  But you are always giving her preference.”

2) How does the characterization of the minor characters, such as Elizabeth’s sisters, and their “limited minds” actually benefit the story arc of Elizabeth?  Why does Austen’s use competition (one vs many) create a narrative difference between Elizabeth and her sisters?

3) The first time the reader hears about Elizabeth, Mr. Bennett compares her positively to the other Bennett girls, and Mrs. Bennett scolds him for creating such a “competition” between the sisters. As I read through Pride and Prejudice, the idea of “competition” rarely came to my mind.  The use of “comparison”, though, was embedded due to our discussion in class on this subject.  The minor character’s “limited minds” in the novel were definitely compared to Elizabeth’s actions.  Knowing that Elizabeth is the protagonist allowed me to see these comparisons on the “Elizabeth-side” mainly because her motives are much more fleshed out and realized than Jane and Elizabeth’s “lustful” (too harsh of word?) younger sisters.  Woloch describes that the “protagonist needs a contrast here to be fully individualized.”  Elizabeth’s hesitation of marriage and her drawn-back demeanor sets her apart from the other minor characters in the play.

            Yet, Austen’s over-reliance on the minor characters and their motives (very one-dimensional), or as Woloch calls it a “parody”, may make a reader feel overwhelmed by the constant contrasts between them and Elizabeth.  Yet, the “one vs. many” approach to the novel creates a narrative difference between Elizabeth (one) and her sisters (many), which provides the reader to comprehensively understand why the motives of Elizabeth will eventually provide a positive ending.  The characters’ constant competition between themselves provides the distinction that Elizabeth’s happy ending will “win”.