Overview:
Rather than compose a throw away piece of writing to be posted and
forgotten, I would like you to do some genuine research about the lasting impact
of Jane Austen and her novel on today’s audience. Please choose one of the following prompts
and compose an essay using at least five different sources of material. Please use MLA format and include a works
cited page. YOU MUST CRAFT YOUR OWN QUERY FROM THE IDEAS BELOW.
Marriage
Compare how ninteenth-century society viewed marriage with
how marriage is viewed today. What might account for the differences? How have society’s views of marriage and
divorce changed since your grandparents were young? Research two cultures from around the world
and compare it in the context of Austen’s work (avoid generalizations, please).
Cultural
Why do you think Jane Austen’s novels continue to be read
almost 200 years after they were written?
Have you seen any of the movies or TV miniseries made in the 1990s that
are based on Austen’s novels? Research two cultures from around the world and
compare it in the context of Austen’s work (avoid generalizations, please).
Socio-economic
After completing the novel, have the students investigate
social/cultural institutions and attitudes. Look back in the novel to identify
passages in which Austen addresses the English class system. What is Austen’s
attitude toward the English class system? Look at the Bennets’ parenting styles
and the family life in the Bennet household. What do these descriptions suggest
about Austen’s attitudes about family life? Research two cultures from around
the world and compare it in the context of Austen’s work (avoid generalizations,
please).
Women’s Rights
Jane Austen: Social Critic? In a scene earlier in the novel,
Elizabeth implores Mr. Collins to treat her as “a rational creature speaking
the truth from her heart.” Her statement seems to echo Mary Wollstonecraft, an
author whose writings marked the beginning of the women’s rights movement. The
well-read Austen would have been familiar with Wollstonecraft’s landmark work,
Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792. This popular book
challenged the prevailing idea that a woman’s purpose in life was to please
men. Wollstonecraft claimed that, as mental equals, women should have the same
opportunities in education, work, and politics as men. None of Austen’s female
characters “rocks the boat” the way Wollstonecraft did. Elizabeth Bennet,
however, like other Austen heroines, is an intelligent woman of depth and
substance. As you finish reading the novel, think about Elizabeth in relation
to her society. Does she seem to accept society’s limits on her as a woman? How
do you think Austen views the restrictions on her heroine? Do you think her
purpose in writing the novel was merely to entertain, or did her work contain a
deeper message of social criticism? Research
two cultures from around the world and compare it in the context of Austen’s
work (avoid generalizations, please).
Fandom
Jane Austen has had a fan club for over 100 years. In the
late 1800s, the first publication of an Austen biography and collected edition
of her novels led to a boom of interest in Jane Austen. Many of these early
admirers were interested in her characters and in Austen herself. Austen
acquired more scholarly admirers in the twentieth century, when many critics
highlighted her mastery of language, plot, and irony. Today, a Jane Austen
Society exists in both Great Britain and North America. Austen’s modern-day
fans appreciate her novels as literature, but they are also fascinated by the
era that shaped Jane Austen’s life and writings. The Jane Austen Society of
North America was founded in 1979. Its members’ interests range from publishing
scholarly papers on Austen’s works to re-creating dinner parties and balls like
those attended by her characters.
Research the fan bases around the world.
What is it that unifies us? Research
two cultures from around the world and compare it in the context of Austen’s
work (avoid generalizations, please).
The Jane Austen Centre
The Jane Austen Society of North
America
Jane Austen’s World
Janeites: The curious American
cult of Jane Austen
Harvard University Press: Includes all the major works, articles, etc.
From Goodreads: The Best Jane Austen Fan Fiction
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