This is about two Jane Austen books. First, Pride and Prejudice. It's about Elizabeth bennet, the secong youngest of a family of five daughters. Her older sister is being courted by a rich guy who just moved into the neighbourhood - Mr Bingley. And Mr Bingley has a douche friend named Mr Darcy. He calls her "barely" tolerable, turns his nose up while talking to her family because he is rich, and is in general, very proud of his own standing.

Pride and Prejudice is perhaps the most uncomfortable reads I have in a long time. The book is perfect. If the goal of fiction is to convincingly allow you to dissapear into another world. To make the imaginary 'real' for the reader. To write in such a way that their person dissapears and what is left is something both deeply personal and universal, Austen succeeds like nobody's business. Technical skill wise, it is a perfect book. The plot is tight, the strings all pull together perfectly. It's ridiculously funny. It BITES. The social satire of the upper middle class at the time is brutal. Take these -

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?

Or this one about women -

A girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. It is something to think of

And this one about the youths -

Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret.

And this one, when her COUSIN, Mr Collins, after being rejected by her, just goes - oh yeah no, I will keep trying. I know how you ladies like to tease us men, and reject us. It is only proper and ladylike that you do this. Lizzie Bennet - hitting the nail right on the head.

Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.

So good. She understood these characters.None of them are stereotypes. They are fun and larger than life sure, but you understand them all. You can place yourself in Elizabeth's mind. You can feel her pain, her spirit and her concerns. Just mind blowingly good writing. It never feels like the author is coming in to insert her view in a way that bends the internal logic of the story.

I think it is too good almost. The social satire is so ridiculously on point. You feel you are reading about any modern office even. It's the same level of gossip, misunderstanding, and political maneuvering. The girls, Lizzie's sisters, can't get their fathers estate after he dies. So they will then become poor. This is a constand threat over their heads. So when Lizzie rejects these men. Her cousin, or even Darcy the first time, she is being ridiculously brave. I don't think I'd have her bravery. But that is the point. That is the fairy tale. But then the social commentary, the horrors of this , the marriage market, being the only option. Not just for women, but for even the poorer men to get ahead in life, is just there. And you listen in horror as they are left dejected each time. It's not even like the women can't inherent the property. Mr Darcy's aunt does inherit hers.

But that option is just never considered. Marrying "well" (aka rich) is their only option. And that, that's not even a scheme. That is the only thing they MUST do. And their role is still passive in the story since they are women. They can't propose. They must expect a proposal. They can't reach out and write love letters. It's indecent. They must just wait around. Till letters come, till the men get their shit together, till something happens, and god willing, it works out. It's such a helpless position, you feel it. I felt crazy reading it. These women have no other skills also. God only knows how long they were taught. maybe they could be teachers.But even that would be "degrading" to them. Even the men, god bless, are just sitting around. Darcy and Bingley also don't work, atleast they aren't like lawyers or priests. They just have thier land, and they gotta handle it. That's it. No one has a real job. No one. It is ridiculous what these people were upto. They just went from party to party, scheming, meddling and judging.

And this social constriction, this feeling of being trapped by the society around you, it is everpresent. Austen NEVER allows you to escape it. It's what we typically turn to fiction for - to imagine a world free of the shackled one we are currently in. But she never allows for anything that simple. Virginia Woolf in her book - "A Room of One's Own" talks about how Austen wrote in the middle of her drawing room, surrounded by her family members. The constant threat of interruption. The constant feeling of 'someone is here to watch and judge you by the rules - and you must meet them'. It never goes. It makes for a very compelling storytelling actually. Even if you can't escape it, perhaps you can bend it.

And here she bends it, but not too much. The social customs are given their due, but what wins is not blind obedience, but careful consideration. Lizzie Bennet ends up with the guy, but she does so by risking a lot. She risks being single, by rejecting Mr Collins. She will not marry without love, she says. And so she comes to understand herself, and then when she finally has what she wants, you do sense her maturity.

But it's not enough. It's just not enough. It doesn't bend it enough. Enter Persuassion. Persuation is the third P. Anne Eliot, a 27 year old (god, what a spinster) comes in. She is quiet and reflective. Years ago, she gave up her first love, a Wentworth, because her family did not approve of this poor man. Who knows if this guy can make his money working for a living. What a concept, huh?

And then he comes back into her life. Turns out, being in the british navy in the early 19th century is quite profitable. So while he has made money, her own father has mostly squandered it away. So Anne must make her way around in this new world, where she is the less desirable partner. She is getting older, she has little to no 'prospects'. But she treads carefully. She doesn't run to him, she doesn't expect him to 'take' her back. She knows he must be angry. She understands him. And she moves slowly. She sits in the backgrounds of scenes and watches. She takes small steps. And she is carefully able to, despite her horrible family, and a few romantic rivals, stand up for herself. She doesn't 'win' the guy so much as she allows herself to take space in the world.

And it is so beautiful. It is less tightly written that P&P in my opinion. But it is a stunning character study. Anne is not quiet because she is secretly cooler than everyone else. She is just a quiet soul. Your heart aches for her. When she takes small steps to stand up to her family, you feel the risk she is taking. You become proud of her.

But again, Austen, in her usual wonderful self, never lets us off the hook. To the end of the book, when Anne and Wentworth Reunite, she says that all those years ago, when she allowed her family members to persuade her into her choice, she wouldn't have done it otherwise. She knows saying this could hurt him, but what she means is, without the lack of experience in the world, she did the 'right' thing by trusting her family. It is such classic Austen. She has officially bent the rules. Her love interest in this actually has a job. He is rich, but he is not a nobleman. There is CLASS difference here. It is inverted since Wentworth now has money, he is kind of accepted into the upper echelon. But you know, he isn't making money from Daddy's farmland. He worked for it. And she never lets that slide. It is present - it makes a difference. You can never really be free.

But maybe she gets something better than easy, unfettered freedom. Because in the end, she takes perhaps the crazier risk. She will not stay on some mansion. She will be on the sea, a tanned sailor, no less brave than her counterpart. She gets to go an adventure in the big wide ocean. And so the book Austen completed very close to her death at 41 ends. With forgiveness and an adventure. The invisible social rule stick is officially slanted. Perhaps, it always should be.

Post Notes

1. A few weeks ago, on the metro, I saw a girl reading Persuasion. I saw this, and wanted to say something. I had started pride and prejudice just the night before. But she seemed busy and in her own world. Perhaps I would just be an annoying stranger, interrupting her day. But somehow, after standing around for I would guess an uncomfortable amount of time, I decided to wager it. When would I see her again? So I asked her how the novel was, and immediately, god bless, her face broke into a smile. We started discussing the book, where I was in it, whether I had seen the movie. "He is very rude to her in the beginning - He calls her ugly, and she doesn't like him either" - we both nodded in agreement. And then I had to leave, before I could say a proper goodbye. But we talked with all the enthusiasm of childhood friends, based on a book. So it goes. I ordered persuasssion soon after.