morality and money

Unlike Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, this work of Austen's hasn't been on my "to be read" list or really my radar at all. I'm exceptionally glad to have read and added it to my collection of completed Jane Austen novels. At this rate, I'll have read nearly all of her novels -- Persuasion is next on my list :). This novel sees a wide range of action, from the power of the patriarchy to the social status of clergymen, from rakish, handsome young men to ambitious, highly opinionated young women, the production of a play thought rather scandalous by some characters and delightfully fun to others, and a heroine content to stay morally pure, observing from the sidelines as her dearest friend falls head over heels in love with another woman. The story of Fanny Price begins in a "Cinderella" kind of way as she goes to live with her rich aunt, uncle, and cousins, away from her poorer life amongst seven other children in the coastal city of Portsmouth. Her new, illustrious home at Mansfield Park introduces her to a life of luxury that takes years for her to feel even slightly at home in. It is here that she becomes close and devoted friends with her cousin Edmund (who also happens to be her love interest... if you can get over the fact that they're first cousins, you're golden). The appearance of a spirited brother and sister pair, Mr. Henry Crawford and Miss Mary Crawford, poses a whole scope of problems: Mary sets her sights on Edmund despite their obvious incompatibility, and Henry, after pursuing one of Fanny's cousins, decides to make Fanny fall in love with him even as she persistently sees through his supposedly true and committed intentions. There are inconsistencies left and right in this book, pertaining to the character's behavior (chiefly when their strict father is off looking after business), as well as pertaining to the idea of wealth and preserving morality. This is certainly a book where reading between the lines is encouraged. Some of its more subliminal themes concern the slave trade and white mens' consequent wealth, social morality, widowhood, the expectations for femininity -- the list goes on and on. I found the last three chapters to be the most riveting, which does mean you have to make it through the rest of the book first. But all in all, I found myself invested in Fanny's story in spite of the cultural criticism she has received for years now regarding her tendencies to be a push over. I would, however, have preferred for Fanny to remain single; neither of her love interests wholly won my heart as a reader, though it was satisfying to wonder who she would end up with despite the trajectory of the novel leading in a pretty clear direction. I think that's one of the most delightful things about Austen's writing -- she leads you through a pretty predictable narrative for a good portion of the novel before turning social conventions on their head and making the reader wonder if a happily ever after will come about after all. For Fanny, the answer seems to be yes. For other characters, such as Maria Bertram, the answer is a more subtle no, raising even more questions about what the novel is really trying to say regarding a whole range of topics.



Some of my favorite quotes from Mansfield Park:

"I was quiet, but I was not blind."

"Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions."

"Every moment has its pleasures and its hope."

"'Fanny! You are killing me!' 
No man dies of love but on the stage, Mr. Crawford."

"But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them."

"Of course I love her, but there are as many forms of love as there are moments in time."

"If this man had not twelve thousand a year, he would be a very stupid fellow."

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