Discussion Post: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Consider these more guidelines, if you will:
1. In a stunning move, I am not going to ask about my favorite part of the book first. Instead, let's begin with the premise. Do you like that this is a book about an "older" romance? That it's a second chance love story? Or are you more of the you can never go back, first love never lasts kind of person?
2. I'm stealing this next question from spyglass_ and hopefully a not hateful co-worker, but do you think that Anne and Wentworth's relationship will actually be stronger in the future because they went through this adversity and have a better appreciation for each other?
3. What do you think of the other relationships in the book? We get two very different portrayals of marriage from Charles and Mary Musgrove and the Crofts. We also get to see parts of Henrietta and Charles Hayter's courtship, as well as the aborted one between Louisa and Wentworth and the eventual outcome of Louisa and Captain Benwick.
4. Part of the conflict in the book relates to Lady Russell's inability to see beyond someone's manners to who they are. Do you relate to it? Understand it even though you don't want to admit it?
5. Okay, the letter. We have to talk about the letter. I will just quote it here, because it needs to be quoted:
"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in
F. W.
"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."
Dreamy, right? It's okay to admit it. Encouraged, even. I don't even think I really have a question about this, other than to ask what your favorite part is, and the correct answer is all of it, so that's not a question either. Just talk.
1. In a stunning move, I am not going to ask about my favorite part of the book first. Instead, let's begin with the premise. Do you like that this is a book about an "older" romance? That it's a second chance love story? Or are you more of the you can never go back, first love never lasts kind of person?
2. I'm stealing this next question from spyglass_ and hopefully a not hateful co-worker, but do you think that Anne and Wentworth's relationship will actually be stronger in the future because they went through this adversity and have a better appreciation for each other?
3. What do you think of the other relationships in the book? We get two very different portrayals of marriage from Charles and Mary Musgrove and the Crofts. We also get to see parts of Henrietta and Charles Hayter's courtship, as well as the aborted one between Louisa and Wentworth and the eventual outcome of Louisa and Captain Benwick.
4. Part of the conflict in the book relates to Lady Russell's inability to see beyond someone's manners to who they are. Do you relate to it? Understand it even though you don't want to admit it?
5. Okay, the letter. We have to talk about the letter. I will just quote it here, because it needs to be quoted:
"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in
F. W.
"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."
Dreamy, right? It's okay to admit it. Encouraged, even. I don't even think I really have a question about this, other than to ask what your favorite part is, and the correct answer is all of it, so that's not a question either. Just talk.