Days 8 & 9

[elizabeth_hoot]

Ugh, had my neuroscience exam today. I feel much the same way about neuroscience as I do about my stats class: struggling to get through it now, planning to forget everything once it's over. Also, I'm discovering that some meals just shouldn't come out of a box.

Comments

[ali972]

You could say that again re: Marianne/Brandon. Beyond the age difference between them and Marianne being his *reward*, it's also that the basis of his attraction is her similarities to his first love, his father's ward who was seemingly somewhat coerced by his father to marry his brother. Twisted.

The parallel, which I think was unintentional on Austen's part, is Marianne being encouraged, at least tacitly, by her family to accept Brandon. He's a good match, they feel obligated because he gave Edward the living, and he was a decent, respectable man. It's better than what happened to Eliza the first, certainly, but it ain't no bed of roses either.

[elizabeth_hoot]

Ha, yes - I meant to mention the whole Eliza thing and forgot, but that's definitely another layer of squick. I assume we're supposed to think the Eliza element initially attracted him to Marianne and he later fell in love for Marianne-as-Marianne, but the reward thing makes it feel almost like he got rewarded with a second chance with Eliza, Mark II. Maybe it'd be easier to accept if we ever saw ONE SINGLE CONVERSATION between them.

I had honestly not seen the way family pressures operate so strongly in both cases, but that actually does make sense. Will never unsee. :\