Synthesis of Course Material #4

Pride and Prejudice

•  During this time, our class was introduced to a technique of writing called plain style. This taught us to keep our writing as simple, or plain, as possible and to focus the strength of our argument through an extremely simple format. We were also told to "cut the clutter" and demolish all the words or run-on sentences that were unnecessary while keeping those that were absolutely necessary. That last sentence was a horrible example of that but hey...I never said I was good at plain style. Anyway, overall I'm still working on not letting my sentences drag on for too long but this technique definitely helped me strive to be a better writer.
• Moving on to the next novel...Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Although this was an extremely long and at times boring read, I finally understood what all the praise was about after I finished reading the book. I actually legitimately like this book. And I never thought I would. 
• The class discussion we had primarily focused itself around the role women played within the society of that time and how it affected their views of love and marriage. We concluded that women during the time that the novel was written based their "love" for a man through their success. The more money the man has, the more the woman would respect and long for his hand in marriage. 
• We also compared this stereotypical woman to Elizabeth, who gave us a completely different perspective on the subject. Elizabeth placed an emphasis on her own happiness. She believed that she couldn't be truly happy with anybody she didn't love and was very open with voicing her opinions. This could be seen through her rejecting Mr. Collins' proposal to her and her denouncing of Mr. Darcy. 
• This novel taught us about the 18th century's values in love and marriage, adding yet another perspective to our collection created through the other pieces.