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Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - This is the classic story of sisters Elinor and Marianne - one carefully governing all her emotions and the other passionate and dramatic about all she feels. Both experience heartbreak and romantic love, but their attitudes and approach are very different. Elinor is prudent and uses common sense, while Marianne is ruled by her emotions (or, in Austen's day, her sensibilities).
Here's the story in a nutshell - The story centers around two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. After their father passed away, they and their mother and younger sister have to leave their family home and the move into a cottage provided by a relative. Before they left their home, Elinor had formed a friendship with Edward, the brother of her step-brother's wife. It was assumed that Edward and Elinor were heading towards engagement but both were very reserved and even Elinor wasn't sure how Edward felt about her. She had thought it best to be cautious and not wear her heart on her sleeve, especially since they were recently bereaved and their future was uncertain.
Shortly after moving into the cottage, the hopelessly romantic Marianne meets Willoughby, a handsome young man who shares all her feelings and opinions and the two of them are soon together all the time. Marianne is extravagant and quite heedless in her affection for Willoughby, and they behave quite improperly, giving rise to the assumption that they will soon be married. Elinor counsels Marianne to exercise some prudence and have a care for reputation but Marianne won't hear it. Meanwhile, a family friend, Colonel Brandon, seems to have fallen in love with Marianne, but she dismisses him as too old and too serious. Then one day, Willoughby abruptly returns to London and Marianne is inconsolable.
They meet two young ladies who are guests at the estate, and Elinor discovers that one of them, Lucy, has been secretly engaged to none other than Edward for four years. Elinor remains quiet about this and suffers her loss and broken heart privately, but when Marianne finds out that Willoughby has married another woman and has a known reputation for being a seducer, she is devastated.
Edward's mother finds out about his secret engagement and disinherits him, but Colonel Brandon offers him a position as vicar. Lucy breaks the engagement, freeing Edward to pursue Elinor, which he does. They marry and move into the parsonage. Eventually Marianne comes to appreciate Colonel Brandon's character, falls in love with him, and they marry.
Each sister finds true love after heartbreak, and although their situations are in many ways similar, their responses are very different. Elinor keeps her emotions under careful control, which helps her avoid embarrassment and impropriety, but she finds that she must allow some expression of grief and affection in order to find healing and comfort. Marianne puts no check on her emotions, and is reckless in her behavior. She's what we might call a drama queen, romanticizing all her emotions from grief to infatuation, and runs headlong into a romance without paying attention to any warning signs or appeals to slow down. As a result she feels publicly shamed and even makes herself ill and puts herself in danger. She learns a hard lesson about governing her passions and using her head as well as her heart.
Both of these characters experience love, although they express it in very different ways. Marianne's fling with Willoughby was not really love, but an infatuation or obsession that she mistook for love. By the end of the book Marianne has learned to think wisely about a person's character and to guard her heart. She finds that love and contentment is much more than what she feels emotionally, but can be learned by governing how she thinks and acts. Elinor learns that expressing herself and allowing herself to share her interests, fears, and joys more openly can also be of benefit. In the end both sisters build romantic relationships that bring them happiness and suit their temperaments.
I love how Jane Austen shows what real love is without ever being preachy. She was able to emphasize these good qualities in her characters, and the goodness of enduring and godly love by telling a wonderful story with endearing and humorous characters.
I read this novel and studied it along with students in my high school literature co-op class. We learned about the story value of love, and discussed the twists and turns that the love stories of the two couples took through conflicts and changes.
Our discussion and study was guided by the textbook Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis from Writing with Sharon Watson.
The original version of this review originally appeared on Homeschool Coffee Break as part of the Online Book Club for February 2021. It took me a few weeks before I realized I hadn't reviewed it here!
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