We finished reading Pride and Prejudice together last week. I enjoyed it so much that I have decided to post a book review about it. So allow yourself to be swept into the Victorian days...

           ...The lively young Elizabeth Bennet, living in the Victorian era of England, is faced with all of the difficulties of courtship that girls her age had to encounter. Her family is not extraordinarily wealthy but she is expected to marry as advantageously as possible. When a rich young man, Charles Bingley, moves into the estate next to their own, Mrs. Bennet is eager to become acquainted with him in hopes that he will marry one of her daughters. Soon Elizabeth realizes that Mr. Bingley is in love with her older sister, Jane.  But just as everyone begins to expect their engagement, Mr. Bingley's handsome friend, Mr. Darcy, steps into the scene and changes the situation immediately by separating the two. As Elizabeth becomes acquainted with him, she decides that he is a proud, disagreeable man and she grows to dislike him. This dislike is heightened by an interview with one of his former associates, George Wickham, who tells her of all that he suffered at Mr. Darcy's hands. Elizabeth is enraged and forms a firm opinion of Darcy's selfishness and pride. Her resentment begins to melt, however, when she visits his home and sees how he is loved by other people who have known him all of their lives.

             I think that Jane Austen makes two main points in the book. First of all, she talks about pride and how it causes people to look down on others simply because they are not on the same economic level.

            Secondly, she shows how criticism can prejudice us against people. In the story, the two sisters, Jane and Elizabeth are very close friends but differ in many of their ideas and ways of thinking. Jane always wants to believe the best of everyone and is never hasty to condemn but tries to defend and excuse everyone. Elizabeth, on the other hand, never allows herself to be deceived and is quick to point out everyone's faults because she herself can see them only too well. She grows critical and prejudiced against people because she is looking for their faults instead of their good points.  

            I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice very much because the author helped me to understand the dangers of pride and prejudice without preaching to me.  She wove important truths subtly into the story. I think that even young men would like this book because it is not just a romance. 

Frodo