Title: Mansfield Park
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 487
Finished: December 31, 2019
First Sentence: About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Masfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet's lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income.
Summary: At ten-years-old, Fanny Price is invited to live with her Aunt and Uncle, the Lord and Lady Bertram, as a way to relieve her poor mother of at least one mouth to feed. There, treated as better than a servant but not quite so well as one of her cousins, Fanny grows to become a very moral and upstanding, though shy and quiet, young woman, quite unlike her two female cousins Maria and Julia.
We spend most of our time following the events of a single year. A new family comes to the parsonage, and the siblings catch the eyes of many of the members of Mansfield. Edmund is taken with Mary Crawford, and both Julia and Maria find Henry Crawford to be the paragon of the male species. Of course, Maria is engaged to the foolish Mr. Rushworth. Tom meanwhile, causes all sorts of problems.
And through it all, Fanny stays true to her morals and convictions, seeing things as they are even while bearing the remonstrations of her aunt and uncle.
We spend most of our time following the events of a single year. A new family comes to the parsonage, and the siblings catch the eyes of many of the members of Mansfield. Edmund is taken with Mary Crawford, and both Julia and Maria find Henry Crawford to be the paragon of the male species. Of course, Maria is engaged to the foolish Mr. Rushworth. Tom meanwhile, causes all sorts of problems.
And through it all, Fanny stays true to her morals and convictions, seeing things as they are even while bearing the remonstrations of her aunt and uncle.
Thoughts: I typically rank this number 4 in my ranking of the completed Austen novels. I'm curious to see how it stands as I finish my Austen reread. In short, I really loved this one, more than I remember.
I really like Fanny Price. She's so steadfast. She's strong in her own way. I like that she knows her morals and sticks to them, even at the attacks of pretty much everyone in her family. She doesn't let admiration or anything else cloud her judgement. I found myself frustrated at times when she felt she couldn't say something because it'd ruin someone else's reputation, even though her own was being ruined at the time. But she really was strong in her convictions.
Our heroine, Edmund, is a little more difficult. Early on, he's easy to like. He takes Fanny under his wing, welcoming her to a family that seems disinclined to really get to know her. He befriends her, teaches her, and they have wonderful talks together. It's easy to see how she falls in love with him. But when he falls for Mary Crawford and finds every possible reason to excuse the lady's bad behavior, it becomes grating to listen to. Of course, it's completely realistic. I, myself, have defended a horrendous boyfriend. I find, however, that he doesn't seem to ever really be in love with Fanny until the very end.
The supporting cast is your standard Austen affair. Mrs. Norris and Lady Bertram in particular are the two personalities that seem to be written most for social commentary and humor. While it's hard to view Mrs. Norris as anything other than odious, there's some comfort in knowing that she's always going to act the same way. We all know those people or have someone in our family where they say something, and you know it's solely to make them look good even though they have no intention of following through. And if they are forced to follow through, they do so in such bad humor. Lady Bertram, the woman of clear learned helplessness. Mr. Rushworth, as well, lends to a ridiculousness that is up there with Mrs. Bennet and many Austen supporting casts.
The cousins and the Crawfords are the anthesis to Fanny. Where Fanny is steadfast in her morals and her sense of self, Maria, Julia, Tom, and then Mary and Henry Crawford, are all people of questionable character. In general, the Crawfords seem incredibly disingenous. Looking for a good time, and not caring about hurting people's feelings. I had a very hard time believeing Henry could ever be in love with Fanny. It seemed mainly a fancy brought on out of boredom and taken to an extreme before realizing that maybe it wasn't worth it. While I think Mary truly did love Edmund, her playfulness had a bite to it that wasn't so kind. Her prejudice without any sense of self-awareness or reflection was difficult to bear.
As for Maria and Julia... well, they are what they are. I suppose Maria really did feel trapped. She'd rather be free of her father's house and in a loveless marriage than stuck there til the possibility of something better came. But I was so angry at her for not taking him up on his offer to let her OUT of the engagement. It's one of those things where I have to remember just how little freedom women had back then.
Overall, I'm glad this is the book that finished out my year. Enjoyable, funny at times, and just a good read. This book counts for my Austen challenge.
In the New Year, I plan on watching some adaptations of both Emma and Mansfield Park. No reviews for them. Just something fun for me to watch. I'm also planning on finishing up the rest of Austen's novels and all her unfinished works. I've already posted my 2020 goals here, and by the end of today, a recap of 2019 will go up.
I really like Fanny Price. She's so steadfast. She's strong in her own way. I like that she knows her morals and sticks to them, even at the attacks of pretty much everyone in her family. She doesn't let admiration or anything else cloud her judgement. I found myself frustrated at times when she felt she couldn't say something because it'd ruin someone else's reputation, even though her own was being ruined at the time. But she really was strong in her convictions.
Our heroine, Edmund, is a little more difficult. Early on, he's easy to like. He takes Fanny under his wing, welcoming her to a family that seems disinclined to really get to know her. He befriends her, teaches her, and they have wonderful talks together. It's easy to see how she falls in love with him. But when he falls for Mary Crawford and finds every possible reason to excuse the lady's bad behavior, it becomes grating to listen to. Of course, it's completely realistic. I, myself, have defended a horrendous boyfriend. I find, however, that he doesn't seem to ever really be in love with Fanny until the very end.
The supporting cast is your standard Austen affair. Mrs. Norris and Lady Bertram in particular are the two personalities that seem to be written most for social commentary and humor. While it's hard to view Mrs. Norris as anything other than odious, there's some comfort in knowing that she's always going to act the same way. We all know those people or have someone in our family where they say something, and you know it's solely to make them look good even though they have no intention of following through. And if they are forced to follow through, they do so in such bad humor. Lady Bertram, the woman of clear learned helplessness. Mr. Rushworth, as well, lends to a ridiculousness that is up there with Mrs. Bennet and many Austen supporting casts.
The cousins and the Crawfords are the anthesis to Fanny. Where Fanny is steadfast in her morals and her sense of self, Maria, Julia, Tom, and then Mary and Henry Crawford, are all people of questionable character. In general, the Crawfords seem incredibly disingenous. Looking for a good time, and not caring about hurting people's feelings. I had a very hard time believeing Henry could ever be in love with Fanny. It seemed mainly a fancy brought on out of boredom and taken to an extreme before realizing that maybe it wasn't worth it. While I think Mary truly did love Edmund, her playfulness had a bite to it that wasn't so kind. Her prejudice without any sense of self-awareness or reflection was difficult to bear.
As for Maria and Julia... well, they are what they are. I suppose Maria really did feel trapped. She'd rather be free of her father's house and in a loveless marriage than stuck there til the possibility of something better came. But I was so angry at her for not taking him up on his offer to let her OUT of the engagement. It's one of those things where I have to remember just how little freedom women had back then.
Overall, I'm glad this is the book that finished out my year. Enjoyable, funny at times, and just a good read. This book counts for my Austen challenge.
In the New Year, I plan on watching some adaptations of both Emma and Mansfield Park. No reviews for them. Just something fun for me to watch. I'm also planning on finishing up the rest of Austen's novels and all her unfinished works. I've already posted my 2020 goals here, and by the end of today, a recap of 2019 will go up.
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