Austen August: A Pride and Prejudice Read-A-Long discussion

This chapter opens with Jane gushing over how perfect Bingley is.

Bingley and Jane are so cute they make my teeth ache.

Through this chapter, we get a nice scene between Jane and Elizabeth, the two elder Bennet sisters, and you get a sense of how close they are to each other. Which is such a stark comparison later in the book to the relationship between Elizabeth and Lydia, for example. I always wonder why we don't see much more of Mary or Kitty as personalities in the story.

We find out about Bingley's financial affairs (because hey, why not, after all we need to be convinced he is in want of a wife due to wealth, as the opening sentence suggests!) and also his family background.

And we are told about the friendship between Bingley and Darcy, they despite their very different personalities, they are basically BFFs.

Their opinions on the ball end up that Bingley thinks that there is “no angel” prettier than Miss Bennet, whereas Darcy thinks Miss Bennet is “pretty, but she smiles too much” (I always wonder, does he mean Jane or Elizabeth??)


Favourite Quotes:

“Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually giving offence.”

I admire the friendship the older Bennet Sisters share. Elizabeth admires her sister and seems to respect her sister's choice to see the goodness in others. Lizzy seems reserved, observant and refrains from openly sharing her different views of situations and of people (I'm guessing out of love for her sister). I like that she finds humor in the imperfections, the ridiculous and outrageous (I'm referring more to the prior chapter).

The contrast of personalities between Bingley and Darcy are severe compared to the Bennet sisters. I can't help but begin to dislike Mr. Darcy even more. Darcy says whatever he wants, whenever and to whomever. He's so rude! Haha!

Question about the use of the word "trade". Did the Bingley family build their wealth from businesses as well as being landowners. Perhaps it doesn't really matter, just wondering.

Interestingly i'm reading Longbourn at the moment, a retelling of p&p from the servants point of view. Anyway it is told that Bigley's family trade is in sugar, working as part of the "triangular trade" from north england (probably Liverpool)...which hints that his familys fortune was/is made from the slave trade.

I also like the relationship between the two older Bennet sisters. Lizzy obviously enjoys teasing Jane and Jane's gentle nature makes it easy to alarm her without the threat of resentment.

I always laugh at that Darcy line, which I believe he is saying in reference to Jane, because unlike Lizzy who is playful in her words, I think he is quite serious. Proud Mr. Darcy must find a fault somewhere.

It makes me laugh to actually re-read the start of the book where Darcy really is so rude. It really helps to show his character growth throughout the book!

Lizzie even says herself she can find no fault at all with her sister, despite her being a harsh judge of character, and yet Darcy manages to find a fault in a usually positive thing! I mean come on, "she smiles too much" -pfft.

I managed to find an annotated version of Pride and Prejudice (ed. by Patricia Meyer Spacks) in the library and have been exploring it today. Re: trade- Spacks highlights that although large fortunes were made in trade, inherited wealth implied a higher social standing than earned wealth hence Jane and Elizabeth being more interested in the respectable family than the background of the wealth.

I love the dialogue between Lizzie and Jane. We learn so much about them simply through their conversation! I always think it is clever when writers can pull this off properly and Austen is a master of it. I love grumpy Darcy too!

Genevieve- yep the family status and history meant a lot more back then compared to independent profit from a good occupation. I mean a good occupation bringing in wealth was nothing to be sniffed at but a "Family name" was worth Gold back then, it could either be a curse or a blessing, depending on what your family history was.

Rebekah- I love it too, Austen manages to work it in a way that is believable and not forced at all! Grumpy!Darcy needs a t-shirt, like Grumpy cat...

Darcy really is despicable and rude in the beginning. It's such fun to read! I agree with everyone else, this chapter is great. because it not only shows the contrast between Darcy and Bingley, but also the relationship between the Bennet girls.

Lizzie's "I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person." always makes me laugh.

hahahah what a lovely thing for her to say!!