Morals of the Story

accordingtojane[1]I can’t remember now who it was that first asked the question, just that I remember being surprised by it. I was at an author event — a book club, where According to Jane was the novel being discussed — when someone there asked me why I liked Pride and Prejudice so much.

At first I giggled because I thought she was joking. Because, you know, isn’t it obvious to everyone what makes that book so great? And oh, by the way, it’s “loved” not “liked”…and didn’t all the book club members there feel the same way?!

Interestingly enough, no, not everybody did. And that was okay. But the woman who was chatting with me about Jane’s beloved novel wasn’t trying to be cute or critical, she was purely curious, and I couldn’t fault her for that. So, I talked a little bit about the things that always impress me about Austen’s writing: the wittiness, her masterful use of irony, her astute observations of people/society, the timelessness and universality of her work, etc., etc. And then there was the romantic tension and the sheer brilliance of her characters and the power of true love to effect personal transformation. But she was looking at me like I was saying “And blah, blah, Mr. Darcy’s SO awesome, blah.” I could tell my words weren’t really sinking in…P&P peacock

So, I tried this: I told her, “Because I’m indebted to Jane Austen for giving me a role model like Elizabeth Bennet when I was 14 and needed someone like her in my life.” The woman looked at me with a little less dubiousness. And I explained that I’d learned lessons from Lizzy — both when she was right AND when she was wrong. That she tended to see people more clearly than her kindhearted elder sister, but that she wasn’t immune to making mistakes and had to learn to own up to them. That she could be really judgmental but, sometimes (often, in my opinion), she was right on target with her assessments of others, as with Caroline Bingley and Mr. Collins and, ohhh, Lady Catherine.

And I especially loved what I learned from Lizzy about men — what Darcy actually said about her when he proposed for the second time. He stated, “You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.” That it wasn’t enough for a man to merely SAY how he felt, he had to SHOW it. He had to demonstrate that his change of behavior was genuine. “…I hoped to obtain your forgiveness, to lessen your ill opinion, by letting you see that your reproofs had been attended to,” Darcy said. And, so, we couldn’t merely trust what any person (man or woman) professed to be true, but we could indeed trust what their actions proved to be true. For me, that was one of the best life lessons from any book I’d ever read.

What about you? Was there a moral or a lesson you picked up from Pride and Prejudice or from any of Jane’s novels? I’d love to hear your thoughts!!

Marilyn Brant is spending her summer eating ice cream (full disclosure: she actually does that all year long) and working on her next book (she does that through every season, too). One of her romantic comedies, Double Dipping, was just named a contemporary novel finalist in the 2012 International Digital Awards. She, her family and their guests Ben & Jerry ( :D ) celebrated the event together!

007 Marilyn Brant--clipped

Marilyn Brant

Marilyn Brant is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author of Contemporary Women’s Fiction and Romantic Comedy. She’s published eight novels to date, including ACCORDING TO JANE, which was a #1 Kindle Bestseller, won RWA’s Golden Heart Award and was named one of Buzzle.com’s “100 Best Romance Novels of All Time.” She also wrote PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND THE PERFECT MATCH, which was a Top 100 Bestseller on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And her latest novel, a coming-of-age romantic mystery called THE ROAD TO YOU, is just out!

18 comments on “Morals of the Story by Marilyn Brant”

    1. Lúthien84
      Marilyn, love reading your analysis and opinion.One of the lessons I can think off right now is good things will be rewarded to those who wait so we must learn to be patient. Take Jane Bennet and Fanny Price for example. Both do not lose hope even when things do not go their way. In the end, they have their own happy ending. :razz:

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Lúthien,Thank you so much!!And I think you’re absolutely right about JA showing the virtues of patience in her novels. Jane Bennet and Fanny Price are excellent examples. You made me think about tremendous examples of patience in regards to Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, too :).

            1. Lúthien84
              I knew I have left out someone especially when they are my favourite couple. Then there is Elinor and Colonel Brandon, though not to each other.

                1. Marilyn Brant
                  I thought about Elinor, too (!!), but I hadn’t considered Col. Brandon. You are so right — his patience in loving Marianne was amazing ;).

    1. Karana
      For me it is first impressions are not always accurate, you should take time to get to know a peron better, and not to believe everything you hear.

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Karana,So true!!You know, as much as I love the title “Pride and Prejudice,” I’ve often wished JA would have kept her original title of the book. “First Impressions” was such a terrific one and very much in keeping with the theme you mentioned :).

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Thanks, Liz!

    1. Susan Adriani
      I really enjoyed this, Marilyn. Jane Austen made a huge impression on me with Pride and Prejudice. There are so many lessons to be learned, but the one that initially struck a chord with me is this: first impressions are important, but sometimes second impressions, and third impressions, and so on and so on are just as telling. Insincerity and deceipt, no matter how well concealed, will eventually come out and make themselves known.On an aside, I’ve been woefully negligent with my ice cream eating this summer. I’ll have to remedy that immediately! Congratulations! (Raising my spoon to celebrate.) :)

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Susan,Not to worry, my dear!! I have been eating enough ice cream for the both of us ;). My hope is that there’s someone out there who’s exercising enough for me (as well as herself), since I haven’t been doing nearly enough of that…LOL.I loved what you wrote: “Insincerity and deceipt, no matter how well concealed, will eventually come out and make themselves known.” SO very true!! Thank you for sharing this. You’re right, it’s yet another piece of fabulous wisdom from P&P!

    1. suzan
      I think Susan was right on spot with her comment. Actually I agreed with each comment. I just can’t recall what struck me 1st. Good things there’s time for 2nd, 3rd etc. impressions. I think recognizing that we each have different needs is something that sticks with me. I can’t help thinking of Charlotte (Collins) for example. She worked with what she had. I don’t know if many of us would be able to know ourselves so well to know what we could tolerate and how to make the challenges work out. We all have them but there’s very few people that I’ve run across that would purposely choose Mr. Collins as a spouse. I know I’m not saying this right. I also thought about how when we think we know ourselves perhaps we need to do a little closer examination (Elizabeth). I guess there’s just too many lessons we can pick up.

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Suzan,I know what you mean!There are so many wonderful, wise messages in P&P that it’s hard to select just one or two.And I agree with your insightful comment about Charlotte as well. She really *did* know herself. She’d accepted the limitations of her resources and acted accordingly in choosing Mr. Collins &88212; preferring to have to manage just him…rather than having to deal with being a spinster in a household that would probably consider her a burden/dependent as the years went on. Elizabeth, on the other hand, had to learn a few lessons about her own pride. It was such an education to watch her learn these things about herself. :)Every rereading (or re-watching) makes me love that book even more!

    1. Shannon Winslow
      How about this for a moral: the greatest proof of love is self sacrifice.After Lydia weds Wickham, Elizabeth realizes that no matter how Darcy felt about her before, he would never marry her now, since it would mean becoming brother-in-law to his long-time nemesis. In the end, that’s the most powerful proof of his love for Elizabeth, that he marries her despite the great cost to himself. His love for her is stronger than his pride, and stronger than his revulsion for Wickham.

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Shannon,Thank you! I love what you wrote ;).Yeah…I think the power of Darcy’s love for Elizabeth is such a cornerstone for why P&P is so enduring. Don’t we all dream of having someone love us like that? Someone who’ll cast aside all societal expectations — and not because he’s a rebellious type that delights in doing that, but because his love is stronger than any other force in his life… Swoon.

    1. Patricia Finnegan
      MArilyn I love your works. According to Jane is one of my favorite JA related books. I have read it so many times.

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Patricia,You made my day!!!Thank you, thank you…I’m *thrilled* you liked According to Jane so much :).

    1. Regina Jeffers
      It is as if Darcy cannot breathe unless he inhales Elizabeth’s essence. Otherwise, he will suffocate in the life he has.

        1. Marilyn Brant
          Regina,What a beautiful way of expressing it…sigh.You’re so right about Darcy.;)

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    • Deborah on February 18, 2014 at 5:46 am
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    I learned a lesson from Jane. She was always too trusting. You can’t always take people at face value sometimes you need to look a little deeper and see if there are ulterior motives, unfortunately.

    1. Deborah,
      Very, very true.
      In real life, I’ve encountered some people who work to polish a slick exterior — one that can seem genuine at first glance but, as you said, is just a disguise for ulterior motives. Often a difficult situation will give them away and the mask is dropped for a moment, but it can be hard to let ourselves really see the truth. I know I’ve wished hard more than once that their act had been the real thing… But, as Maya Angelou so wisely said: “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”

    • Sheila L. M. on February 18, 2014 at 12:38 pm
    • Reply

    There is so much in P&P that I could relate to from my own life. Having grown up along the Upper Main Line outside of Philly in PA I witnessed first hand how much society judged people by where they lived, their home, their profession, their clothes, etc. that I was embarrassed by my situation. I also had a father (not a mother) who caused me to attempt to keep any boyfriend away from my home so that he would not have to endure a painful experience ala Mrs. Bennet. I have grown and those values no longer have any place in my life but I did relate. The fact that Darcy changed and loved Elizabeth for herself is the main romantic value in that book, which makes me love it…and then her changes in how she learns her own misconceptions and sees his changes AND sees how he is valued at Pemberley, etc.

    The Upper Main Line, in my youth at least, had a Blue Book in which were listed “members of the ton” and their background. Many women belonged to DAR. On Chester Co. Day once a year the rich opened their homes for others to view as a fund raiser for a hospital.

    1. Sheila,
      I can relate to that situation, too, having both grown up and taught in areas where there were lots of societal judgments in one form or another. I very much remember reading P&P as a high school freshman and *recognizing* people I knew (or were related to) among the characters. I’ve known a couple of real-life Wickhams, a Mr. Collins or two, and am related by marriage to a man who could pass for Lady Catherine, if costumed correctly, LOL. Certainly there are no shortage of opinions when he speaks… 😉 To me, this further signals Austen’s genius — that she was able to create characters so universal and timeless. The older I get, the more I admire her work.

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