12 Days of Christmas, Day 3, & Sanditon Group Read: Chapters 4-6

As you can see from the title of this post, I’m doing double duty here today! We’ll get to our Sanditon discussion in a moment, but let’s talk Christmas first!

In the famous old song, the third day gift is (sing it with me) “…three French hens…” But I’m not sure what the Austen version of this gift would be – for French hens or for three in number either. After all, she gave us six  lovely novels, not three.  We all WISH that she had left us at least THREE MORE NOVELS to read and savor over and over again (and film adaptations to go with them, of course). Or perhaps even better,  we might wish that Jane Austen had left us THREE P&P NOVELS. That’s it – a Pride and Prejudice TRILOGY! Wouldn’t that be fabulous?

We like to imagine Darcy and Elizabeth going on to their HEA, but what does that look like? Could their honeymoon really last forever? Marriage can be hard work. Ever wonder how they meet the challenges (and pleasures!) of wedded life? And what about all the other characters we love (or love to hate)? What becomes of them after the last page of Pride and Prejudice is turned? Inquiring minds want to know!

So today, for your “third day of Christmas” gift, I’m offering to complete your P&P trilogy for you! Assuming you already own a copy of the first volume – Pride and Prejudice itself – I will furnish one winner with my vision for the rest of the story – volume 2: The Darcys of Pemberley and volume 3: Return to Longbourn (signed paperbacks US, ebooks international, winner may choose alternate books if you already have these).

Just leave a comment headed with the word “TRILOGY” below to enter. Winner selected by random drawing will be announced December 31 on the Austen Variations FB page and in an update on this post. (Read more about my P&P Trilogy here.) Good luck and Merry Christmas!

UPDATE:  THE WINNER of the TRILOGY COMPLETION PACKAGE is SIMONE! Please contact me via email shannon(at)shannonwinslow(dot)com to arrange to receive your prize. Be sure to put “Trilogy prize winner” in the subject line. Congratulations!

Now we return you to the originally scheduled portion of our program: Sanditon Group Read, Chapters 4-6

(If you’re just joining the Group Read today, review the Introduction here and Part One here to get caught up)

Chapter 4

Last week, I suggested you watch for the “old versus new” theme of chapter 4, which opens with the carriage (containing Charlotte and Mr. and Mrs Parker) passing by a very snug-looking place just 2 miles from their ultimate destination. Mr. Parker explains, “Ah, this is my old house – the house of my forefathers…” now discarded and let to others in favor of the new Trafalgar House he has built on the highest spot he could find, overlooking the sea – his idea of moving up and forward in the world. His wife, however, looks back at her former home with fondness and regret.

“It was always a very comfortable house” said Mrs. Parker… “and such a nice garden… Oh! I have not the smallest doubt of our being a great deal better off where we are now… But you know,” (still looking back) “one loves to look at an old friend, at a place where one has been happy.”

Mr. Parker admits no comparison. He only continues to rave to his female companions of the advantages of their new location at the seaside and to watch anxiously out the window for signs that his beloved Sanditon is humming with commerce and visitors.

He longed to be on the sands, the cliffs, at his own house, and everywhere out of his house at once. His spirits rose with the very sight of the sea and he could almost feel his ankle getting stronger already.

Despite the fact that Mrs. Parker outwardly agrees with her husband, I can’t help believing she wishes they had never left their snug old house in the protected valley. What do you think?

Chapter 5

Mr. Parker says, “I like to have my friends acquainted with each other,” and so he proceeds to share with Charlotte the contents of his sister’s letter plus all kinds of extra background information on his siblings. Consequently, we learn that Susan, Diana, and Arthur suffer from wretched bad health, although their other sibling, Sydney, “has it there is a good deal of imagination in my two sisters’ complaints.”

There are surprising contrasts and ironies here. Mr. Parker is seeking a physician for the sake of invalids, such as his own siblings. Meanwhile, his siblings have completely sworn off any more medical consultations, believing the profession has nothing worthwhile to offer them.  Diana hopes for her brother’s success with Sanditon, even promising to send other families to him, and yet will not risk coming herself.

“As for getting to Sanditon myself, it is quite an impossibility… in my present state, the sea air would probably be the death of me… Most sincerely do we wish you a good season at Sanditon, and though we cannot contribute to your Beau Monde in person, we are doing our utmost to send you company worth having.”

Charlotte seems amazed by the whole thing – the maladies of the Parker family and the extreme measures they go to in pursuit of some amelioration. If I was Charlotte, I think I would be most shocked by Mr. Parker disclosing so much personal family business to a relative stranger! What else did you notice in this chapter? Do you think this family is simply unlucky in the area of health or are some/all of them hypochondriacs?

Chapter 6

On a brief walking tour, Charlotte gets her first look at the glories of Sanditon, in particular, the circulating library, where she happens to pick up a copy of Camilla (a nod from Jane Austen to its author, Fanny Burney, and to its 9-year-old heroine). I was interested to discover that apparently this library included more than books, because shops are mentioned.

[Charlotte} took up a book: it happened to be a volume of Camilla. She had not Camilla’s youth and had no intention of having her distress – so, she turned from the drawers of rings and brooches, repressed farther solicitation, and paid for what she bought.

Charlotte’s tour of Sanditon is cut short by an chance encounter with the great lady herself, Lady Denham, as well as Miss Brereton. Mr. Parker falls all over himself to cater to Lady Denham, but Charlotte seems more impressed with Miss Brereton.

Perhaps it might be partly owing to her having just issued from a circulating library – but she could not separate the idea of a complete heroine from Clara Brereton. Her situation with Lady Denham so very much in favour of it! She seemed placed with her on purpose to be ill-used. Such poverty and dependence joined to such beauty and merit, seemed to leave no choice in the business.

Mr. Parker and Lady Denham are united in their anxiety that Sanditon should be full of visitors spending their money. But surprisingly, they differ in their opinions of what effect a resident doctor would have on business. Mr. Parker thinks it would reassure visitors; Lady Denham believes “It would be only encouraging our servants and the poor to fancy themselves ill.” She goes so far as to say that her own husband might still be alive if he had never submitted to the advice of a medical man!

I wonder if these chapters express some of Jane Austen’s quandary over her own illness. Did her doctors know what they were doing, or would they only make things worse? When she began feeling better, did she start to think she might have only been fancying herself ill before?

Please share your thoughts and reactions to chapters 3-6 in the comments section below. To save confusion, head your Sanditon comments with the word “SANDITON”  (and leave a separate comment to enter the Christmas giveaway).

Next Week’s Assignment: Read chapters 7 – 9. In chapters 7 and 8, Charlotte begins sizing up another key player: the handsome Sir Edward Denham. And then, about the last person Charlotte expects turns up in chapter 9. I must admit, I was very surprised by it too!