It’s time to look at the last section of Jane Austen’s final, incomplete novel: Sanditon.
(If you’re just joining the Group Read today, you may want to review the Introduction here and Part One here, Part Two here, and Part Three here to get caught up.)
Chapter 10
I had just been wondering what was really going on with the supposedly invalid Parker siblings when Charlotte gives her analysis at the opening of this chapter.
It was impossible for Charlotte not to suspect a good deal of fancy in such an extraordinary state of health. Disorders and recoveries so very much out of the common way, seemed more like the amusement of eager minds in want of employment than of actual afflictions and relief… It should seem that they must be very busy for the good of others, or else extremely ill themselves. Some natural delicacy of constitution… had given them an early tendency at various times to various disorders – the rest of their sufferings was from fancy, the love of distinction and the love of the wonderful.
Their common tendencies express themselves in different ways, however. Again, according to Charlotte’s observation, Diana is the chief of the family, the principal mover and actor, who rushes about with officious activity on behalf of others. Miss Parker (Susan) goes the route of extreme and austere methods to treat her health (having teeth drawn, roasting herself by a too-hot fire, and continually taking various salts and drops). Whereas Arthur prefers to pamper himself with buttered toast and rich chocolate!
Certainly Mr. Arthur Parker’s enjoyments in invalidism were very different from his sisters’ – by no means so spiritualized. A good deal of earthly dross hung about him. Charlotte could not but suspect him of adopting that line of life, principally for the indulgence of an indolent temper – and to be determined on having no disorder but such as called for warm rooms and good nourishment.
Haha! If that was all illness required, most of us wouldn’t mind being sick from time to time either.
Chapter 11
Here Diana, who apparently prided herself on rising above her afflictions to activity, is forced to admit she has made a mistake. She’s rushed ahead without getting her facts straight.
A long journey from Hampshire undertaken for nothing – a brother disappointed, an expensive house on her hands for a week, must have been some of her immediate reflections – and much worse than all the rest, must have been the sort of sensation of being less clear-sighted and infallible than she had believed herself.
The new arrivals, talked of and planned for by Diana, were all of one party, not two, which consisted of a genteel woman named Mrs. Griffiths with three young ladies in her charge: Miss Lambe (a rich, sickly, half mulatto) and the Beaufort sisters (average, accomplished, and ignorant).
Miss Lambe was beyond comparison the most important and precious, as she paid in proportion to her fortune… The other girls, two Miss Beauforts, were just such young ladies as may be met with, in at least one family out of three, throughout the kingdom.
These young ladies have now taken up residence in Sanditon, and through their introduction to Miss Diana Parker they soon secure an acquaintance with the Trafalgar House family and with the Denhams, assuring them that they will move in the right circle of society for the duration of their stay and attract their fair share of notice.
Chapter 12
After being in Sanditon for ten days, Charlotte is finally going to get her first look inside Lady Denham’s house, making a morning call there with Mrs. Parker. Before they go, however, Mrs. Parker must endure pressure from her husband and Diana to use the occasion to speak to Lady Denham on behalf of their pet projects. Once they (Charlotte, Mrs. Parker, and her daughter) finally set out, a carriage comes into view through the mist.
It appeared at different moments to be everything from the gig to the phaeton – from one horse to four: and just as they were concluding in favour of a tandem, little Mary’s young eyes distinguished the coachman and she called out, “T’is Uncle Sidney, Mama, it is indeed.” And so it proved.
With Sidney Parker now in town also, the cast is at last fully assembled. The stage is set and we seem poised for the story to begin in earnest.
Then we turn the page, and sadly there is no more…
What are your thoughts about these last three chapters, as well as the entire fragment? If there was more, would you read on? Do you think this would have turned into another Jane Austen gem, on par with her other six, if only she had had the time and energy to finish it? Where do you think the story was headed? What are your impressions of any completions you may have read? Will you be watching the mini-series when it debuts in the US January 12th?
Please leave your comments below. And then check back next Friday for a follow-up post, when we have the first episode of the mini-series under our belts. I want to like it. I really, really hope it’s good, since a little Jane Austen is better than no Jane Austen. But we shall see.
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I hope you enjoy it. I have to say I was left _ _ _dissatisfied!
Thanks, Teresa. As I say, I really WANT to like it. My expectations aren’t super high, so that may help!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It was a shame Sanditon was unfinished and who knows how Jane would have expanded the story. I think Andrew Davies and co-writers have done a good job in exploring the Austen themes of money, marriage, class and love and building on the characters she introduced and their foibles . I thought it was very enjoyable if you treat as Austen + Davies. It just needs a second series. But I do recommend that people watch!
Thanks for you comments, Ally! That’s what I’ve heard from others too – that the show is enjoyable if you can get over the idea that it’s supposed to be all Austen. And if it’s a great success here in the States, maybe they will proceed with a second season after all. It would be a shame to leave those who loved it hanging. That’s what happened with a series called “Berkeley Square.” I was really into it and then it just ended. More was planned but then cancelled apparently. What a disappointment!
I just realized the version I’m reading has the chapters a little different from the original–the author has combined Austen’s chapters 7 and 8 into one chapter, so I was a little ahead of you guys in my comments, sorry.
Anyway, I enjoy the way Diana manages to deal with her own mistake by parceling out the blame to all of her friends, and is still ready to take Mrs. Griffiths by the hand and manage her life. Also her trying to press Mrs. Parker into asking Lady Denham for money for all kinds of causes shows how clueless Diana is about Mrs. Parker’s character as well as Lady Denham’s! Diana claims to be interested in others but really she is totally self-centered.
Rich Miss Lambe, “half mulatto,” “chilly and tender,” sounds different from other Austen characters. I wonder if Austen knew anyone who was “half mulatto,” and how she intended to develop this character. Being in this girls’ school, she presumably was accepted in society and makes a nice potential wife for one of the single men in the story–Arthur, or Sidney, or perhaps Sidney’s friends who will arrive soon?
But Sidney seems to be definitely set up for Charlotte. We’ve already heard that he is well-off, he is “very good-looking,” lively, polite, and seems obviously destined to be the hero (in contrast to Edward Denham).
And now we have some potential intrigue, with Clara meeting with Sir Edward, though we’ve already been told that she saw through him, though she bore with him, so presumably she was caught where she was and was working out how to get away.
A great setup, and how I wish Jane Austen had been able to complete it! But, as I said before, I really enjoy the completion I have by “another lady.” So I’m glad she at least left us this fragment!
Haha! I wondered if you had gotten ahead, Brenda, but then I wasn’t sure because I was reading ahead myself to begin preparation for the next post!
I think you’re right about Diana being self-absorbed. If someone really wants to help, it’s nice if they ask “What can I do for you?” instead of saying (or acting like) “I know what you need.”
Yes, great setup and a shame JA didn’t get the chance to finish it. I will have to read the “another lady” completion someday, especially if the upcoming miniseries doesn’t do it for me. We shall soon see!
Jane Austen’s most ridiculous characters always talk in absolutes and then don’t do what they say. Diana Parker writes her brother that she has been warned that sea air will be the death of her yet shows up in Sanditon. She tells her brother that she never eats for a week after arriving in any new place and her sister never eats! Clearly, not true. The brother, I detest and I presume JA did too. He is lazy and pathetic and his sisters and brothers enable him. Actually, other than Charlotte, there are no truly likeable characters. We haven’t met Sidney yet ( I suspect he might have been like Mr. Tilney) or the unfortunate Miss Lambe. I will watch the show with an open mind, apparently there is some male nudity which upset some people, but I don’t think the times were as prudish as people presume. I’d like to read a few books where an author has completed the story.
That’s interesting, Suzanne. I didn’t get as negative an impression of most of the characters as you seem to have – flawed a riddled with foibles but not necessarily unlikable, for the most part I thought. It will be interesting to see how they are portrayed in the series. Thanks for your participation!