Pride and Prejudice

Today I read pages 69~97 of Pride and Prejudice. During these chapters a new chracter, Mr. Wickham, comes out. He is an officer, handsome, pleasant, and smart. He is related to Mr. Darcy, the man every despises, because Mr.Darcy's father was Mr.Wickham's godfather. Mr.Wickham, therefore, was suppose to get the profit when his godfather passed away, but Mr.Darcy did not let him and therefore he is now just an officer. How unfortunate! However, on Mr.Darcy's side they think differently and say that Wickham is the bad guy. Elizabeth Bennett chooses to believe Wickham because she already hated Mr.Darcy and had prejudice. She never thought Wickham could be the villain and Darcy the good guy.

Also in these chapters, Elizabeth is given a marriage proposal from the boring Mr.Collins. Elizabeth instantly says no to him against her mother's will but her father is content. A sad news arrives to Jane that Mr.Bingley is leaving town along with everyone else. Even though they liked each other, it confuses Jane because they might never see each other again. Elizabeth is sure that this is an evil plot by one of Mr.Bingley's sisters and reassures Jane.

I think this part of the book shows a part of the title of the book, Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth is the one who has prejudice against people. Her first impressions of people is what she sees them through. Her first impression of Mr.Darcy was that he was an arrogant man, so keeps on thinking that he could never do one good act. On the other hand, her first impression of Mr.Wickham was that he was handsome and kind, so she is always on his side and favors him. This is not good of Elizabeth because first impressions are usually wrong and you shouldn't stick to the prejudice of it. I think Lizzy will learn in the end that she was wrong and will stop being so narrow minded.

InkBlotz

In class on Monday I read the first InkBlotz issue (whole thing). I was actually really impressed with the works my fellow peers had produced. Some of them, MOST of them, I didn't know that they could write so well. I mean, I knew they were good writers but some of the writings in there were really good. They really looked like a writer produced them. It captured my attention and I liked how there were both long and short writings. They were all simple, short, and to the point and that was really good because I didn't lose focus so easily.

I think...the only story I clearly remember is Abby's short story about the black girl who wanted to be white. This was a really good story because it applies to almost everyone. Everybody wants to fit in with what the world requires of us, but we know that God designed each of us in our own unique ways. To "fit in," we have to like everyone else, and this is a lie because not everyone can be the same way when we are all made differently. Therefore, when we "fit in," we are living lives of lies. We are not being true to ourselves, nor to God. However, since God loves us so much, He can see through the masks masks we wear and know our hearts. I think that's what's so amazing about Him and in front of Him, we don't have to change anything - we are all beautiful in His eyes, and that's what really matters.

Pride and Prejudice

Today I read pages 38~69 in Pride and Prejudice. I decided to read this book because I really enjoyed the movie :) Here's an interesting part from the book:

"A woman must have a thorough knowlwdge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must posses a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions , or the word will be but hald-deserved." [said Miss Bingley]
"All this she must possess," added Darcy, "and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading."
"I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any." [said Elizabeth]

I thought this discussion between Miss Bingley, Mr.Darcy, and Miss Elizabeth was very entertaining. Certainly a normal woman can't do all this, or even a superwoman. Who would expect anyone to be this great? I agree with Elizabeth that no one can be this great. This part shows how much people expect from women, especially during that time. Women had to be skilled in so many things and it was probably very hard for anyone to be perfect at anything. I think this shows that you should just be staisfied with who your are because no one can be perfect

I really like Elizabeth's sarcastic humor here. This is the style of Jane Austen's writing. It seems boring, but there is quite some humor in it. Anyhow, this book revolves around one girl, Elizabeth Bennett. She has four other sisters and her mother's only girl in life is to wed her girls as soon as possible. It shows how life was back then and it's really different. Everyone's so polite and there are so many visits to different houses and dances. It seems to be a simpler life than right now, in some ways. So stress from school and homework. How great would that be? haha