Pride & Prejudice

Finally! I'm done with this book! I read from pages 246 to 299, the end of the book. I realized that it took longer than I thought it would to finish this book. Maybe next time I can read more often than only once a week.

This book ended at a very happy note. Elizabeth marries Mr. Darcy and her sister, Jane, marries Mr. Bingley. Both couples are more than happy, in love, and also very prosperous. All their friends and family are also happy for them and call them lucky. They live happily ever after.

That was a very short, summed up version of the resolution of this book. It's a Cinderella story, where girls who have great character and beauty but possess nothing meet their price charming and live happily ever after. I think the ending is very satisfactory, and does Jane Austen always have happy endings? I'm not sure...

One thing that was different about this book from modern books was the style of writing. It used big, fancy words and the sentence structures were very diverse. At first it was hard to follow along, but after some time I got used to it. This style of writing actually made the book more interesting (to me at least). It got me to think that it's too bad that modern day writers don't write like this. These days writings are so simple. In Pride and Prejudice, each sentence has a different taste to it and as a whole the book is very unique. She writes in a way that normal writers would never think of writing in, because it might confuse the readers. However, I enjoyed reading her book, eventhough, yes, it was difficult and I had to read carefully.

Pride & Prejudice

I'm ALMOST done with this book! I'm on page 246 and by the end of this week I will certainly be over with this novel. It's a very long, hard, quite dreadful book that I would usually never read. I'm glad that I watched the film or I wouldn't know half the things happening in it. It's very difficult to understand because the writing style is from the 1800s of England. There are grammars and many things different compared to mondern English. For example, the way they call family members is strange to my ears; when sisters talk to each other they say, "My uncle," or "My mother," not "Uncle ___" or "Mother." Also, Mrs. Bennett sometimes calls her husband Mr. Bennett, when these days wives would use the first name to call their husband. Another thing thats different is spelling such as choose is spelled as chuse. Anyways, it's really different from what you can read these days so it makes the book both interesting and difficult to read.

Through this book I can learn the cultures of Britain in the 1800s. In the section I read this week, Lydia Bennett, the youngest daughter of the Bennetts, got married. Marraige was very different back then because the girl's family had to give a lot of money to the man. Mr. Bennett has to give 5,000 pounds (which is what he will give to each of his daughters when he passes away) plus 100 pounds per month. This was actually very little money and it said that usually no man would marry someone like Lydia unless with at least 10,000 pounds. One thing that was common even these days is that Lydia went from house to house to show off that she was married, which also people these days do, but usually by phone.
Another culture that I learned is that back then when they went to someon's house or another place, they would usually stay for weeks. These days, it's uncommon that you would stay at another person's house for even a few days. However, back then, visits would usually last from one to two months at the least, and a short visit would be about ten days. I wonder if over the years people have thought that time was too valuable to travel and leaisure for months, or if it was just a transportation change? These days people all have cars so they don't have to stay in one place for too long. However, staying at a person's house has positive sides because you get to discover new places, become more friendlier with people, and also have a long rest. So, why has visiting places changed from months to days? I wonder...

Pride and Prejudice & Short Stories

This week I read some short stories for English class and also a part of Pride and Prejudice. I am on page 188 of Pride and Prejudice. It is taking me longer than I thought it would to finish this book. I think I should read more than two hours a week, if I can.

Anyways, in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth finally realized how blind and prejudice she was about Mr.Daryc and Mr.Wickham. The truth about Mr.Wickham is revealed to her, that he was actually an evil and greedy person but pretended to have such good manners. Mr.Darcy is actually a sincere man who, though sometimes regarded arrogant, has good intensions for everything he does. Elizabeth is ashamed of how she judged Mr.Darcy and changes her mind of him.

I think this is the theme of this book and what Jane Austen wants her readers to know; don't judge someone so quickly, but instead take time and know who they are before judging. This is an important lesson for anyone. I, too, sometimes judge others too quickly according to what I hear of them or even how they appear to be. This is something that I shouldn't do because I don't know that person well yet. He/she could actually be very nice and friendly, but, on the other hand, he/she could also be very wicked. We should always be careful in judging others, or not even judge at all. The Bible says "do not judge, or you too shall be judged." Therefore, we should not judge but accept everyone as they are, just as Jesus accepted and still accepts each and every one of us.

And I actually like the movie better because it is SO much easier to understand. The story line is actually pretty much the same, but the movie uses easier words. I think I am understanding the book only because I've watched the movie before.

Pride and Prejudice

I am still on Pride and Prejudice, but now I'm half way through the book (read from pg 97~152). Don't think I'm a slow read, it's the book that's long and hard :P. 

Just now I am at the part when Mr. Darcy confesses his feelings to Elizabeth but she totally rejects him. Elizabeth does this because the manner that Mr. Darcy talked was so prideful and rude. He said he loved "against his will, status, etc." Elizabeth was furoius at this. They had a huge arguement where in the end both of them are too prideful to lose this dispute. Darcy leaves coldly and Elizabeth is crying and thinking of what just happened.

I think this part depicts the title, PRIDE and Prejudice. Because of both their prides, they misunderstand each other and end up just hurting each other. Darcy, because of his pride, spoke his true feelings in a rude way that made him seem superior. And Elizabeth, because of her pride, did not take the hand of Mr. Darcy. She was too angry at everythig he had done. Pride is something we all must let go of. It will block us from opening up to people and it's just like wearing a mask. Because of pride, people will argue until one person puts down their pride and reconciliates. Pride is a mask for cowards, and only the brave and nobel ones will destroy their pride.

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